Atlantis Wasting ZPM Power?

[freyr's mother]

Okay, we know that Atlantis makes weekly contact with the sgc. Why cant the Daedalus just use its sub-space comms system to send a message thru subspace. You'd think the asgard would have given them that kind of tech right? Otherwise it just seems like they're wasting power that they might need in case of another wraith siege.

[James_the_Wraith_Sympathiser]

Perhaps the data that they need to transfer is too large for subspace communication? I'm not sure, but I'd be inclined to say that they may be transferring small (very small) portions of the Atlantis database back with each transmission for people to study.

[Wraith_Hunter]

I agree, even though it only takes a sec or two to transmit. We haev seen that it took 4/5 naquadah generators & a puddle jumper to dial the SGC for 1.3 secs.

So that is still a great deal of power being used for a pointless cause.

Daedalus makes regular trips back & forth. So why not give them all the date & let them ferry it back ever couple of weeks. If there is something major then they can dial it up. They can oly hold Atlantis for a few days with a full ZPM should it come under full Wraith attack. So why draw all this power down for all these months, especially when it's only for weekly status reports.

Another alternative is since Daedalus spends a few days or so between each trip. Then on the way back, simply get far enough from the MW & upload it directly themselves via subspace to the SGC. Exactly like they did in 'Critical Mass'.

Silly, silly waste of energy!

[AGateFan]

At the very least switch to Montly updates, what is so important it cant wait another 2 weeks.. and if something does come up you can always just go ahead and open the gate early.

[TechnoWraith]

Okay, we know that Atlantis makes weekly contact with the sgc. Why cant the Daedalus just use its sub-space comms system to send a message thru subspace. You'd think the asgard would have given them that kind of tech right? Otherwise it just seems like they're wasting power that they might need in case of another wraith siege.

If the wraith are as good as we think they are, they could pick up on subspace transmissions and ascertain where earth is. (All they gotta do is either follow the signal home, or do some basic calculations to find out where the signal is headed). Subspace comm is too risky for the atlantis team to use, even it was from the deadalus.

[Gateboy13]

I’m pretty sure McKay would have raised the issue by now if the power drain on the ZPM were anything but insignificant.

[TechnoWraith]

I’m pretty sure McKay would have raised the issue by now if the power drain on the ZPM were anything but insignificant.

True. But then again, they may be using McKay's compression algorithm to encode lots and lots of data into a single five second transmission, like they did in Letters From Pegasus. And you probably have a point about McKay. It mustn't bother him too much yet.

[Ascended Times.2]

If the wraith are as good as we think they are, they could pick up on subspace transmissions and ascertain where earth is. (All they gotta do is either follow the signal home, or do some basic calculations to find out where the signal is headed). Subspace comm is too risky for the atlantis team to use, even it was from the deadalus.

Good explanation.
Very well thought out

[jowb88]

or the Daedalus could put a few relay satellites between the MW galaxy and the Pegasus galaxy on one of there trips boosting the sub-space transitions so it could reach earth and there for constant communication will be established with the SGC and Atlantis and the ZPM’s power will be conserved.

[Steve_the_Wraith]

True. But then again, they may be using McKay's compression algorithm to encode lots and lots of data into a single five second transmission, like they did in Letters From Pegasus. And you probably have a point about McKay. It mustn't bother him too much yet.

Seems very likely that thier using the compression algorithm

From "LOST BOY'S"
WEIR: ... and thanks to several modifications, the specifics of which are encrypted in this data burst,

[Wyrminarrd]

Most likely the energy drain from opening the gate to Earth isn´t that bad. They already know they can´t withstand a Wraith attack so the little bit of power that is used doesn´t really matter.

There are huge risks involved with sending messages across sub-space as the Wraith might very well pick up that there was a tansmission and go look for it´s source. All it would take is for the Wraith to be suspicious for things to take a disastrous turn for Atlantis.

The mai reason of course for the updates is that politicians and such who are backing the multi national expedition wan´t to remain up to date on everything. Atlantis is a big commitment which requires over sight (in the mind of the worlds leaders. The Deadalus is however a USA ship, which means it may or may not be available to Atlantis at all times.

[Wraith_Hunter]

If the wraith are as good as we think they are, they could pick up on subspace transmissions and ascertain where earth is. (All they gotta do is either follow the signal home, or do some basic calculations to find out where the signal is headed). Subspace comm is too risky for the atlantis team to use, even it was from the deadalus.

I doubt it! They have limited range of their engines. So would have to be in the direct vicinity of Daedalus or at least in the same path as the transmission.

Daedalus can detect the Wraith, long before they can detect it. So any threat of enemy ships & they wouldn't send it for security reasons.

Should they detect it if they managed to get in the way of the transmission, then it most likely wouldn't matter anyway. Daedalus will have had to stay on the edge of the galaxy to enable communication between Pegasus & the MW. So being the Wraith have no idea of how to get to other galaxies, then they might be able to trace it back to the source (Daedalus). However they probably wouldn't be able to pinpoint the destination which is well into another galaxy. So since Daedalus can detect them, then it can be well gone before they get there.

In 'Critical Mass', we seen two cruisers that were fairly close to Lantia, yet they didn't manage to intercept the incoming & outgoing transmissions between Daedalus & Atlantis. Otherwise they could have figured out Atlantis was still actually on the planet. The same can be said of 'The Siege III', The Cruisers had to jump into HS to call for reinforcements.

Since they have been in Pegasus for probably over 6 months now or so. Then all those weekly transmissions will eventually add up to a good bit of power wasteage.

The things are only briefings, status updates & other bits n pieces. Their is no reason why they can't hold off for an extra week. Then Daedalus will be back in Pegasus, it can go to the edge of the galaxy while in HS on it's route back to Earth. It can then transmit everything back & no valuable power has been wasted.

[Arative]

Also don't forget that a lot of power the maintain the wormhole can come from the gate that the worm hole is connecting too and not the gate that established the wormhole. So Atlantis only needs to use enough power to establish the wormhole and then Earth can take over the power requirements, even though earth doesn't have enough power to open a wormhole, they should be able to hook up a couple of new naquada reactors to at an established time to recieve and maintain the wormhole from Atlantis.

[Wraith_Hunter]

Also don't forget that a lot of power the maintain the wormhole can come from the gate that the worm hole is connecting too and not the gate that established the wormhole. So Atlantis only needs to use enough power to establish the wormhole and then Earth can take over the power requirements, even though earth doesn't have enough power to open a wormhole, they should be able to hook up a couple of new naquada reactors to at an established time to recieve and maintain the wormhole from Atlantis.

I don't see how they could rig up a could of genny's that would be able to maintain & hold the gate open from Pegasus. If that was the case then the SGC only needs to rig up 5/6 MK II's. Enough to dial it for 4/5 seconds. Then Atlantis can take over the power requirements with the naquadah generators that they have lying around. Then they could send people & anything through they wanted. Somehow I can't see that being the case!

Using McKays compression ratio, it only take a burst transmission a couple secs max to send things through if even that. They won't have done enough in one week that would take up the huge amount of data that could be sent through in 1.3 secs. So in that following week from the last update, there would only be minor updates unless they found something big or came under a problem. The expedition team aren't locked off anymore. They can travel home after a few weeks via Daedalus if they choose. So for something that would take a sec or two max then it seems silly to even attempt that. Especially since they don't need to wait for the IDC etc to be confirmed before sending it through.

Keeping it open until the SGC took the time to do anything would be a huge & unecessary waste of power from the ZPM.

[Exiled Master]

I wouldn't use the ZPM for travel unless you're going to try to move the city, but that would definitely be a drain on it. Actually, I would only use it to wake up systems in Atlantis. Shouldn't Daedalus be moving Mark II naquaduh generators back and forth? They should be boosting Atlantis's power with every trip.