Tachyon

In Solar Storms, tachyons are not particles, or at least, not particles in the conventional sense, having no momentum despite the ability to cause a noticible interference in matter. Despite various efforts to come up with a better term, it has come to apply to a phenomenon that traverses space at a speed significantly faster than light. First discovered in 2169, their line of effect was shown to be faster than light in 2171. It was not until 2201 that the process was refined enough to actually transmit data. The discovery of the mobius patterns the next year enabled a dramatic increase in the efficiency of these systems, allowing the creation of the first satmet, Ouranos Prime, in 2203.

Instead of being detected directly, they cause telltale effects while passing across space in a line of effect, though it takes an extremely powerful signal to be picked up over the background noise of the Universe, and their energy is absorbed by mobius patterns. Even still, they are considered highly useful, already halving the roundabout transmission time to the Centaurus Mission and many extrasolar probes.

Regardless of what they actually are, tachyons do not travel backwards in time in any frame of reference. Using them, it is in theory possible to establish a common frame of reference between two objects, though currently this only applies to the three satmets in the Solar System.

Creating such effects, even on small scales, requires tremendous amounts of energy, however. Actual, full-scale satmets consume over a hundred exawatts of energy.