Title. If they two ships were in space. One stationary, the other moves forward and jumps to FTL/Hyperspace. Assuming they are very close, would it damage the ship not going to FTL/Hyperdrive? Would both be damaged?
Posted Jul 24, 2014, 6:24 AM UTC
The only one I can think of is Halo slipspace travel. Ships are phased out of reality in slipspace, which means that they can't collide with other ships. However, initiating a slipspace jump in atmosphere will discharge a massive amount of energy, roughly equivalent to a hydrogen bomb and enough to level a city.
I can only speak for FTL travel in Stargate and Battlestar Galactica since FTL travel is a very broad and inconsistent topic that can vary heavily from universe to universe.
In Stargate, there are two major forms of FTL travel: hyperdrives and whatever it is that Destiny uses. Hyperdrives work by opening a "window" into subspace where things like the speed of light don't apply. It's been shown that ships can enter subspace with no fears of damaging nearby ships as long as they don't collide with each other while attempting to enter the hyperspace window. I think once or twice a ship was prevented from entering hyperspace by being "boxed in" by several other ships.
Destiny's FTL drives are a little more ambiguous. It's implied that Destiny doesn't actually leave real space (I think Dr. Rush states this) as much as it creates a bubble around itself in which the speed of light doesn't apply. It's been shown to vaporize anything in close distance that's not within it's shield when it engages FTL travel hinting that it just travels extremely fast along a pre-planned route.
In Battlestar Galactica, FTL works by folding space to put the origin and destination adjacent to each other and then traveling through a short wormhole between. It's been shown that executing a jump results in two effects: a repulsive and implosive force. A group of raptors were shown as being upended when a ship they were attempting to board jumped away. Likewise, at the Battle of New Caprica, a sonic boom occured at the point of departure as Galactica completed the jump implying that an FTL jump violently repels surrounding matter.
Likewise, it's been shown to create a sort of vacuum/void in space itself as shown in season four when a raptor jumping away in very close proximity to Galactica creates a spatial distortion that physically rips away a small portion of Galactica's outer hull. This implies that larger ships create a large spatial distortion that can damage/destroy other larger ships in their immediate vicinity while smaller ships are repelled by the force of the jump.
In both shows, there is no real danger of damage when exiting FTL unless your ship were to collide with another or emerge physically inside another ship. In both series ships emerge in very tight formations implying that there is no inherent danger upon return to normal space.
During the Battle of New Caprica, the "explosion" you're referencing was actually an implosion caused by the error rushing into the void where the Battlestar had been.
Depends on the method used.
It depends on the type of FTL propulsion being utilized.
Some use a sort of "quantum/subspace bubble" that surrounds the ship, allowing it to travel through spacetime as if it wasn't there (most notably Star Trek's Warp Drive). Some "fold" spacetime to "jump" from one place to another virtually instantaneously (most notably Battlestar Galactica's FTL). Some utilize what might be known as "hyperdrive" in which the ship simply goes REALLY REALLY FAST in a straight line (most notably Star Wars). Some actually use spacetime as a travel medium (most notably Doctor Who's TARDIS). Some use predefined routes that are controlled by either physical or algorithmic restraints (most notably Star Trek's Slipstream/Transwarp drives). And finally, some utilize either natural or fabricated "wormholes" to appear, instantaneously, at another location (most notably Stargate's stargates).
Those forms of travel that warp or fold spacetime can definitely have a huge physical effect on nearby structures. Those that simply accelerate through spacetime or those that move REALLY REALLY FAST have little chance of affecting nearby structures at launch, but can affect structures near their "end location" through conservation of energy. Those that utilize predefined routes or wormholes have very little chance of affecting nearby structures.
With Battletech, yes, making a FTL jump within 27km of another FTL-capable ship would be catastrophic for both ships.
The Kearny-Fuchida (K-F) drive on the nearby ship would react and be attracted to the K-F drive on the jumping ship, ripping the drive out of both ships and effectively gutting them both.
I am not familiar with Battletech, but that is very interesting
Missing from the list would be ships that create a portal to another type of space, and exploit its difference in the measurement of distance to travel farther. The main difference between something like Hyperspace or Wormholes is that the ships can actually stop and remain in this space indefinitely if they choose to (as is the case in Babylon 5)
You are correct. I knew I would forget a few. Ships that travel through the Warp in Warhammer 40k use this kind of FTL, as well.
As do those in Halo. Slipspace.
Thank you for the reply! That's very interesting and helped me a lot. Question: What method does Stargate Universe's Destiny use? I thought it was hyperspace but now in not sure.
Destiny's FTL drives are specifically designed to move at superluminal speeds without entering hyperspace. I believe that its FTL is somewhat akin to the "bubble" style, like what is found in Star Trek, because of the fact that other ships are capable of "riding along" with it (assuming they are physically attached and Destiny's shield surrounds both ships).
Thank you, very much! One more question: Are any of the methods (names of ways and definitions(Slipstream, Hyper drive, FTL, Warp Drive)) copyrighted?
Not to my knowledge, but if you are planning on writing a book or something you might want to do a bit of research