The respective chief scientists of the Dino Republic and New Sparta, Dougson and Dr Forbidden, have held a joint media briefing on Dino-Land where they announced a new partnership to develop the next generation of worm drive. Both the Dinos and NS will pool their worm drive development and a joint team will be set up to work on new engines.
It is thought the eventual aim of the partnership is the "10K" engine, a worm drive that can propel ships at up to 10000ec. This is twice the speed of the latest Dino worm drives though is not expected anytime soon. An analyst thinks that 7000ec is the first target and could be achievable within 4-5 years. The 2030s could be when speeds of over 10000ec are reached though unexpected advances could cut that dramatically.
The partnership has also unlocked the W2 worm drive family for NS who will buy 5 off the Dinos and at a later date built their own. A source said that a W2 drive could push a Panther over 5000ec.
