Jumpgate
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In science fiction, a jump gate (or 'jumpgate') is a fictional device able to create a wormhole or portal, allowing fast travel between two points in space. Several works use this term extensively.
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[edit] Babylon 5
In the Babylon 5 television series, a jumpgate is an apparatus with the power to open a vortex that connects normal space with hyperspace, making interstellar travel take a matter of days. Jumpgates also provide beacons that allow navigation within hyperspace. The origin of the technology is unknown; all races learned to make jumpgates by examining already-existing ones. For example, humans acquired jumpgate technology by purchasing it from the Centauri. Some ships are large enough to house jumpgate devices within them, enabling them to enter and exit hyperspace at will. Minbari warships have been known to exit hyperspace right next to enemy ships, destroying them in the backlash.
[edit] Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
In the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series a network of stargates has been set up for interstellar travel. In this context, stargates are the same concept as jumpgates. These stargates were shown as a diamond-shaped quartet of stars that shimmered when a vessel was making transit.
[edit] Doom
The Doom series has their own jumpgates, called Anomalies, placed on the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. In the Doom 3 games a true version of a stargate appears. In Doom 3, it offers a direct link to hell, whence two Hell Knights emerge and attempt to kill the protagonist. In Doom 3 - Resurrection of Evil, another stargate is opened when the player faces the first Hunter. All the Anomalies in both classic and new Doom are used to travel in space at an instant speed by using an alternate dimension as a shortcut, where the hellish and demonic race dwells.
[edit] Eve Online
In the MMORPG, Eve Online, jump gates allow travel between star systems. Due to the complex nature of their construction and the physics that they are based upon, in the official lore of the game, a jump gate must be placed between two stars of a star system with at least two stars - this makes "approximately one in every three" star systems unsuitable.
The largest capital ships (Titans) have been given the ability to forge a similar gate towards a cynosural field, allowing them to temporarily connect one system to another and jump support fleets through before jumping itself. In Revelations II, a player owned structure called the jump bridge was added that allowed a more permanent jump bridge to be made. With the Trinity expansion pack another ship type (black ops) appeared which could generate 'silent' jump portals not visible on the system scanner (although the ships still appear, as cloaks cannot be used along with generators).
[edit] Fading Suns
In the fictional Fading Suns universe jumpgates are the only means to travel between the stars. They are huge structures left behind by some almost unknown alien civilization called the Ur. The jumpgates are long ring-like structures that have a diameter of several kilometers across, they are opened by a device called jump engine, and the route is controlled by another device called the jump key. The civilization of the known worlds has very little understanding of the principles at work behind the gates.
[edit] Freelancer
In the Freelancer game by Digital Anvil, the jumpgate is an apparatus which provides travel from system to system. After the Liberty landed on Planet Manhattan and began exploring the New York System they came across the natural phenomenon known as the Jumphole. Ageira Technologies researched it and developed the Jumpgate, and in conjunction with Deep Space Engineering, provided the rest of the Houses with the technology- for a hefty fee.
Jumpgates form choke points through which traffic entering a star system must pass, making them favored ambush points for criminal groups such as the Outcasts and Corsairs. To guard against this, naval or military checkpoints are commonly situated near Jumpgates, who also take advantage of the opportunity to scan for contraband being smuggled into the system (although smart smugglers and criminals tend to make use of jump holes, naturally occurring versions of jump gates, rather than risk detection and capture.) Jumpgates are also outfitted with defensive turrets in order to cover the immediate vicinity.
[edit] Jumpgate series
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In the NetDevil MMORPGs Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative and Jumpgate Evolution, the titular jumpgates are used to travel from sector to sector of space.
[edit] Marvel Comics
In the Marvel Universe, Jump Gates are used by the United States Government to connect each state superhero team of the Fifty State Initiative with the Negative Zone's Prison 42 and in turn the other states Jump Gates. However, State jumps wear down the point between positive and negative space so the jumps are used sparingly.[1]
An alien race called the Shi'ar, use Stargates which can transport matter across intergalactic distances. There is a large Shi'ar stargate on the edge of our Solar System, but it requires a massive amount of energy to activate, and is hazardous to use since it has the potential to destabilize a star.
[edit] Lost in Space (film)
In the year 2058, Earth will soon be uninhabitable after the irreversible effects of pollution. The United Global Space Force serves as the planetary government. Professor John Robinson, lead scientist of the Jupiter Mission, will lead his family to the habitable planet Alpha Prime to prepare it for colonization by building a hypergate in orbit. The Jupiter 2 is equipped with a hyperdrive that allows faster-than-light travel, which will eventually be employed to evacuate the citizens of Earth. However hypergates must be constructed on Earth and Alpha Prime to provide stable points of departure and arrival. The project is accelerated after Global Sedition terrorist forces send two armed fighters to destroy the hypergate under construction. Major Don West, a fighter pilot from the hypergate defense force, manages to destroy the enemy fighters and is unwillingly drafted as the new pilot of the Jupiter Mission, as the previous pilot has been assassinated.
Unfortunately, without a hypergate to warp to, the ship and its crew end up in a random (and apparently uncharted) part of the galaxy. They then go through a "hole in space" and presumably go to the future.The Space Family Robinson thus become lost in space, as they did in the TV series and various comic projects.
[edit] Prehistoric Park
See Prehistoric Park#Technology for more information.
[edit] Stargate
The MGM franchise is a military science fiction, set in the present day.According to in-universe lore, the Stargate and its network were conceived, built and seeded by an advanced race of humans called 'Ancients'. The first gate found on Earth was discovered on an archaeological dig at near the great pyramid of Giza and acquired by the U.S. Military. Upon finally learning how to activate the Stargate, the gate is regularly used to explore the galaxy, extend diplomatic relations as appropriate and recover technology to protect Earth and it burgeoning allies against a variety of foe.
The titular device was conceived by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, although allegedly plagiarised from a film treatment they received from Egyptology student Omar Zuhdi [2]. Devlin and Emmerich's concept was developed for the Stargate motion picture and subsequently adapted by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner for the MGM franchises- Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate Universe and the feature films Stargate Continuum and Stargate:The Ark of Truth
With a diametre of 6.7m (22ft) wide and weighing 29,000 kg (64,000 lb)[3], a stargate comprises a stone ring with 38 symbols representing constellations that rotates within an outer track upon which are 9 chevrons. A stargate is typically operated by its Dial-home Device or 'DHD' that controls power, address input and gate diagnostics. These devices take wide and varied forms across the three franchises. [4][5][6]. When an active 'gate-address' is entered by a dialing sequence, into the DHD a wormhole is established, culminating in the iconic 'kawoosh' as the wormhole's forming event horizon sheds its velocity and settles inside the stargate.[7].
[edit] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, famous dimensional portals appear. These machines can within some seconds transport people from one place to another. Krang has one, and Donatello develops one later (during season three), however, Donatello's seldom work. Typically, Krang opens the dimensional portal in the Technodrome for transportation between Earth and Dimension X.
[edit] Transformers
The original Transformers cartoon featured the Space Bridge, which created a subspace tunnel from one point to another — typically, from an Earth station to Cybertron. The Earth station resembled a giant ring lying down, with an opening gate. When activated, the gate would close and sections of the ring would light up, the light spinning until a subspace tunnel was opened and whatever was in the ring was pulled in. The Cybertron receiving station was built into a large tower. Only one Space Bridge was ever shown, and it was under Decepticon control; but one station existing on Cybertron may be a hint that there were other Space Bridge stations on Cybertron. It was a key plot device in the first two seasons, phased out afterwards in favor of more standard space travel.
Unlike some examples (see Stargate above), matter is not broken down when sent through the Space Bridge — the objects stay intact inside the subspace tunnel.
[edit] The X Computer Game Series
The jumpgate in the X computer game series by Egosoft is a large device which uses a wormhole to connect itself to another jumpgate. These devices have changed in appearance through the series although this is accepted as a graphical enhancement, not actual gate altering.
The jumpgates create a web of connections to 163 known sectors within the X Universe. Within the sector the jumpgates are roughly located in the north, south, east and west. Not all sectors have 4 discovered jumpgates, some have slightly more, many have less.
The jumpgates and their current configuration are believed to be designed by ancient beings who are currently nowhere within the X Universe gate system. They are believed to be observing the sectors but direct contact has not occurred in generations. They are also blamed for the re-routing of some jumpgates every now and again, cutting off some sectors or connecting undiscovered ones.
The current intelligent biological residents of the X Universe, the Argon, Boron, Paranid, Split and Teladi do not understand the technology behind the jumpgates but the Humans of the Sol system successfully created their own jumpgates in the mid 21st century. The Earth jumpgate connected to the alien jumpgate system. The humans began colonising using the prearranged alien jumpgates although every sector they visited was strangely devoid of intelligent life. The Earth jumpgate was destroyed to trap the destructive terraformer fleet in the X Universe, away from Earth.
The only race in the X Universe to possibly understand the jumpgates are the Xenon, which are the “descendants” of the robotic terraformer fleet from Earth. They created a jumpdrive to get back to Earth to destroy it. The first jump-ship managed to jump close to the Earth system but it was badly damaged. The Kha'ak race also appear to have an understanding of jump systems, although they never use gate, preferring to use a jump system of their own design, which creates a momentary wormhole by joining several ships together and drawing power from all of them.
[edit] References
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative #2
- ^ [1]
- ^ Stargate SG-1 6.01 'Redemption'
- ^ Stargate SG-1 1.01 'Children of the Gods'
- ^ Stargate: Atlantis 1.01 'Rising'
- ^ Stargate Universe 1.01 'Air Part 1'
- ^ Stargate SG-1 1.01 'Children of the Gods'
