GN Drive Tau

A GN Drive Tau (aka GN Drive [Τ], GN T Drive, pseudo-solar reactor) is an imitation of Celestial Being's GN Drive technology in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, produced to effectively combat mobile suits equipped with GN Drives.

Description & Characteristics
The technical data of the GN Drives are regarded by Celestial Being as one of their most important and valuable secrets. In order to prevent exploitation, it's data was kept secret by Veda at one of the most highest security level and is impossible to steal. The Corner Family somehow got their hands on the information to create one. However, even with the data found, they weren't unable to fully reconstruct the original solar furnace. The TD Blanket module is a essential component of self perpetual energy generation, and attempts by the Corner Faction to re-create the core without the atmosphere of Jupiter have failed. The data necessrily to build an Original GN Drive is kept at the highest security levels of Veda.

GN Drive Taus (or pseudo solar furnaces) are imitations of real GN Drives and incapable of semi-perpetual energy generation or storage because they lack TD Blankets, a component relevant to GN particle generation and utilization. The GN particle energies that derive from such drives disperse orange-reddish hues. The earlier Tau Drives that appeared in A.D. 2307 produced GN Particles that are optimized for beam weaponry but produced a toxic form of the particles when exposed to high concentrations of it in beam weapons, such as the cases of Louise Halevy and Lasse Aeon; by 2312, the conventional Tau Drives then no longer used the harmful beam optimization configuration used earlier.

The GN Tau Drives' greatest weakness is its more limited particle output rate. In addition these drives also depend on electrical power to continuously generate its particles and they can't self-sufficiently generate particles without recharging. Because of this, any machines powered by these drives will always have limitations against true GN Drives. Another handicap of the Tau Drives is that they require a special starter machine to be able to charge and "activate" the Drives. The only known exceptions to this are the Gundam Thrones who possess their own miniature start-up machines. It is unclear at this point whether these miniature start-up mechanisms were ever adapted in future Tau machines post 2308.

By 2312, the Tau Drives used by the Earth Sphere Federation have been upgraded and improved as such their output performance can rival a 3rd Generation Gundam's GN Drive. However, because the original GN Drives have received further upgrades since then as well, the Tau Drives of 2312 still lag behind the Original GN Drives of the same period in performance.

Components
The only currently known difference between a true GN Drive and a GN Drive Tau is the lack of a true TD Blanket, which has been substituted.

"Energy Converter"
No official name was given to it, however it is the improvised component that allows GN Tau Drives to properly generate GN Particles. It should be noted that the GN Drive Tau was manufactured without the the true core and attempts to replicate it has failed. In theory, the substitute module likely is involved with the particle-energy conversation, however much of its properties are not known.

Trans-Am System
The original GN Tau Drives did not have a Trans-Am system. That was a secret system built into the black-box of the original five GN Drives. The data for it could not be found in Veda thus it was not part of the schematics given to Laguna Harvey (by Ribbons). In 2312 Billy Katagiri, used analysis notes left behind by Leif Eifman in his home and discovered the secret to the Trans-Am system and incorporated it into Mr. Bushido's new mobile suit. Contrary to popular believe, Billy Katagiri and the Innovators developed their Pseudo Trans-Am systems separately although it is unknown whether they are large difference in the respective theories. The system was not mass produced and was used by only a handful of A-Laws/Innovators mobile suits. One large fallacy of the Pseudo Trans-Am system is that it will cause the Pseudo Solar Furnace to be heavily damaged rendering it unusable. The mobile suit will then function solely on its remaining Condenser supply In 2314, the system became even more widespread among Tau Drive suits and even larger Tau ships. It is unknown whether the Drives still get heavily damaged post Trans-Am by this time period or whether they have been improved to null the effect.

Twin Drive System
The Twin Drive System is the use of two GN Drives that produces GN particles in synchronous particle generation (two drives acting as one). It is an experimental GN Drive system used by the Fourth Generation 00 Gundam and was initially the only unit of its kind to support such a system. The system's data would be later be stolen by Anew Returner and would be implemented on Reborns Gundam, which sported a pair of GN Drive Taus It should be noted though that Reborn's systems, while impressive, cannot match the performance of a true GN Drive system. The GN Drive Taus still produce particles at a limited rate and would possess other weaknesses that applies to GN Drive Taus,such as the heavy damage to Drive after Trans-Am is used and limited operational time.

The exact output of a Twin Drive using GN Drive Tau is unknown at this moment but it has been determined that the total amount is not squared of a single GN Drive Tau thus its total amount should be far lower because the lower of the base output of a single GN Drive Tau as well as the the weaker multiplier it uses when mathematically calculating the output.

GNW Gundam Throne Series
After Laguna Harvey completed creating the Thrones, he successfully created his own shadow group of Celestial Being. Dispatching the Trinitys to eradicate not just war, but anything considered a tactical threat. The Thrones supremacy didn't last as 30 GN T Drives were produced and given to the world governments.

GN-X Development
Laguna Harvey later leaked information on the location of 30 GN drive Taus mounted on GN-X units to the three power blocs. This gave them an advantage against the Gundams as they now had mobile suits equipped with the same type of beam weapons and had the same type of maneuvering capabilities as the Gundams. Although it was quickly determined that in a one-on-one fight the Gundams were still superior.

Earth Sphere Federation Development
Four years later, approximately 328 countries had united to form the Earth Sphere Federation, having mass produced the GN drive Tau.

Mal-Developing The Middle East
To further the Federation's agenda of unifying independent nations, the army had placed GN particle dispensers across the Middle East to choke the nations' economies. However, the side effect of this is that Katharon bases are undetectable.

A-Laws Distribution
As the Autonomous Peace-Keeping Force of the Federation the A-Laws were given nothing but the best. Their forces were outfitted only with the latest mobile suits of the GN-X line and later with the more advanced Ahead which were equipped with a newer more efficient version of the GN T Drive. Thanks to their support from the government and private source of funding the A-Laws were able to go further in GN Drive development than anyone associated with the federation previously could. This lead to the development new units such as the aquatic mobile armor Trilobite which was equipped with three GN Drive Ts, and the GNX-U02X Masurao the first Federation/A-Laws built mobile suit with a Trans-Am system.

Innovators
The Innovators, led by Ribbons Almark and backed by Veda, did their own secret research into GN Drives. Their research led to the development of GN Drives that had vastly longer life-spans than the original three mounted on the Thrones. They would also incorporate the Trans-Am system that they have developed separately from Billy Katagiri, the stand-alone operating system used by the Gundams, and even build a suit with a Twin-Drive system similar to 00 Gundam.