Hyperdrive speed compared to Speed of Light

[Jack O'Neill]

I'm sure this has been discussed here but I can seem to find the topic if someone could help. I have a few questions.

I know there are different types of Hyperdrives:

- Galactic : capable of travelling within a galaxy
- Intergalactic: ability to travel between galaxies

Also:

- The Asgard drives are the fastest (maybe they can rival a fully powered stardrive in terms of speed: 3 ZPM's)

- I think a basic dirve that the Asgard gave for Prometheus could travel about 136 lightyears in one hour

Compared to the speed of light (in terms of X amounts) how is a basic hyperdrive faster (Basic drive to most advanced drive)?

Then comes the wormhole travel that Zelenka tried. Does it use the same principle as a regular stargate? Instantenuous travel to long distances. What's the power requirement for this and how is it acheived?

[The Flyattractor]

Haven't they shown that for Hyper travel its just really a matter of power production. The more power the faster you can go.
Cause haven't they jumped several galaxis in seconds in all 3 series?

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

Hyperdrives don't actually travel faster than light, the travel through subspace. If you imagine 2 points on a piece of paper and you bend it so the points are touching, that's analogous to a wormhole. But if the paper is bent and the points aren't touching, then the gap between the points is analogous to subspace. Rather than going across the paper they can just jump across the gap.

Destiny however actually did go faster than light in normal space.

[SaberBlade]

Haven't they shown that for Hyper travel its just really a matter of power production. The more power the faster you can go.
Cause haven't they jumped several galaxis in seconds in all 3 series?

Yes and no.

There definitely is a connection between power and speed through subspace, but what layer of subspace you're travelling through requires a specific engine.

[The Flyattractor]

Yes and no.

There definitely is a connection between power and speed through subspace, but what layer of subspace you're travelling through requires a specific engine.

So does that mean the "galactic" ships would have to have 2 diff hyperdrives,or would it just be a differnet gear?

Cause I aint buying if I have to go with a clutch.

[Jack O'Neill]

I remember an episode where Thor towed a ship in a matter of seconds to earth. I was curious about what he used there.

[Dr. D.]

Hyperdrives don't actually travel faster than light, the travel through subspace. If you imagine 2 points on a piece of paper and you bend it so the points are touching, that's analogous to a wormhole. But if the paper is bent and the points aren't touching, then the gap between the points is analogous to subspace. Rather than going across the paper they can just jump across the gap.

Destiny however actually did go faster than light in normal space.

When did they say in the shows that hyperdrives don't travel FTL?

I haven't double-checked this, I prefer to not get into all the nit-picky ship talk (which is a tendency for some people to do with some threads on this board), but it sounds like you're mixing up engine types.

Sublight engines = subspace travel (slower than light speed).

Hyperdrive engines = hyperspace travel (faster than light speed).

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

When did they say in the shows that hyperdrives don't travel FTL?

I haven't double-checked this, I prefer to not get into all the nit-picky ship talk (which is a tendency for some people to do with some threads on this board), but it sounds like you're mixing up engine types.

Sublight engines = subspace travel (slower than light speed).

Hyperdrive engines = hyperspace travel (faster than light speed).

It's implied throughout the 3 series that hyperspace/subspace is a region outside normal space. Including this comment from Rush:

RUSH: Faster than light, yet not through hyperspace.

Now I've always thought that hyperspace acts as a shortcut through normal space and the ships don't actually travel faster than light. However this Daniel Jackson instructional video suggests I'm wrong about that and ships actually do travel faster than light:

[Dr. D.]

There hasn't been any mention in the shows of any shortcuts or skipping from point A to point B as a result of hyperspace travel. The exact opposite has been shown, which can be seen when looking out the windows (or force field windows) of space ships.

Now I've always thought that hyperspace acts as a shortcut through normal space and the ships don't actually travel faster than light. However this Daniel Jackson instructional video suggests I'm wrong about that and ships actually do travel faster than light:

Daniel mentioning hyperspace & subspace together like that just made me cringe. In the past in the shows they have made it pretty clear that subspace engines are used for normal space travel, like how an Earth space shuttle would travel while in orbit around Earth. Until a writer-producer confirms their intended meanings of those two words within the context of those shows, I'm going to have to say that that is a continuity error.

Rush's comment about FTL, yet not hyperspace, can be seen as 3 of the forms of space travel consisting of:

1. Subspace - normal speeds, like with an Earth shuttle.
2. FTL - faster than light (the "in between" speeds).
3. Hyperspace - the extremely fast space travel that we've seen in most of the SG shows.

Another way of looking at it:

"Sub" space refers to "below" the speeds of otherwise faster space travel.
"Hyper" space refers to "above" the speeds of otherwise slower space travel.

As for the means of actually traveling from point A to point B via hyperspace, that could be interpreted, to some extent at least, as a type of "other dimension" of space that they enter, then they travel through it at a high speed, then they exit it and return to normal space, at which point they use normal space travel.

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

The "normal speeds" engine are called sublight engines, not subspace engines. Here's a few examples

DAEDALUS BRIDGE.

CALDWELL: Stand by to engage sublight engines on my mark.

HELM OFFICER: Standing by, sir.

MARTELL
How fast does it go?

CARTER
Using sublight engines, the ship can accelerate to 110,000 miles per second. It's over half the speed of light.

JONAS
Of course it is nowhere near fast enough to achieve interstellar travel. For that, we need the hyperdrive.

INT—ODYSSEY BRIDGE

LANDRY
Full sublight. Get us clear of the planet.

MARKS
Full sublight.

[Dr. D.]

Ah yes, sublight engines. Okay. Still, this is a logical interpretation of terms:

sublight engines travel at subspace speeds.

The continuity will need some clarification, which would be best explained by one of the shows' writer-producers (i.e., Joe's mailbag).

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

Ah yes, sublight engines. Okay. Still, this is a logical interpretation of terms:

sublight engines travel at subspace speeds.

The continuity will need some clarification, which would be best explained by one of the shows' writer-producers (i.e., Joe's mailbag).

That isn't logical at all. Sublight engines go at sublight speeds, "subspace speeds" doesn't make any sense and I don't think it's ever been used in the shows.

The Daniel Jackson video DOES provide clarification, hyperspace=subspace.

[Dr. D.]

That isn't logical at all.

We disagree. There is nothing else to say.

[cyr0n_k0r]

We disagree. There is nothing else to say.

Subspace is a thing
Sublight is a speed

To travel at light speed, or sublight speed.
Subspace is a layer of space time, it is not a speed.

Recommended reading:
http://stargate-wiki.org/wiki/Sublight_engine
http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.co...nd_Maneuvering
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Sublight_engine

http://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Hyperdrive
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperdrive

[The Urban Spaceman]

So does that mean the "galactic" ships would have to have 2 diff hyperdrives,or would it just be a differnet gear?

Cause I aint buying if I have to go with a clutch.

Yes, galactic travel and inter-galactic travel are two different drives -- at least, on the old Ancient vessels. That's why the Aurora's captain was trying to make modifications to his hyperdrive, to get back to Atlantis faster with his 'intel'. The Lanteans purposely built most of their Aurora-class vessels to have only standard galactic hyperdrive engines, whereas certain ships, such as Atlantis with its stardrive, were inter-galactic engines.

There hasn't been any mention in the shows of any shortcuts or skipping from point A to point B as a result of hyperspace travel. The exact opposite has been shown, which can be seen when looking out the windows (or force field windows) of space ships.

Actually, Thor once towed the Prometheus to Earth in a matter of seconds. It was never established what sort of drive his ship was using at the time, however, and never mentioned again.

1. Subspace - normal speeds, like with an Earth shuttle.
2. FTL - faster than light (the "in between" speeds).
3. Hyperspace - the extremely fast space travel that we've seen in most of the SG shows.

Another way of looking at it:

"Sub" space refers to "below" the speeds of otherwise faster space travel.
"Hyper" space refers to "above" the speeds of otherwise slower space travel.

Actually, the shows use subspace and hyperspace interchangeably, though they usually use 'subspace' when referring to communication, and 'hyperspace' when referring to travel. 'Subspace' is not a speed. 'Sublight' is a speed which means 'less than the speed of light', which is what all ships (with the possible exception of Destiny) use to travel.

The hyperdrive basically opens up a hyperspace window, into which ships travel, and then when in hyperspace, they travel at sub-light speeds. The problem with light-speed travel is that the closer you get to the speed of light, the slower time passes for you (something we call 'Relativity'). I'm guessing that since the show's producers didn't want (or couldn't afford) actors travelling at FTL speeds to age more slowly than actors who never travelled at FTL speeds, they came up with hyperspace -- a region of space in which reacts with different physical laws to 'normal' space, in which ships could travel through at sublight speeds.

You'll notice in 'The Return (Part 1)' that the Daedalus encounters (in the void between galaxies) an Ancient ship travelling at 0.999 the speed of light, a feat which McKay says is technologically remarkable but effectively useless, especially compared to hyperspace travel. Even though the ship was travelling at almost-light-speed, it still would have taken another million years to reach the Milky Way galaxy.

Entry into hyperspace is achieved when a vessel opens a stable hyperspace window. This allows a vessel to enter subspace and achieve faster-than-light velocities relative to real space whilst traveling at sublight speeds within its own layer of subspace. In this state, they can fly from one point to another in a relatively straight line. Hyperspace gives off high levels of radiation, but this is only a problem for the hulls of Wraith vessels, which are organic and unshielded.

http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperspace