Destiny's FTL travel.

[Crias]

Well that’s true, if we wanted to counter the temporal effects of FTL speeds all we would need is a time dilation field to be engaged as destiny jumps to FTL and then shut off when they drop back out. Perhaps this is why controlling the countdown was so difficult.

[Onealwasoverrated]

Well that’s true, if we wanted to counter the temporal effects of FTL speeds all we would need is a time dilation field to be engaged as destiny jumps to FTL and then shut off when they drop back out. Perhaps this is why controlling the countdown was so difficult.

It could also be why the ship is such a power hog. Running FTL+time altering equipment could require a lot of power.

[Hitokage]

You know ancients were using often space transformation or curvation (Stargate for example) so in my opinion FTL work like that so it is traveling faster than light because it is shorting its way not because it has the absolute speed bigger than light's speed

[Rylor]

I like the idea that Destiny has an FTL drive to study the background radiation while in flight. But if that were true, why do the seed ships use it too?
Since every other ship we have seen so far uses hyperdrive, there must be a good reason that Destiny and the Seed ships use FTL instead.

[Sage of Mirrors]

Could it have something to do power consumption? Maybe the Ancients couldn't use Hyperdrive technology with the plasma from a star, so they opted for simple FTL instead?

[Onealwasoverrated]

I like the idea that Destiny has an FTL drive to study the background radiation while in flight. But if that were true, why do the seed ships use it too?
Since every other ship we have seen so far uses hyperdrive, there must be a good reason that Destiny and the Seed ships use FTL instead.

The seed ships could also double as data reconnaissance un maned vehicles. An easy way to increase the data collecting capability by having an entire fleet or convoy doing the research rather than just one. It could also be that seedship are based on Destiny to save time and money. Who knows.

[Onealwasoverrated]

Could it have something to do power consumption? Maybe the Ancients couldn't use Hyperdrive technology with the plasma from a star, so they opted for simple FTL instead?

The "star power" is reactor based so the power type is just as compatible as anything else probably. The fact that the systems on the ship are more complicated than Dr Rush can easily understand leads me to think that the ship didn't forgo a hyperdrive because hyperdrive didn't exist but because they have a reason behind it probably mission related. If the ship was primitive Dr. Rush would have an easier time figuring it out.

[bfldworker]

Has anyone considered that Destiny may use something closer to Warp Drive (Alcubierre Drive)? It creates a bubble of normal space around the ship so time stays normal on the ship while it is "Warping" or compressing space in front of the ship and expanding it behind the ship so it can go faster then light. Nothing in physics says space it's self can't go faster then light. While this is currently impossible at our state of technological development it wouldn't be impossible for the Ancients.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

[satnamboll28]

Could it have something to do power consumption? Maybe the Ancients couldn't use Hyperdrive technology with the plasma from a star, so they opted for simple FTL instead?

If the plasma was used purely as a power source, then there is no real reason (that I know of anyway) why a standard hyperdrive would not work.
I'd say that as destiny was not launched at the height of their civilisation, perhaps the FTL drive is longer lasting than the hyperdrive? HD being more susceptible to damage, and may require exotic parts etc, whilst FTL doesn't actually require anything exotic per se?

[Sothis]

If relativity applies the same in the Stargate Universe as in the real universe, which I think is a fair assessment, travelling at the speed of light or faster is impossible without some form of "shortcut" such as hyperspace or warping normal space to shorten the distance traveled. Even then, you are just shortening the distance and not actually travelling faster than light. In order for matter to travel at the speed of light, infinite energy would be required. This is because as velocity increases, so does the objects relativistic mass(by those observing the motion, not the object itself.) The faster it goes the more observed mass there will be, and therefore the more energy required to accelerate. Photons(light) can travel at these speeds because they have no rest mass while matter does.

[Onealwasoverrated]

If the plasma was used purely as a power source, then there is no real reason (that I know of anyway) why a standard hyperdrive would not work.
I'd say that as destiny was not launched at the height of their civilisation, perhaps the FTL drive is longer lasting than the hyperdrive? HD being more susceptible to damage, and may require exotic parts etc, whilst FTL doesn't actually require anything exotic per se?

That also sounds like a practical reason. No one else mentioned the idea that maybe hyperdrives don't actually work throughout the entire known universe. Remember fluidic space in Voyager?

[Prometheus God of Fire]

They are probably using a form of FTL drive like warp speed in star trek. If you can expand the space in front of you and contract the space behind you can travel faster than the speed of light without accelerating.

[Duo Maxwell]

Maybe the FTL drive works by reducing the virtual particle density of localized space.

It is well known in physics that photons interact with virtual particles as they move through space-time. It is this interaction that gives rise to the magnetic and electric forces that were explored in the nineteenth century. These interactions indirectly tie the photon to the Higgs mechanism, giving rise to the virtual mass of a photon.

The virtual particle density of space gives rise to the vacuum energy. Theoretically, vacuum energy is equal throughout the universe. However, because the energy is, in theory, at an equilibrium, there is no discernible measurement for its density. Furthermore, all measurements are ultimately made against this as well.

The Casmir Effect alters the local vacuum energy of space in a small area by restricting the possible energy states of the virtual particles. This reduces the vacuum energy of the affected space, and therefore the virtual particle density, lowering the amount of interactions between photons and the virtual particles that fill a vacuum. Theoretically, this will alter the speed of light within the affected area, allowing an object to move through space faster than traditionally allowed.

[Amelius Xavier]

FTL seemed the easier and simpler version for the Ancients. As far as we know, hyperspace was not invented at that time, however FTL seems more reliable than a hyperdrive as we have seen through Stargate, ie the amount of power needed, I would believe that it would be more differcult to repair and would not ware very well over the great distance...

[Hitokage]

it was discussed in lots of topics around here...FTL probably uses space curving so there is not issue with age and why not hyperdrive? cause they have to somehow monitore the space around and thats quite difficult from hyperspace