| Puddle Jumper (stargate) |
Article Index for Puddle |
Website Links For Puddle |
Information AboutPuddle Jumper (stargate) |
|
In the Stargate Science Fiction universe, the Puddle Jumper is a small craft capable of space travel created by the Ancients . Several of these ships were discovered in the Atlantis hangar, which is located above the control room in the central tower, and accesses the Stargate through a retractable door in the room's floor. The hangar bay is also a maintenance facility for up to twelve of the craft. There are six bays on the main floor of the two-story structure. The name "puddle jumper" is a pun on the ship's ability to travel through Stargate event horizons, which visually resemble pools of water. It was named by Major John Sheppard , an Air Force pilot, in the Stargate Atlantis pilot '' Rising ''. The nomenclature of the ship was protested by Dr. Rodney McKay , who preferred the name "Gateship," but Sheppard's name appears to have been favoured. It should be noted that "puddle jumper" is also a term for small commuter floatplanes. Given the size and practicality of the Atlantis spacecraft, Major Sheppard (an experienced pilot) found a serendipitous double meaning when describing the craft. DESIGN The Puddle Jumper is a small cylindrical ship smaller then a ''. The power source of a jumper is unknown, but it presumably recharges upon return to Atlantis . This presumption would explain why Major John Sheppard expected Aiden Ford to discard the jumper that he used to escape from Atlantis. 4 It is also unknown how many jumpers the Atlantis team own, although we do know that they own at least ten if not more, despite a number of them being destroyed during the course of the series. Additional Puddle jumpers were acquired by Sheppard during the second-season episode '' The Tower '' PROPULSION SYSTEM Puddle Jumpers have two retractable thruster pods that power the craft to sublight speeds allowing interplanetary travel, and has an Inertial Dampening system to shield its passengers from sudden accelerations and stops. This system can also alter the weight of the Puddle Jumper. While the thruster pods are responsible for propelling the craft, the pods must be closed to allow the ship to fit through the Stargate. Limited thrust is apparently possible with retracted pods, as seen on several occasions in the Atlantis control room. Though it has not been confirmed, it is likely that the jumper operates on an auto-pilot for this manouver, explaining how Lieutenant Aiden Ford was able to use one to escape Atlantis in the first episode of season two, in spite of his lack of the ATA gene. The thruster pods also house at least eight Ancient Drone Weapon s, and must be extended to use the weapons. There are also control crystals through out the jumper in places behind the benches and seats, in cubbies, and most likely on the control panels that even a Wraith can use (as seen in episode 1.14, '' The Defiant One ''). It is believed that a puddle jumper can be powered by using ancient drones as its propulsion; although it would not be maneuverable or fast it would require very little power. It has also been theorized that the Puddle Jumpers can be "remote controlled" by the Ancient chair platform in Atlantis. Dr. Rodney McKay stated that the Drones would be the required method of propulsion in order to control the Puddle Jumper while under control of the Ancient chair platform.5 MENTAL INTERFACE Puddle Jumpers have a mental interface that essentially reads the pilot's thoughts and controls the ship based on those commands, assisted by two control joysticks built into the ship's "dashboard". Like a great deal of Ancient technology found in the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies, the Puddle Jumper requires the user to have the ATA Gene to initialize. After that, many of the Jumper's systems can be used by anyone. However, since piloting requires the mental interface, only one with the ATA gene can actually fly the craft. PUDDLE JUMPER DHD The Puddle Jumper DHD s are very similar to the Atlantis DHD without Atlantis' extra control-crystal. The ship's DHD is used for travel through an orbital Stargate, possibly in conjunction with a Stargate Power Node, since orbital Stargates have no constant DHD. These DHDs seem to be tailored to the galaxy they will be used in since the Puddle Jumpers from Atlantis have the Pegasus set of glyphs where as the Gate Ship in Stargate SG-1 had the Milky Way set. Alternately, the display of glyphs may simply change relative to the galaxy the Jumper is in, given that the particular Jumper, used by the Ancient, Janus, had a time machine in the aft compartment. It is presumably the same Jumper seen in the Episode "Before I Sleep". In that episode, the jumper seemed to have the Pegasus symbols. If the display didn't automatically change, then perhaps Janus changed it, or he simply built another identical ship. The DHD of the Puddle Jumper automatically links to the closest Stargate in range and when the DHD is used it sends the command to the Stargate. SHIELDS AND CLOAKING Puddle Jumpers utilize an advanced Cloaking Generator . A puddle jumper has no true shields at all, suggesting that it is an exploration and trading ship. However, on one occasion ('' The Defiant One ''), a wraith tampered with a jumper's controls thereby somehow generating a shield around it, causing Major John Sheppard to run into the vessel. Also, the cloaking generator can be "reversed" to act as a shield, but this drains the jumper's power far too rapidly making it almost usless in a combat situation. The generator can only perform one function or the other, but it is theorized that if an extra generator were added, then a jumper would be able to cloak and shield simultaneously. To date, this has never been tested. SUBMERSIBLE PROPERTIES The Puddle Jumper can also be used as underwater submersible using the drive pods as the means of propulsion. A damaged Jumper dove to a little over twelve hundred feet without a shield before the front window cracked. Using the jumper as an under water vessel requires a copious amount of power. A damaged Jumper has a minimum of three to four hours before its power source becomes completely depleted. The heat the jumper puts out can be adjusted and the inertial dampeners deactivated to reserve power. TIME JUMPER Originally, one of the Puddle Jumpers had an experimental time travel device installed. The Ancient who built the time machine was named Janus. In the Stargate Atlantis episode '' Before I Sleep '' it was revealed that in an Alternate Timeline the Pegasus team discovered this Puddle Jumper in Atlantis when they first arrived. That version of Atlantis quickly suffered destruction when the shield failed without the city surfacing first, and Dr. Weir became the only survivor when she used the Time Jumper to escape and accidentally travelled back 10,000 years to the time of Atlantis' original evacuation. Due to concerns about altering history further it was evidently dismantled by the Ancients before departing for Earth. However, there was another secretly built, to be found later by SG-1 in '' It's Good To Be King ''. It was later used to go back to ancient Egypt for a ZPM in the Stargate SG-1 two-part episode '' Moebius ''. REFERENCES |
|
|