Minbari Neutron Cannon: Babylon 5 Tech-Manual.

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MINBARI BEAM WEAPONS

MINBARI BEAM WEAPONS

Primary weapon employed by the Minbari Federation is a green beam weapon, often described as a "slicer beam." This weapon is used in slicing and piercing mode and cannon/official documentation suggest that it is called a Neutron Cannon and effects matter on a molecular level. Some sources like AOG even claim that Minbari weapons not only effect matter but can convert matter into antimatter upon contact. Exact nature of this weapon in unclear and is not the subject of this essay, but as the effects of Minbari weapons are quantifiable I will attempt to determine how powerful this beam weapon is.

Best evidence available as to how powerful Minbari weapons are can be garnered from the TV movie "In the Beginning." In particular the scene featured 36 minutes into the movie in which Minbari forces attack Earth Alliance holdings. One of these scenes shows a Minbari Sharlin class War-Cruiser destroying an Earthforce ring style space station and it is, in my opinion, the best example of the effect of this Minbari weapon. Listed below are the facts with regards to what transpired in this scene.

Minbari Beam Weapon - p/s fin:

SOURCE: In the Beginning
SCENE: Station destroyed
WEAPON: Fusion Beam Cannon / port wing.
TIME: 11 frames / 0.3667 seconds
TARGET: EA Wagon Wheel Station
RESULT: Vaporization / explosion
VOLUME:
- 3770 m^3 (beam width volume per arc)
- 147262.2 m^3 (total mass volume per arc)

Using the size schematic available in the B5 Security Manual, I determined that the given measuring scale of 8km offered at the bottom of pages 12 & 13, combined with the fact that B5 is 8.0645 kilometer according to the episode "And Now for a Word", we know that equals between 24 meters per millimeter. The forward docking plate of the B5 station measured 14mm, and thus it is approximately 336 meters in diameter.

In the production rendering made available at http://www.starshipmodeler.com/, renderings that came directly from PTEN using the official meshes, the front plate of the station measured 361 pixels, suggesting that every pixel in the full size forward image from PTEN equals 1.07 meters.

Now, there is a minor problem in using this image, as it was rendered in perspective, thus skewing size slightly as the image tapers off along the z axis. Despite the mesh having been rendered in perspective, so long as we isolate our figures to the flat surface of the docking plate the figures should remain accurate.

Using the aforementioned image the width of the outer docking bay wall, as it would correspond with that of the station seen destroyed in "In the Beginning", would have been 49 pixels, which would equal 52.6 meters. For the sake of argument however, we will round the number down to a conservative 50 meters.

Blast hit the ITB ring station in the area at half the station's circumference. As the station is curved, the first part of the ring station penetrated would have been approximately 73 pixels or 76.5 meters in length at the center of impact. This means that the total net length penetrated by the beam, would have been 153.02 meters total. To be conservitive, we'll scale it back to 75 meters.

As the smoke clears we can see that the area destroyed is curved, which means the area vaporized was cylinderical in shape. Width of the vaporized area is hard to gage, given that the quarter section shown is blown off of the station and is in the process of floating away, but is estimated to be 50 meters in width.

Firstly, the station as seen in the large screen capture is 549 pixels wide. Beam has a width of about 11 pixels. We know that the station is 378.37 meters in diameter from our observations of the B5 station's docking plate. This means that, in the screen captures shown, every pixel equals about 0.66 meters. This being the case, the beam was no greater than 8 meters in diameter. Volume vaporized is approximately 50 meters in diameter and 75 meters in length.
[NOTE: Due to a system crash the original screen captures used to establish the 549 pixel figure were lost, but the figures are still relative to the images shown left.]

If we first only count that volume which was vaporized directly by the 8 meter wide beam, temporarily discounting the damage inflicted on the station by the Minbari weapon, then the beam weapons on the Minbari War-Cruiser would have vaporized a volume of 3770 cubic meters per arc.

It is important to note that, as we continue our estimates, that we will only be considering the penetration of a single arc, which took only three (3) frames of video, NTSC. This will provide us with the most accurate figure possible.

Now, given that we usually estimate mass based upon the relative density of an automobile, (i.e. 400 kg/m^3), I will also use this traditional figure to estimate the mass destroyed by the Minbari's beam. Also, according to information gleemed from the novelization of ITB and info taken from the RPG, this first assault is believed to have been at the deep range military base which saw the launch of the Prometheus. Given the large weapon emplacements on the station, it is not unreasonable to assume is was armored. If the Omega is any indication, than the total armor, both sides, would be equal to as much as 6 to 10 meters. For the sake of being conservitive, however, and expediencty, we'll assume the armor is five meters thinck.

At 400 kg/m^3 for the internal mass and 7,874 kg/m^3 for the armor mass, the total mass destroyed directly by the eight meter wide beam would have been 3,386,385.6 kg. If comprised of iron, it would have taken 2.6*10^13 joule (26.6 Terajoues) to vaporize the mass of a single arc of the station struck directly by the beam.

Again, the figures stated above only pertain to the beam its self and does not take into account the actual damage done by the Minbari's beam weapon. Taking this into account, the total volume destroyed by the Minbari's beam weapon would have been 150,000 m^3, with a mass of 357,091,500 kg. This means that the actual damage produced by the beam was equal to 2.2 *10^15 joule (2,234 Terajoules).

The two figures stated above, clearly illistrate the damage inflicted and the amount of energy required to inflict said damage. Of course, there is one very important fact which we have not yet taken into account... time. As the beam weapon inflicted the damage stated above in only 3 frames, which is equal to 0.1 seconds, we must factor in time to discover the total power output.

Adjust for time and the output of the Minbari's beam weapon would have more likely been between 2.65*10^14 watt (265 Terawatts) and 2.23*10^16 watt when adjusting for the total damage inflicted by the beam. These figures represent the low-end output for the Minbari's starboard wing guns.

CONCLUSION:

Lower limit on the Minbari beam weapon is:
- 265 Terawatts (63.3 kiloton sec.)
Lower limit on Minbari beam weapon's destructive output:
- 22,347 Terawatts (5.3 megaton sec.)
Lower limit on the Minbari beam weapon with armor mod is:
- 5,313 Terawatts (1.3 megaton sec.)
Lower limit on Minbari weapon's destructive output with armor mod:
- 446,947 Terawatts (106.4 megaton sec.)

Last Updated 02-28-03

Special Thanks to Connor MacLeud for helping to improve these figures.

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