Stargates & ramps' hidden functions

[Mister Oragahn]

Right. We've seen stargates on different planets. Sometimes in nice environments, sometimes in harsh environments.
Sometimes in dry places, sometimes in the middle of jungles.

What remains clear is that despite the sand dunes, the snow, the growing plants and other environmental hazards, ramps and stargates always remain clean.

First hypothesis: the ramp keeps the structure "ramp+stargate" - if not the surrounding site - clean.

Now, in time, we did see some moss and a few small plants on the ramp. But we can say it's because the "autowash" didn't get activated since a month or two.

Take the sand planet we see in Air. It's obvious that the stargate would have been lost in the sand dunes since ages. Same for the ice planet, where the stargate would have been stuck in ice and snow for, what? Hundreds of thousands of years now?

It's necessary for the ramp to hide systems which can burn or push away stuff, reshape the environment to some degree. There has to be a force field tech there.

Now, the next one.

Second hypothesis: the ramp holds some self-repair system.

We've also seen how ramps and stargates are all shiny and functional. Well, perhaps I missed an episode (I'm yet to watch season 2), but if all of them are just that pristine looking, something has to maintain them.
It could be under the form of robots, or nanomachines.

Finally, last bit of speculation.

Third hypothesis: the ramp is only the tip of the iceberg.

That is, physically. It's a completely artificial structure. I think it holds several key systems in there, most logically one of them being some form of power core (and we know that it has to be since because not all used stargates thus far in the show could have been charged by Destiny).
More importantly, I also think that the ramp extends below the surface, if only for extra stability.
Perhaps the ramp sits on the top of a giant nail that's wedged into the ground, or some hemisphere with extruded tendrils or spikes, I don't know.

[Greenfire32]

I think it's because the Stargate and Ramp are props and get cleaned regularly by the film crew.

Don't look too much into something. You're over-analyzing this.

[Mister Oragahn]

Stopped counting the number of people trying their wits on me with those remarks.
As always: it's called "SGU Science and Tech".
You know, make believe and all that?
Geez...

[JosephGracey]

i agree with greenfires theory plus burrting a stargate in sand would make it impossible for them to go to that planet without dying cos it would be like an iris so you wouldnt ever see a planet where the stargate was completely buried

[morbosfist]

i agree with greenfires theory plus burrting a stargate in sand would make it impossible for them to go to that planet without dying cos it would be like an iris so you wouldnt ever see a planet where the stargate was completely buried

Burying a Stargate causes it to not activate period. An iris rests a miniscule distance above the event horizon, allowing the wormhole to form while blocking entry.

[JosephGracey]

still if it was buried they wouldnt be able to eget through to get to see the buried ramp

[Greenfire32]

Stopped counting the number of people trying their wits on me with those remarks.
As always: it's called "SGU Science and Tech".
You know, make believe and all that?
Geez...

There was nothing witty about it. Just a straightforward, "You're over-analyzing it."

C'mon man, just enjoy the show with its clean Ramps and Stargates. There's no need to create elaborate theories for every little thing Stargate related.

It's like Stargate is no longer a Television show and more of a religion now. Just watch it. Don't pick it apart.

Next thing you know, the Furlings will be the "Universe's Janitors" and be responsible for making sure each and every gate is clean and in pristine order.

[Cmdr. Setsuna F. Seyei]

who knows maybe thats why we never see them they scatter or vanish evertime someone comes near a gate or the gate is activated ROTFLMFAO

[morbosfist]

still if it was buried they wouldnt be able to eget through to get to see the buried ramp

If it was buried, like the one in "Aftermath", they wouldn't be able to go through at all, much less know that it was buried somehow. The ramps clearly don't make any effort to "clean" themselves.

[Mister Oragahn]

There was nothing witty about it. Just a straightforward, "You're over-analyzing it."

C'mon man, just enjoy the show with its clean Ramps and Stargates. There's no need to create elaborate theories for every little thing Stargate related.

It's like Stargate is no longer a Television show and more of a religion now. Just watch it. Don't pick it apart.

Next thing you know, the Furlings will be the "Universe's Janitors" and be responsible for making sure each and every gate is clean and in pristine order.

Boy. He insists.
Once again, why do you come here to annoy me with your mental dribble when you are missing the point of this subforum?
Hey, why don't you post this same tripe of yours in about every single thread in all those science & tech subforums?
Keep going man, you've got a job of epic proportions waiting for you.

[sgc]

Right. We've seen stargates on different planets. Sometimes in nice environments, sometimes in harsh environments.
Sometimes in dry places, sometimes in the middle of jungles.

What remains clear is that despite the sand dunes, the snow, the growing plants and other environmental hazards, ramps and stargates always remain clean.

First hypothesis: the ramp keeps the structure "ramp+stargate" - if not the surrounding site - clean.

Now, in time, we did see some moss and a few small plants on the ramp. But we can say it's because the "autowash" didn't get activated since a month or two.

Take the sand planet we see in Air. It's obvious that the stargate would have been lost in the sand dunes since ages. Same for the ice planet, where the stargate would have been stuck in ice and snow for, what? Hundreds of thousands of years now?

It's necessary for the ramp to hide systems which can burn or push away stuff, reshape the environment to some degree. There has to be a force field tech there.

Now, the next one.

Second hypothesis: the ramp holds some self-repair system.

We've also seen how ramps and stargates are all shiny and functional. Well, perhaps I missed an episode (I'm yet to watch season 2), but if all of them are just that pristine looking, something has to maintain them.
It could be under the form of robots, or nanomachines.

Finally, last bit of speculation.

Third hypothesis: the ramp is only the tip of the iceberg.

That is, physically. It's a completely artificial structure. I think it holds several key systems in there, most logically one of them being some form of power core (and we know that it has to be since because not all used stargates thus far in the show could have been charged by Destiny).
More importantly, I also think that the ramp extends below the surface, if only for extra stability.
Perhaps the ramp sits on the top of a giant nail that's wedged into the ground, or some hemisphere with extruded tendrils or spikes, I don't know.

I agree that the ramps do have special functions, like a power core, but I do not think that they "clean themselves" or are an artificial structure. I might buy into the self-repair on a limited scale. I think the key to them not being buried or broken is because the gate-seeding ships calculated the exact best position to put the Stargates based on the criteria of:

(1) Stability and structure
(2) Resources for Destiny's crew (they most likely were put there so that crew members could get supplies and explore a bit)
(3) Power? Maybe these gates use some sort of geothermal, solar, etc. power that can power it. Maybe this is why these primitive gates can't go as far; they were only designed for the relatively short jumps between Destiny and that the Ancients didn't yet have the "magic" power source in the current Milky Way and Pegasus DHD's that could give that much power and last almost indefinitely.

[Mister Oragahn]

I agree that the ramps do have special functions, like a power core, but I do not think that they "clean themselves" or are an artificial structure. I might buy into the self-repair on a limited scale. I think the key to them not being buried or broken is because the gate-seeding ships calculated the exact best position to put the Stargates based on the criteria of:

(1) Stability and structure
(2) Resources for Destiny's crew (they most likely were put there so that crew members could get supplies and explore a bit)
(3) Power? Maybe these gates use some sort of geothermal, solar, etc. power that can power it. Maybe this is why these primitive gates can't go as far; they were only designed for the relatively short jumps between Destiny and that the Ancients didn't yet have the "magic" power source in the current Milky Way and Pegasus DHD's that could give that much power and last almost indefinitely.

The problem is, the stargate cannot control the weather. Neither can it control erosion, tides, vegetation growth and so on.
The only way to make sure a stargate, for example, doesn't get buried in a dune, is to have a system that precisely cleans the assembly and probably a good radius around the gate.
I know it sounds silly to speak of "self cleaning", but that's just basically was it needs to be able to do.
It's not like it's unfeasible: Alteran tech can easily cover that. They have a wide variety of force fields, anything which can burn, disintegrate or even push matter.

[morbosfist]

Which would be a great conclusion if we hadn't seen a Stargate buried in a rockslide. If it can be buried, there's nothing there cleaning it.

[Rylor]

Which would be a great conclusion if we hadn't seen a Stargate buried in a rockslide. If it can be buried, there's nothing there cleaning it.

Cleaning of small grains of sand or snowflakes is a different thing than big rocks. I can easily imagine the Stargates being able to do the former, otherwise they would get buried on many planets, like Mister Oragahn wrote.

[morbosfist]

But if you can make a system that can clean sand off the platform, why not rocks?