An Antiproton Solenoid Valve is used by the Andromeda Ascendant and almost all other ships in the known universe to regulate the flow of Antiprotons from the Antiproton Storage Tanks to a ship's fusion reactors. A solenoid valve works by running an electrical current through a coil of wire in order to restrict or allow a substance to flow by relaxing or tensing a coil that serves as a valve. They are mentioned several times throughout the entire series, and are a critical point on any ship that uses Antiprotons. Large, extremely well protected vessels such as the Andromeda can be destroyed if a solenoid valve is damaged or disabled, because an unregulated, uncontrolled flow of Antiprotons would immediately start to interact with regular matter. This would cause the engines to overload or e