Entering Jumpspace

[Fireflame]

So doing a bit of a search around, I find descriptions of jumpspace, but what is everyone's ideas of getting into jump space?

Based on a picture in CT or MT (can't remember off hand) I noted the stretching of white lines, a la star wars. So I have always pictured a ship entering Jump space as follows:

The Jump Drive powers up significantly then thrusts the ship forward at a huge velocity - the crew seeing the stars stream into the stretched white lines while other ships see the jumping ship shoot off at super high speed. At a specific velocity, the jump bubble forms and the ship jumps into jump space, perhaps in a flash when it breaks the speed of light.

Then when it exits, it ust drops out of jump space - perhaps with the loss of stomach effect - and sits idly until M-drive is engaged.

What are others thoughts?


FF

 

[EDG]

The decriptions in the OTU say that the ship rips a hole in space, drops into jumpspace, and then exits out of there at the other end. There's a "jump flash" as the jump grid powers up beforehand, but otherwise the ship just disappears (with a flash) and reappears in its destination system (without a flash, I think) a week later.

 

[vargr1]

So doing a bit of a search around, I find descriptions of jumpspace, but what is everyone's ideas of getting into jump space?

DGP's Starship Operators Manual has a nice description of jumpspace entry from both the internal and external point of view (pg14).

"Observing Jumpspace Transition: To an outside observer, the entry of a ship into jumpspace is a most spectacular sight. It begins when the jump grid is first warmed up during the preparation for jump. The lanthanum traces in the hull slowly build up a faint blue-white glow which forms a crisscross pattern across the surface of the ship.

When the Captain orders the ship into jumpspace. the increased energy flow causes the pattern to suddenly become so bright it is almost painful to look at with the naked eye. A blue "energy haze" forms about the ship as the weave of the targeted jumpspace level is disturbed. Finally, too fast for the eye to follow, the ship seems to collapse into a line along its central axis and quickly shrinks to a brilliant point of light before it vanishes completely. Only the blue haze remains to mark the passage into jumpspace, and that quickly fades.

To an observer aboard a starship, the process is far less spectacular. One second he is looking at a normal star field with a glare from the energized lanthanum hull grid clearly visible; the next, he can see only the undulating gray nothingness of the protective jump field."

IMTU, if you can observe the jump transition, you have a chance of reverse-engineering the tumble, and therefore predicting where the ship is heading. Being able to see only one side of the jumping ship gives you incomplete tumble information, but multiple ships able to view the jump for all angles increases the chance of a successful prediction.

 

[Ishmael]

jump bubble = "supercavitation" in the ether ( space/time )?

what a picture
what a mess when a huge ship's jump-wake threatens to swamp a tiny type "S"

 

[lastbesthope]

The first part of the external view of a jumpspace transition sounds a lot like Starburst from Farscape.

LBH