They spent all that time trying to use the 9th Chevron and it just goes to an old clunker with nothing that special on it. Wow, they are whole galaxies away. Unfortunately there is nothing there. The 9th chevron doesn't seem that good so far.
What's so special about the Destiny?
- Thread starter broberfett
- Start date
Alright, here is one aspect to consider.
A federation starship like lets say the 1701, has to go in for refit what, every 5 years. If they use the engines at max for more that a few minutes the whole thing goes BOOM! Power supply, very finite. It certainly couldn't hop several galaxy's.
The Destiny has been in continuous operation for anywhere from several hundred thousand years to millions of years (who knows). That whole time it has been using the stars themselves to stay powered.
Who knows, had modern humans not come aboard till a couple years later they could have showed up right after one of Destiny's stellar powers ups the come onto a ship fully powered. Much of the urgent crisis the first episodes had would have never happened... but I digress.
In that respect I think the Destiny is damned impressive. The iconic Enterprise would have fallen apart after a few hundred years max, and that's with a full crew able to maintain it.
After that we'll have to see more of the Destiny to know more.
A federation starship like lets say the 1701, has to go in for refit what, every 5 years. If they use the engines at max for more that a few minutes the whole thing goes BOOM! Power supply, very finite. It certainly couldn't hop several galaxy's.
The Destiny has been in continuous operation for anywhere from several hundred thousand years to millions of years (who knows). That whole time it has been using the stars themselves to stay powered.
Who knows, had modern humans not come aboard till a couple years later they could have showed up right after one of Destiny's stellar powers ups the come onto a ship fully powered. Much of the urgent crisis the first episodes had would have never happened... but I digress.
In that respect I think the Destiny is damned impressive. The iconic Enterprise would have fallen apart after a few hundred years max, and that's with a full crew able to maintain it.
After that we'll have to see more of the Destiny to know more.
They have technology that was made after the Destiny was launched. The Atlantis stuff should be more advanced. It would be like you thought you were travelling to some super advanced ship like the Next Gen Enterprise and all you get is some clunky, leaky circa 1700s ship. It may be neat in some ways, but it isn't worth being stuck on it for years without food and water. The places they are travelling to are empty, barren rocks with no civilization.
They can't control where it goes and they can't have teams of technicians dismantle it to see how it ticks. They can't even get a good look at the engines because they are operating all the time. When they stop for 12 hours they can check some of it out, but they can only transmit what they kept in their heads back to Earth.
They can't control where it goes and they can't have teams of technicians dismantle it to see how it ticks. They can't even get a good look at the engines because they are operating all the time. When they stop for 12 hours they can check some of it out, but they can only transmit what they kept in their heads back to Earth.
It's special because it has mapped out and charted something in the region of ten galaxies and the worlds within, along with the gate addresses to make gating within them possible. Not much use at all to the people stranded on there, but there's alot SGC could do with that database in the long run. Essentially it facilitates colonising the universe to a degree the Ancients themselves never came close too, while mortal anyway. That's what makes it the "most important discovery since the Stargate itself"
I would say more than 50 galaxies. They are billions of light years away from Earth, and I counted each blip the computer sound made in the premier episode as it was showing the galaxies it went through, there were at least 50 blip noises.
To answer the OPs question, they didn't know where the 9th chevron was going to send them. In the premier, Rush said they found the address in Atlantis, with no description or instructions. They had no idea it went to a ship. So, the mystery and importance was trying to first of all see where it went, that is why Rush insisted they dial it, cause that was their ONLY chance to do it, the circumstances were just right, and he had to know what was on the other side.
Now that they are there, it is quite a find. It reveals more about the Ancients history, and gives the SGC something no other race besides the Nox/Asgard/Tollan have, the ability to build stargates. The Destiny is following gate seeding ships, if Earth can get ahold of that, they'll definitely have an advantage over every other race.
It also seems that the Destiny is more robust than Atlantis, yes, older perhaps, but still much more able to go the distance. It does have some impressive technology on board, such as using Stars to power itself, and being able to fly through a Star. We never saw any evidence that Atlantis could do this, even with 3 ZPMs I would have my doubts about it flying through a Star. Once the ZPMs run out your dead in the water, whereas the Destiny can re-supply itself on the go. That is very useful technology for long voyages. The Ancients would have probably used their best technology at the time to build Destiny, and in some regards it may actually be more advanced than Atlantis. For example, it has an AI, yet Atlantis does not.
As civilizations rise and fall, and the Ancients having millions of years of history, who is to say the Destiny wasn't more advanced, and Atlantis was actually a regression of their technology as the Ancients had that whole plague thing happen and started figuring out they wanted to Ascend.
And as the above poster noted, it has traveled many galaxies, and many worlds out there are now seeded opening up even more exploration that only Earth would know about and have access to, another advantage over other races.
What's so special? Scientific knowledge and its computer banks have it in spades. Its like the hubble telescope on McGuire level steroids. It could also have gate addresses for all sorts of galaxies never visited. Remember also, they didn't know where the address would take them.
Or because Atlantis as built didn't have to be as robust. It was designed to spend most of its time on a planet and in its hayday they could replace a ZPM as if it were a AA.
Among the things I think would make Destiny valuable:
- Its FTL drive. Conceivably, it's "faster" than hyperspace as we know it in the Stargate universe (we can't be sure so far, but I thought it is faster so as to get our heroes out of having to wait weeks or months travel between galaxies), or otherwise a nifty technology to lift should they be able to figure it out.
- The ability to build a ship that powers itself from stars. I doubt it's JUST a hydrogen ramscoop (we'll see) but diving into stars and using them for fuel is something we haven't seen before. The epitome of Ancient power sources was the ZPM (not counting abortive other attempts at creating other power) and whatever's going on the Destiny would be valuable in that respect.
- Access to an immense network of stargates that NO ONE back home can use. Touchy-feely exploration aside, if they can get open access to all those planets without anyone around to bug them could change the way the stargates are used from Earth.
Mark
- Its FTL drive. Conceivably, it's "faster" than hyperspace as we know it in the Stargate universe (we can't be sure so far, but I thought it is faster so as to get our heroes out of having to wait weeks or months travel between galaxies), or otherwise a nifty technology to lift should they be able to figure it out.
- The ability to build a ship that powers itself from stars. I doubt it's JUST a hydrogen ramscoop (we'll see) but diving into stars and using them for fuel is something we haven't seen before. The epitome of Ancient power sources was the ZPM (not counting abortive other attempts at creating other power) and whatever's going on the Destiny would be valuable in that respect.
- Access to an immense network of stargates that NO ONE back home can use. Touchy-feely exploration aside, if they can get open access to all those planets without anyone around to bug them could change the way the stargates are used from Earth.
Mark
I don't think that technology in any way, shap of form from the destiny would be valuable. Remeber that it pre-dates previous Ancients technology so all of its knowledge will be available in the repositories of ancient knowledge or Atlantis's database or in the Asguard's database. The Ancients would not have downgrade their systems, they have improved them.
As far as FTL vs Hyperspace, it's not necessirily faster given that a hyperspace drive power by a ZPM can travel to other galaxies pretty fast and a ZPM is far more convenient than a star to carry around. The destiny, in terms of technologies is obsolete.
BUT!!!! It may still be to most imporant discovery for mankind for other reasons. To understand where we came from and where we're going. It may lead us on the path of ascension.
As far as FTL vs Hyperspace, it's not necessirily faster given that a hyperspace drive power by a ZPM can travel to other galaxies pretty fast and a ZPM is far more convenient than a star to carry around. The destiny, in terms of technologies is obsolete.
BUT!!!! It may still be to most imporant discovery for mankind for other reasons. To understand where we came from and where we're going. It may lead us on the path of ascension.
Checkmate
Commodore
Why on earth would you think all of the knowledge the Destiny has acquired in the last million years or so would be in an Ancient repository or any other database? Especially since it's still been collecting data since long after the Ancients ascended and abandoned their technology.
It likely has a massive database of millions of seeded worlds across dozens and dozens of galaxies.
There's also no guarantee that some of the technology aboard the Destiny survived to the later ages of the Ancients. This ship is even older compared to them than Stonehenge, Easter Island or the Great Pyramids are to us. By many, many multiples. Hell, it's essentially their Atlantis, mythologically speaking.
There has to be a reason they seemed to have abandoned it. Perhaps it wasn't so much an abandoning as it was lost to them over the ages. Its technology included. Or do you care to explain why such a useful type of FTL engine was never seen again, even on Ancient vehicles from the later ages? Or why this solar refueling concept was never used again, despite it clearly being superior to ZPMs. Or, hell, why its shield technology was never used again. The shields on Atlantis barely lasted ten thousand years and all it did was keep water out. It wasn't even buried that deep in the sea. The Destiny, on the other hand, flew into a sun with absolutely no ill effects despite being badly damaged due to the ravages of time (and likely warfare; something I can't wait to learn more about).
Yeah. After considering all of that, I can see why you'd think it would be a useless discovery.
It likely has a massive database of millions of seeded worlds across dozens and dozens of galaxies.
There's also no guarantee that some of the technology aboard the Destiny survived to the later ages of the Ancients. This ship is even older compared to them than Stonehenge, Easter Island or the Great Pyramids are to us. By many, many multiples. Hell, it's essentially their Atlantis, mythologically speaking.
There has to be a reason they seemed to have abandoned it. Perhaps it wasn't so much an abandoning as it was lost to them over the ages. Its technology included. Or do you care to explain why such a useful type of FTL engine was never seen again, even on Ancient vehicles from the later ages? Or why this solar refueling concept was never used again, despite it clearly being superior to ZPMs. Or, hell, why its shield technology was never used again. The shields on Atlantis barely lasted ten thousand years and all it did was keep water out. It wasn't even buried that deep in the sea. The Destiny, on the other hand, flew into a sun with absolutely no ill effects despite being badly damaged due to the ravages of time (and likely warfare; something I can't wait to learn more about).
Yeah. After considering all of that, I can see why you'd think it would be a useless discovery.
Superior to ZPMs? It requires you to fly into a sun to use it, which would probably be a little inconvenient compared to just plugging in a new ZPM, especially for a city. For all we know, Auroras could do the exact same trick. Also, ZPMs seem to have a much higher peak power output, and it's possible higher capacity. We have no idea how long the ship needs to go between refueling stops,
Furthermore, flying into a sun isn't that impressive in the SG universe. SG-1 did it with a bog-standard ha'tak and sat in it for about twelve hours - much of that without any shields. It was a blue giant as well, which is much, much hotter than a red dwarf. In short, it's a nifty idea for how to refuel ships, but not necessarily all that impressive.
Furthermore, flying into a sun isn't that impressive in the SG universe. SG-1 did it with a bog-standard ha'tak and sat in it for about twelve hours - much of that without any shields. It was a blue giant as well, which is much, much hotter than a red dwarf. In short, it's a nifty idea for how to refuel ships, but not necessarily all that impressive.
No matter how much info is contained in the ship's computer, they can't really use it. They have no way to transmit the info. They can only memorize info and then transcribe it or dictate the info back. Most of the stuff would only be of interest to astronomers. Most of the time the ship is doing nothing but flying. There is no crew to collect any more info than astronomical info.
Checkmate
Commodore
Yep. The ship's been running non-stop for the better part of a million years, traveling at constant FTL speeds and possessing a shield that even a sun can't scratch. That's a lot of power. Far more than the ZPMs can dish out and, being self-sufficient, it doesn't run out and become useless after a mere 10,000 or so years.
So you're saying a Double A battery is superior to, say, a nuclear power plant? Solely because it's more convenient?
To each their own.
Long enough to jump between galaxies without refueling, while maintaining its FTL speeds and shields. And, since you seem to have a mental block on the scale of these things, that's a really long time considering that a galaxy looks like a speck of sand compared to the distance between them.
I'm not aware of this episode. Not that it matters much since those ships were neither built nor designed by the Ancients. And regardless, if flying into a star was such a simple act, you'd think we'd hear about it more often. And people wouldn't be quite so worried about coronal mass ejections or flares.
Checkmate
Commodore
The stargate maps alone would be invaluable. With enough ZPMs or comparable portable power sources, they could jaunt to ~50 or more different galaxies given enough time and effort, each likely seeded with countless stargates themselves.
The astronomical data is icing on the cake.
My only real problem with the show is that the more modern hyperspace drive is clearly superior. Assuming the 50 or so galaxies the Destiny have finished were all in a straight line and each one was as far away from the next as Pegasus is to the Milky Way (about 3 million lightyears), any number of our ships should be able to catch up with it in a relatively short amount of time. Course that's sort of blown out of the water by the "billions of lightyears" comment. So either we only saw a tiny fraction of the galaxies the Destiny has visited, or Rush was way, way off with his estimate.
