Hyperspace

The name hyperspace was given to a space with a non-Euclidean geometry coexisting with "normal" space. Traveling in hyperspace allowed for effective faster-than-light travel compared to normal space.

Hyper space was organized into discrete bands, with each band corresponding to a lower point-to-point distance compared to normal space. This meant for a given velocity, higher hyper bands allow for higher effective velocity.

Translation

Transiting different bands did have drawbacks, as the boundaries between hyper bands were full of high energy surges which could destroy an unwary ship. The higher the band, the faster a vessel would travel. This was especially deadly in the early years of the Diaspora of Man. A less deadly drawback is that in order to break into a higher band, a certain percentage of relative speed was bled off. This speed could be made up after fully moving into the band. For early reaction drive ships, constantly re-accelerating after transitioning (assuming the survived the transition in the first place) proved too energy intensive. It was only after the development of the Warshawski sail that both of these drawbacks were negated.

The danger of dimensional shear was not present when ships translated down through the bands as far as hardware was concerned. Humans, on the other hand, experienced physical distress and nausea, which was stronger the faster the ship was going when it translated. Ships slowed to one fifth of their relative velocity each time they performed a translation down through the bands. Without renewed acceleration, this could mean that a ship's velocity could slow to a crawl if they translated down through many bands (a ship travelling at 90,000 km/s or approx .3 c would be reduced to 144 km/s if it went through four translations from the Delta band to n-space).

Naval crews were trained for crash translations, yet there was a limit to what training could do to offset the effects, so crash translations were avoided unless absolutely necessary. (HH6)

Bands

Hyperspace bands were labeled by Greek alphabet letter. While relative velocity in each band was low, apparent velocity increased, the "higher" you went within the band.

Alpha

The main band for space travel was the Alpha band, which was the lowest of the bands. The band was at .3c, which if any vessel went higher, than the vessel's destruction would have been imminent. It took nearly two hundred years for that limitation to be accepted. In the beginning, only survey vessels went into the Alpha Band because of the high risk factors until the Hyper Log's accuracy was made better. (HH6)

Gamma

The Gamma band was one of the lowest bands to travel through hyperspace. The Protectorate of Grayson's pre-Manticoran Alliance technology was limited to the middle gamma band. (HH2)

Delta

Older Manticoran merchant ships could only manage to travel .5 c in the lower end of the Delta band, at a maximum apparent velocity of 912 c. (HH6)

Epsilon

A ship doing .7 c in the Epsilon Band could achieve an apparent velocity of 1442c. Few merchant ships could go this quickly. (SI1)

Zeta

The Zeta band was frequently used by warships, as it offered good speed and moderate safety. Faster freighters or some passenger liners could travel at .7 c in the Zeta band, attaining an apparent velocity of 2500 c. (HH6)

Theta

The Theta band was the highest band that had ever been used, and the most dangerous to travel. Courier ships frequently rode the edge of the Theta band, because it offered the fastest speed. Courier ships travelling the "ragged edge" of the Theta band gained an approximately 40% speed increase over frigates travelling in the Zeta band. (CS1)

Iota

The Iota band was the second-highest known band, and no ship entered it and survived to return until the early 20th Century PD. (HH2, HH12)

Kappa

The Kappa band was the highest known band, and only became known with the creation of the streak drive in the early 20th Century PD. (HH12)

Gravitic Objects

Gravity affects hyper space such that it is impossible to travel inside a certain radius of any massive object, such as a star or the Tellerman wave. Attempting to do so would result in complete destruction of the transiting ship from gravimetric shear. (HH6)