Technology

Orbital Elevator System

A simplified diagram depicting an orbital elevator tower.

Necessitated under high-level energy consumption as a renewable alternative to the dwindling fossil fuel supplies, the Orbital Elevator (軌道エレベーター, Kidou Erebeitaa^?) System is a megastructure originally planned by Aeolia Schenberg in 2090 to function in the combined capacity of a space elevator and a solar power satellite. It is comprised of two geostationary rings, equidistantly supported at 10 and 40 thousand kilometers above the equator by three 50-thousand-kilometer-high compressive elevator towers that terminate in ballast satellites. The top ring is lined with a photovoltaic array, and the towers act to carry the energy it supplies to the surface. The whole of the construct is shielded from meteoroids, space debris, corrosion, weathering, geomagnetic storms, radiation (from the Van Allen belt or otherwise), and assorted other deteriorative agents with the use of a physical energy barrier. It is defended by the collective military forces of the nations invested in its function.

Presently used for civilian space tourism, the elevators also act as a stepping stone to the ongoing international pursuit of space colonization. The progress upon this endeavor is unspecified, and currently the only colonies known to exist are Celestial Being’s Krung Thep and the Human Reform League’s The Internationale.

The three dominant supranational powers responsible for system’s construction and operation — the Union, the Human Reform League, and the AEU — have presently imposed a global boycott of fossil fuels so to better monopolize the energy distribution market.

 Union Orbital Elevator

The orbital elevator controlled by the Union (ユニオン軌道エレベーター, Union Kidou Erebeitaa^?) is situated near the border of the modern-day states of Brazil and Colombia within the Amazon Basin. Completed as of 2297, it was the first of the elevators to become operational.

 AEU Orbital Elevator

The orbital elevator controlled by the Advanced European Union (AEU軌道エレベーター, AEU Kidou Erebeitaa^?) is situated west of Lake Victoria, near the border of the real-life African states of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is presently incomplete.

 Tenchuu

Tenchuu (天柱, lit. Pillar of Heaven^?), the orbital elevator controlled by the Human Reform League, is situated on an artificial island near the real-life nation of Nauru, north of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Completed as of 2297, it was the second of the elevators to become operational.

 Mobile suit technology

In the Anno Domini continuity of the Gundam metaseries, a mobile suit is a multipurpose humanoid vehicle deployable for use as an AFV in mechanized maneuver warfare. Originally designed for construction-related purposes and the handling of heavy cargo. Aeolia Schenberg is credited for devising the technology as an accessory to the Orbital Elevator System.

 Beam technology

Beam technology (ビーム技術, Biimu Gijutsu^?) within the Anno Domini continuity has yet to come into conventional use. The Gundams are the first line of mobile suits to practically employ beam-based firearms and melee weapons on the battlefield. Standard mobile unit projectile weapons continue to be of the physical round variety. Generic beam composition is unknown as of this time, but it is supposed that the Gundams utilize GN particles.^[1]

 E-Carbon

E-Carbon (Eカーボン, E Kaabon^?) is an artificial allotrope of carbon, employed as the armor material of numerous recent-make conventional mobile units.^[1] Said to be one of the newest materials available.

 Solar energy mobile suits

Solar energy mobile suits (太陽光エネルギーモビルスーツ, Taiyou-Kou Enerugii Mobiru Suutsu^?) are designed to take advantage of the energy provided by the orbital elevators.
The AEU Enact is one such unit.

 GN science

In the Anno Domini continuity, the organization known as Celestial Being has independently pioneered a systemization of the engineering and physics behind the GN Drive and its byproduct GN particles.

 GN Drive

Also referred to as “solar furnace” (太陽炉, Taiyou-Ro^?). A GN Drive (GNドライヴ, GN Doraivu^?) is a semi-perpetual generator scalable for installation on a mobile suit, which harnesses the photon and positron discharge of the non-evaporative decay of baryonic matter as an energy source. Though its output is within any given period of time finite, the absence of a limit to its functional life translates to an effectively inexhaustible supply of energy. Owing to the unique heatlessness of its activity and the special properties of its byproduct GN particles, device operation is virtually invisible to such methods of detection as IRST or conventional radar. GN particles are not used in the process of energy production.^[1]

Developed as a mobile weapon power source by Celestial Being, which guards it with the utmost secrecy — they would rather destroy the technology than allow it to fall into enemy hands. The device’s relationship with real-life solar furnaces is unknown.

 GN Particles

GN particles (GN粒子, GN Ryuushi^?) are a type of exotic neutrino released as a byproduct of the GN Drive, capable of disrupting conventional radar and wireless communications with the electromagnetic radiation it expels in the process of decay. The effect is comparable to that of the Minovsky particles in Universal Century.^[1] Unlike standard-flavor particles of the same class, it is responsive to an unspecified machine-producible interactive force, and is thus exploited by Celestial Being for a variety of uses — as part of an electromagnetic stealth measure; in a physical barrier system, for use in such circumstances as atmospheric reentry; as a propellant for the GN Vernier; and as a coat that improves the cutting ability of physical blades. All Gundams use the GN Drives, however, all the Gundams, GN 001-005, so far have emitted green GN particles until the appearance of the Throne Gundams. The Throne Gundams Eins, Zwei, and Drei all emit red GN particles and it is currently unknown what the meaning of the color is or if they are even GN particles at all, though it is inferred to be so.

 GN Vernier

A GN Vernier (GNバーニア, GN Baania^?) is a vernier propulsion mechanism that generates thrust by accelerating GN particles in a directed beam, utilizing an unspecified interactive force. The exhaust appears to sparkle due to the visible-spectrum photon emission of GN particle decay.^[1] The action of the device is not unlike that of an ion thruster.

 MS-GUNDAM