GN Drive

GN Drive(s) (GNドライヴ, GN Doraivu?), also referred to as solar reactor and/or solar furnace (太陽炉, Taiyou-Ro?), is a powerful energy system with in Anno Domini 00 Gundam. It was invented by Celestial Being and used to power all their mobile suits and spaceships. The technology was later copied and created the GN Drive Tau.

Description & Characteristics
A GN Drive is a semi-perpetual energy generator, scaled for installation in a mobile suit. It harnesses the photon and positron discharge of the non-evaporative decay of baryonic matter as an energy source. Like a fission reactor, a GN Drive has a maximum instantaneous output, and it will continue to produce power for a very long time. Within the context of mobile suit combat, it is a functionally inexhaustible power supply. The virtually non-existent heat signature combined with the GN Particle emissions give any GN Drive powered unit a mix of stealth and ECM characteristics. Infrared sensors can't see the GN Drive or any thruster emissions, while the particles act as radar jamming.

Celestial Being developed GN technology in secret and jealously guards their monopoly on this powerful technology. Meisters will go to great lengths to protect Celestial Being's technological advantage, be it the destruction of their own mobile suit, or the sacrifice of their own lives.

GN Particles
GN particles (GN粒子, GN Ryoushi) are the by-product energy created by the GN Drives. The particles are the source and power to Celestial Being's technology.

Sensor Unit
The sensor component is meant for docking with peripheral devices of the GNR series. When docking sequence is activated, the sensor unit would guide both units to effectively combine into a single unit (ex. 00 Raiser, Archer Arios, GN Armor).

Stability Control
The stability control is an automatic steering system. When piloting, the stability control(s) can detect a lack or excess energy for certain maneuvers and can compensate the difference in needed power. This feature helps improve movement for the Gundam and aid a Meister in piloting.

Flywheel
It's a mechanical device with significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in their rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of the shaft when a fluctuating torque is exerted on it by its power source such as a piston-based (reciprocating) engine, or when the load placed on it is intermittent (such as a piston pump). Flywheels can be used to produce very high power pulses as needed for some experiments, where drawing the power from the public network would produce unacceptable spikes. A small motor can accelerate the flywheel between the pulses.

Thruster Unit
Part of a GN Drive is a dedicated propulsion system or Thruster Unit. Specialized verniers work in conjunction with an integral anti-gravity mechanism to provide a Gundam with considerable flight capabilities. The Gundam's infrared low-observability characteristics are preserved because this is not a combustion-based propulsion system. A direct, albeit non-trivial to implement, development of anti-gravity drive is an inertial dampening system. The "G-forces" experienced by pilots during extreme maneuvers are in fact the a consequence of their bodily mass resisting a change in vector. A localized anti-gravity field lowers the pilot's apparent mass, thus offering a measure of protection from the crushing G-forces of a Gundam in high speed combat.

TD Blanket
The TD Blanket module (or TR Plunket Module) is an energy converter used in the five solar furnaces (GN Drives) of the Gundams. The true nature of the system is unclear as it was never clearly defined for its function. While often speculated as a filter for GN particle conversion and generation, there's limited evidence to confirm that specific purpose. Another speculation could be that it's a energy conversion stabilizer component, similar that of a carburetor. Regardless of the system's nature (energy filter, converter, transformer, stabilizer, etc), it's design is crucial to unlimited source of energy.

Without a TD Blanket module, a GN Drive will not be able to harness topological defects for energy. It should be noted that a TD-like component was used to substitute the GN T Drives. Only a selective few Celestial Being engineers know the technical aspects of the TD Blanket (ex: Chall Acustica, Ian Vashti, Linda Vashti), it's a closely guard secret that even Veda doesn't know about. The TD Blanket is the component that gives the original GN-Drives its relatively long development time and the Tau Drives, lack of this component, is the reason their drives is much faster in mass-production. This component also prevents other factions from creating true GN Drives of their own, as the TD Blanket can only be manufactured in the upper gaseous atmosphere of Jupiter. The TD Blanket can only be manufactured in a location of powerful gravity. It harnesses the photon and positron discharge of the non-evaporative decay of baryonic matter as an energy source and the GN Particles are a byproduct of this reaction.


 * note: TD Blanket is also known as TR Plunket. In two different schematics of a GN Drive, one version clearly labels it as "TD Blanket" (GN Drive Mechanical Illustration) while another clearly says "TR Plunket"(ep 18 GN Drive schematic).

GN Generation Furnace
The core component of a GN Drive, raw GN particle energy is produced to supply unlimited energy for the Gundam. The solar furnace produce only unrefined energies and require the TD Blanket to properly convert the particles to be efficiently utilize to power a Gundam. Because of the existence of the GN Drive Tau, it's theorized by many that unrefined properties of the raw GN particles appear in a reddish hue; it's also noted that both GN Drive systems are different in make and components, a highly debatable subject.

GN Condenser
GN Condenser(s) is a energy capacitor(s) that allow a mobile units to reserve and exploit excess GN particles when needed. Although a GN Drive creates unlimited energy, the GN Drive(s) have a limited rate of particle generation. Mobile units that have high particle requirements can't efficiently utilize the full power of their units without risk draining power from various or all systems. To compensate, the condensers are used to help maintain consistent power to systems and can be used to charge a high particle consuming function. Gundams have high energy requirements and have a series of condensers built into the mobile suits to provide the necessary energy it needs in combat situations.

The condensers used by CB all have a green glass/crystal-like quality to their make. They're seen as large circular green plates throughout the chest, forearms, and legs of the Gundam; these condensers also extend to their weapons, increasing the firepower and/or strength of the weapons. The material itself is highly durable, capable of high-heat tolerance, and resistant to damage. CB engineers would later re-develop them into weapons, new generation GN-Blades. The condenser material are lined as the razor-edge of the GN-Blades. They exceed the capabilities of E-Carbon GN-Blades as they're capable of utilizing greater amounts of GN particles, allowing the blades to cut with intense heat, and form beam energy around its blade for stronger attacks.

Black box
The black box was a hidden system within the GN Drives. The box sat silent while it waited for a signal from Veda, or more precisely, the cessation of a signal. The black box became active for the first time once Veda reported the murder of Aeolia Schenberg. Interlocks put in place to prevent the activation of Trans Am were removed and the world, still reeling from Celestial Being and the Thrones armed interventions learned what it truly means to be face a Gundam. In addition to enabling the Trans-Am system, the black box delivered a final message from Schenberg, granting his blessing to the Meisters as the true guardians of his vision.

Trans-Am System
Trans-Am is a GN Drive system feature that accelerates and maximizes GN particle output to mobile suits and mobile armors. When activated, highly condensed GN particles are generated and saturated into the MS frame, creating a superficial pink-reddish hue. In Trans-Am state, the system generally grant mobile units three times the speed, strength, and firepower of it's normal capabilities; it's a double-edge sword feature as once the GN particles are spent, the mobile unit’s overall performance is reduced, making the mobile unit temporarily vulnerable until GN particles are recharged throughout its system. The system was originally created by Aeolia Schenberg to grant Gundam Meisters full utilization of their GN Drives; the system was later copied and adapted onto Tau Drives separately by both Earth Sphere Federation's chief technical engineer, Billy Katagiri by using Leif Eifman's analytical notes on the GN-Drives and by the Innovators faction through a separate development program.

Twin Drive System
Twin Drive is the use of two GN Drives that produces GN particles in synchronous particle generation (two drives acting as one). It's an experimental GN Drive system for fourth generation Gundams and 00 Gundam is the only unit of its kind to support such a system. The system would be later copied and implemented on Reborns Gundam with a pair of GN Drive Taus.

Development
The theory behind the solar furnace and its first designs were created by Aeolia Schenberg more than 200 years beforehand. While Aeolia was the one who created the base theory of the GN Drive, it were later scientists of Celestial Being who discovered that the creation of the Drives was impossible without using Jupiter, which is needed for its strong gravity.

The majority of the blueprints for the solar furnace were then stored within Veda's files with the exception of the design of the TD Blanket, which was presumably handed down from each of Celestial Being's head engineers to their successors. Aeolia also kept the designs for the Trans-Am system and the Twin Drive system in secret, inaccessible files as trump cards should something happen that interfered with his plans.

The GN Drive was completed around 113 years after the beginning of Aeolia's plan. More than twenty years prior to that, a crew of scientists was sent on a manned mission to Jupiter, although the official public reason is not known yet. After struggling to reach Jupiter, the group that was sent devoted 20 years to the manufacturing of the GN Drives. By then, the crew had lost around one third of its members since the start of the mission. After it's completion, the GN Drives were sent back to Earth via unmanned capsules, which took 60 men to launch. However after the launch, one of the men killed the other remaining members, ejected all the data terminals he could find then attempted to collide the ship into Jupiter. It was not until 2227 when two men who were ancestors of Alejandro Corner arrived at Jupiter and found the body of one of the crew members. One of the men also found a purple Haro and analyzed the data within it, which presumably led to the research and development of their own GN Drives.

Deployment
It was not until almost 200 years after the first plans were drawn up that the GN Drives were deployed and used on the Gundams. As the technological development of the Gundams progressed, so was the GN Drive control system used on them, as well as the chassis design of the GN Drive. Up until the Third Generation, the GN Drive chassis that were used on the Gundams were large and encompassed a large section of the torso. Celestial Being also struggled with finding a suitable control system for the GN Drive that would bring them good performance. The First and Second Generation of Gundams both had experimental control systems, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. By the Third Generation, Celestial Being had developed a new control system that is presumably superior than its predecessors. All Third Generation Gundams also utilize the exact same GN Drive chassis internally although the protruding object from the rear that covers the Drive differs with each unit.

By the Fourth Generation, Celestial Being had greatly improved their GN Drive chassis technology by miniaturizing it to a small size. This is due to them reverse engineering the drive chassis technology from the Tau Drives who have adopted this since their appearance. This miniaturization allows the GN Drives to have more specialized roles since they can be easily mounted in alot more places. Some examples are Cherudim which is for quick Bit Charging, Arios for easier sharing of particles with GN Archer and 00 Gundam for defense and speed purposes.