Puddle jumper (Stargate)
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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 Tel'tak but large enough to transport a small strike force. Like the Tel’tak, it is split into two sections: the hull and cargo hold, with a bulkhead door to separate them.This door is capable of retaining atmosphere against the vacuum of space or holding back the pressure of deep ocean water. The vessel is tube-shaped with an angled front and rear allowing it to slide perfectly through open Stargates. Entry and exit to the Puddle Jumper is provided through the use of the cargo bay door on the rear. The cargo bay door can be lowered and raised in normal operation or can be jettisoned by use of the emergency release located in the rear section of the cargo bay. The cargo area also serves for additional seating within the jumper for more than the flight crew. It is safe to assume that the Jumpers have limited power source due to the power depletion of Jumper Six in the episode Grace Under Pressure. 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.
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 may have been acquired by Sheppard during the second-season episode The Tower along with the explicitly mentioned drone munitions.
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 maneuver, 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 Weapons, 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.
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 DHDs 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. The Jumper DHDs seem to be tailored (either automatically or by design) to the galaxy they are in since the Puddle Jumpers from Atlantis have the Pegasus set of chevrons, where as the Time Jumper (a Jumper equipped with a time travel device) found by SG-1 in the episode It's Good to Be King had the Milky Way set.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 useless 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.#redirect
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 preserve 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
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