FTL?
POSTED BY: Staleek
UPDATED: Saturday, January 12, 2008 13:55
VIEWED: 8146
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From what I have been able to tell, FTL is not something that is used on Firefly, or on any ship in the 'verse. What kind of drive system is in place here on these ships? Also, while the idea of generational ships is not a new one, it is interesting how it has played out here. Is it known whether this system that they inhabit was discovered before they left Earth, or was it something that they stumbled on in their travels?
'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." - Thoreau
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Almost any opinion I or anyone else might have about this is merely conjecture, but based on internal evidence I do not believe there is any FTL drives in the 'verse. Also, I would guess the new system was found before the mass exodus from Earth-That-Was.
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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Quote:They found the system first, at least that's the impression I get. There is no FTL, this has been stated within canon.
Originally posted by Staleek:
From what I have been able to tell, FTL is not something that is used on Firefly, or on any ship in the 'verse. What kind of drive system is in place here on these ships? Also, while the idea of generational ships is not a new one, it is interesting how it has played out here. Is it known whether this system that they inhabit was discovered before they left Earth, or was it something that they stumbled on in their travels?
As for what drive they have, that would be conjecture. The Tenth Crewmember documentry indicates that it's some form of Fusion (though that's a throw away comment from a member of the art team, it's the best I've heard), and from watching the show Serenity seems to pulse the engine for acceleration, rather than using a sustained burn. So Nuclear Fusion-Pulse like some forms of the Orion project? I believe there's a line about Fuel cells, and you'd certainly use fuel cells in pulse propulsion ('burning' one cell produces one pulse). Maybe something like the mini-mag Orion?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Mag_Orion
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I believe that the ships of the verse have some kind of gravity-based drive. When the engine did not work in the flashback of "Out Of Gas" Kaylee talked about the "grav boot". It is possible that this drive can act to reduce the mass of the ship to make their reaction drives more efficient. It is certain that artificial gravity exists.
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Clearly, the two series are related. BSG takes place many thousand years after Firefly/Serenity. When the Earth was used up everyone left in huge generation ships and travelled across the galaxy until they found "the verse." Over an unspecified amount of time a new polytheistic religion developed and the alliance gave way to a colonial government centered around 12 of the major planets. Also, during this time technology advanced including the development of the FTL drive and AI (the cylons). When Galactica gets back to earth they will be attacked by the cylons. Galactica will when but be destroyed and the fleet will land. The ships will be cannibalized as the colonials try to survive and technology will regress to what we call the Greek and other early civilizations. Then history as we know it will continue until we get back to the point where generation ships leave in search of "the verse."
All of this has happened before...and will happen again.
-e
"Storms getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."
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Quote:
derangedmilk wrote:
Saturday, December 22, 2007 10:38
Clearly, the two series are related. BSG takes place many thousand years after Firefly/Serenity. When the Earth was used up everyone left in huge generation ships and travelled across the galaxy until they found "the verse." Over an unspecified amount of time a new polytheistic religion developed and the alliance gave way to a colonial government centered around 12 of the major planets. Also, during this time technology advanced including the development of the FTL drive and AI (the cylons). When Galactica gets back to earth they will be attacked by the cylons. Galactica will when but be destroyed and the fleet will land. The ships will be cannibalized as the colonials try to survive and technology will regress to what we call the Greek and other early civilizations. Then history as we know it will continue until we get back to the point where generation ships leave in search of "the verse."
All of this has happened before...and will happen again.
-e
Wow...
Yep that's all I can say to that.
--------------------------------------------------
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein
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It's definitely cannon that there is no FTL drive, but there does seem to be some form of FTL communication system--the Cortex allows real-time communication over distances that would involve time-lag otherwise.
Specifically, in the Big Damn Movie, the operative has a real-time conversation with Mal while being unaware of his location. If the comm system was not FTL, this would place them in relatively close proximity. (Even communication from Earth to Luna involves a 1/3 second lag, and we're next-door neighbors.)
Mal is also able to speak with Mr. Universe from Miranda with no noticeable lag time. QED, FTl Comm.
"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn
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There is no ftl travel. As for communications, there probably is not either.
In the Pilot episode Serenity, Serenity has to be "in range" to get a vid feed from Patience.
In the movie the worlds where this takes place are only separated by a few hours travel between them (Mal while probably on Haven - "We're only but a few hours out", and the distance from Mr Universe's world to Miranda has to be short enough to allow a reasonable chase without Serenity getting caught - they are not too far ahead of the Reaver fleet. ), so it does not have to be a massive distance.
Then add a dose of convenience to that. It would not be much fun waiting a few seconds in between each reply.
About Firefly "clearly" being in the same verse as BSG... erm a polite no thankyou. Different universes totally. (In BSG the "lost people" or whatever they are called do not leave earth, but go to earth.)
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Quote:
Originally posted by nbz:
There is no ftl travel. As for communications, there probably is not either.
In the Pilot episode Serenity, Serenity has to be "in range" to get a vid feed from Patience.
Could you please explain to me why that would be a result of the signal's speed instead of, say, it's strength?
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It is an assumption. Without being any expert whatsoever in the subject, I would think that if a signal can get from one place to another which is of enough quality that it can be used for basic communications, it is also good enough for more advanced communications such as video(bandwidth permitting - which ti should as the transmitters and receivers are both capable enough for video).
That leaves (in my simple world) time delay as the reason for needing to be in range.
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