space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies

Algomeysa2 asked:

> Space travel time and hypersleep

> It's just something that doesn't quite mesh. For ships this large,
which
> apparently manage to have a heated atmosphere fairly soon after waking the
> crew up, the savings in food, etc. doesn't really seem to make sense for
> voyages that are just a few weeks long. If they were months or years
long,
> it might make more sense.

We really don't have enough information in either film to determine
the time frames. Cov already mentioned that they still had 10 months
but we have no good idea how long they'd already been traveling.
In terms of conservering food, air and other resources, I'd say that in
both films they can get away with realistically using hypersleep.

Anyway, one thought that came to my mind was: perhaps there is
something about the method of FTL travel they use which is
harmful to the crew (mentally and/or physically) that requires
them to be in hypersleep no matter how long the voyage is. Just
a thought.

Have you seen O'Bannon's Dark Star? If you have, maybe you'll
agree that a nice long nap is perferable to months (or years) of
boring space travel! :-)

Have a great day!

ADWatts
Bush, Sr: "Read my lips!"
Bush, Jr: "Need some wood?"
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"ADWatts" <adwatts DeleteThis @graphic-designer.com> wrote in message
news:d7kad.368308$Fg5.348787@attbi_s53...
> Algomeysa2 asked:
>
> > Space travel time and hypersleep
>
> > It's just something that doesn't quite mesh. For ships this large,
> which
> > apparently manage to have a heated atmosphere fairly soon after waking
the
> > crew up, the savings in food, etc. doesn't really seem to make sense for
> > voyages that are just a few weeks long. If they were months or years
> long,
> > it might make more sense.
>
> We really don't have enough information in either film to determine
> the time frames. Cov already mentioned that they still had 10 months
> but we have no good idea how long they'd already been traveling.


DALLAS: "Well some of you may have figured out we're not home yet... we're
only half way there..."
(Alien)

Close enough !!! ;' )))))


--
Covenant
A Man With Far Too Much Time On His Hands
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"Covenant" <covenant RemoveThis @joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote

> DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
>
> LAMBERT: "Ten Months"

Longer version:

Dallas: Well, some of you may have figured out we're not home yet...we're
only half-way there.

So assuming equal voyage length in either direction, it took 40 months there
and back plus presumably some time on station.

This, for me, puts Ripley in a rather different light. In Aliens, we learn
that her daughter died about 2 years previously aged 66. She's been away 57
years - although it's not clear whether this is 57 years overdue, or 57 in
total (i.e. about 53 years overdue). She asks Burke "How long was I out
there?" and he eventually tells her.

Either way, her kid was about 6 when Ripley left her for the best part of 4
years. Astonishing that she'd abandon her kid for that long at that age. We
don't know with whom. It suggests that the line of work she's in pretty
lucrative.
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

This is explaine in various books, they are travelling through hyperspace,
and travel in hyperspace causes delusions, paranoia, and general mayhem.
hence the need for hypersleep
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

In article <D99ad.14518$Vm1.9536@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
"Algomeysa2" <Algomeysa2NOSPAM DeleteThis @mindspring.comNOPESPAM> wrote:

> Space travel time and hypersleep
>
> Something I was wondering about recently was how long these interstellar
> voyages last in ALIEN.
>
> There's enough circumstancial evidence to suggest they don't last years, so
> it seems they take weeks or months, and they must be travelling faster than
> light.
>
> If it's just weeks, putting the crew into hypersleep doesn't really seem
> necessary.
>
> In ALIENS, I think it was said (and I'm sure someone can quote me the exact
> line), that when the ship didn't report back in 10 days they'd send out a
> rescue mission, but that would take an additional 3 weeks....or
> thereabouts.... so that it was effectively 4 weeks before they could expect
> rescue.
>
> It's just something that doesn't quite mesh. For ships this large, which
> apparently manage to have a heated atmosphere fairly soon after waking the
> crew up, the savings in food, etc. doesn't really seem to make sense for
> voyages that are just a few weeks long. If they were months or years long,
> it might make more sense.

In Alien, they were ten months from earth when they were interrupted. Dallas
says they were halfway home. That makes that journey 40 months total.

> But voyages can't take years, because Ripley wasn't expecting to never see
> her daughter again, and she's surprised that the new massive space station
> has been built; people who went on voyages that lasted years would be
> expecting bigger changes.

Ripley says that her daughter has learned to take her (Ripleys) promises about
flight schedules with a grain of salt.

> My best guess is, in ALIEN it was intended that voyages take months, but by
> the time of ALIENS that had become somewhat fuzzy and Cameron didn't really
> think that aspect through. Of course, the other possibility is that the
> Marine garrison was relatively close by in interstellar terms, so in their
> case the journey was just a few weeks (though again, that begs the question
> why hypersleep was necessary).

For military vessels, hypersleep could also be a tool to avoid bad morale,
fights and other accidents.

--
Sandman[.net]
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

In article <ckbkul$l5i$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>,
"Covenant" <covenant.RemoveThis@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

> > If it's just weeks, putting the crew into hypersleep doesn't really seem
> > necessary.
>
>
> DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
>
> LAMBERT: "Ten Months"
>
> (Alien)

And they were only halfway home.

--
Sandman[.net]
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"Sandman" <mr.RemoveThis@sandman.net> wrote in message
news:mr-750C31.21013611102004@individual.net...
> In article <ckbkul$l5i$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>,
> "Covenant" <covenant.RemoveThis@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > > If it's just weeks, putting the crew into hypersleep doesn't really
seem
> > > necessary.
> >
> >
> > DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
> >
> > LAMBERT: "Ten Months"
> >
> > (Alien)
>
> And they were only halfway home.


I know!

My next post clarified that !

;' )


--
Covenant
A Man With Far Too Much Time On His Hands
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"Algomeysa2" <Algomeysa2NOSPAM.TakeThisOut@mindspring.comNOPESPAM> wrote

> In ALIENS, I think it was said (and I'm sure someone can quote me the
> exact
> line), that when the ship didn't report back in 10 days they'd send out a
> rescue mission, but that would take an additional 3 weeks....or
> thereabouts.... so that it was effectively 4 weeks before they could
> expect
> rescue.

There are at least 3 ways of guesstimating how far away LV426 is.

1. Ripley asks, How long after we're declared overdue can we expect rescue?
And the answer is, 17 days.

We don't know how long it would take for them to become overdue but, this
being a military mission, one assumes not long.

This suggests that the nearest outpost able to mount a relief mission is 17
or so days away. It need not suggest that *Earth* is only 17 days away or
that they took only 17 days to get there from Earth.

Ripley comes to, at the start of Aliens, aboard a space station that is
clearly orbiting Earth. So she and Burke, at least, have come all the way
back from Earth to LV426. We tend to assume the marines have, too, but it's
nowhere specifically stated as such. She and Burke may have done the first
part alone, with the Marines boarding later, hence Ripley's dismay at
finding a "synthetic" aboard.

2. Another way of guessing is based on how long she spends, after the
hearing, working in the docks before Burke comes calling with news of the
loss of contact with the colony. It seems like it's a few months at least -
she refers to having had her "psych evaluation *this month*", which to me
implies she's had at least three. It is thus possible that it's taken three
months or so for a signal from Burke to reach LV426, be reacted to, and for
all communication to cease noticeably.

3. Arguing against this is a detail in the SE, where there is an exchange
between two administrators on LV426. One says "I don't ask because it takes
3 weeks to get an answer out here..." - which presumably means 10 days each
way. The trouble with this is that 10 light days would place LV426 inside
the solar system - unless they have a way of communicating at FTL speeds.

> It's just something that doesn't quite mesh. For ships this large,
> which
> apparently manage to have a heated atmosphere fairly soon after waking the
> crew up, the savings in food, etc. doesn't really seem to make sense for
> voyages that are just a few weeks long. If they were months or years
> long,
> it might make more sense.
>
> But voyages can't take years, because Ripley wasn't expecting to never see
> her daughter again, and she's surprised that the new massive space station
> has been built; people who went on voyages that lasted years would be
> expecting bigger changes.

As in my other post, she was presumably expecting to be away about 3 years.
In the intervening 57 years things may have speeded up. Or maybe military
vessels are faster than civilian ones.

> My best guess is, in ALIEN it was intended that voyages take months, but
> by
> the time of ALIENS that had become somewhat fuzzy and Cameron didn't
> really
> think that aspect through.

I think you're right. You have to not think about it too hard :-)
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"John Redman" <johnphilipredman.RemoveThis@hotmailREMOVETHEBLEEDINOBVIOUS.com> wrote in
message news:ckeiur$1aj$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...

> So assuming equal voyage length in either direction, it took 40 months
there
> and back plus presumably some time on station.
>
> This, for me, puts Ripley in a rather different light. In Aliens, we learn
> that her daughter died about 2 years previously aged 66. She's been away
57
> years - although it's not clear whether this is 57 years overdue, or 57 in
> total (i.e. about 53 years overdue). She asks Burke "How long was I out
> there?" and he eventually tells her.
>
> Either way, her kid was about 6 when Ripley left her for the best part of
4
> years. Astonishing that she'd abandon her kid for that long at that age.
We
> don't know with whom. It suggests that the line of work she's in pretty
> lucrative.

I think what it really suggests that Ridley Scott and James Cameron had
somewhat different views of the ALIEN universe.

That was really the point of my original post; in ALIEN, interstellar
voyages seem to take multiple months to years, in ALIENS, they seem to take
multiple weeks to months.

In the first case, it is implausible that Ripley would have a daughter she'd
abandon for so long, in the second, it is mildly more conceivable.
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

In article <cketlu$3qt$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>,
"Covenant" <covenant.TakeThisOut@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

> "Sandman" <mr.TakeThisOut@sandman.net> wrote in message
> news:mr-750C31.21013611102004@individual.net...
> > In article <ckbkul$l5i$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>,
> > "Covenant" <covenant.TakeThisOut@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > > > If it's just weeks, putting the crew into hypersleep doesn't really
> seem
> > > > necessary.
> > >
> > >
> > > DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
> > >
> > > LAMBERT: "Ten Months"
> > >
> > > (Alien)
> >
> > And they were only halfway home.
>
>
> I know!
>
> My next post clarified that !

Yeah -RIGHT- :-D

--
Sandman[.net]
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

"Sandman" <mr.RemoveThis@sandman.net> wrote in message
news:mr-E2E15B.18260112102004@individual.net...
> In article <cketlu$3qt$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>,
> "Covenant" <covenant.RemoveThis@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > "Sandman" <mr.RemoveThis@sandman.net> wrote in message
> > news:mr-750C31.21013611102004@individual.net...
> > > In article <ckbkul$l5i$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>,
> > > "Covenant" <covenant.RemoveThis@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > > > If it's just weeks, putting the crew into hypersleep doesn't
really
> > seem
> > > > > necessary.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
> > > >
> > > > LAMBERT: "Ten Months"
> > > >
> > > > (Alien)
> > >
> > > And they were only halfway home.
> >
> >
> > I know!
> >
> > My next post clarified that !
>
> Yeah -RIGHT- :-D


Indeed!

Check the times!

;' )

(But it was DAMNED close !!!)


--
Covenant
A Man With Far Too Much Time On His Hands
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

> I'm more curious about how the Nostromo lifepod was found. Did it have a
> hyperdrive? If the drive were engaged, it must have burned out at some
> point, leaving the pod drifting in interstellar space. Ripley is -damned-
> lucky she was found.

It appears she drifted all the way past Earth and back out the other side,
at some unspecified sub-light speed. She was 10 months by space drive from
home but only a few weeks from the outer reaches of frequented space,
because that was how long she thought it would be before she'd be picked up.

I found it interesting how closely, in Alien, the fate of the SJ crew
prefigures that of the human crew, with one survivor, a wrecked ship, and a
final signal. Aliens continued this by having the last survivor go
undiscovered for a long time and thereby trigger another encounter.
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies 

Didn't Ripley say she was going to be home for her, daughters, birthday???
Guess I need to rewatch it again. I think shes says this to Burke right
after he tells her what happened to her daughter.
"John Redman" <johnphilipredman.DeleteThis@hotmailREMOVETHEBLEEDINOBVIOUS.com> wrote in
message news:ckeiur$1aj$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
>
> "Covenant" <covenant.DeleteThis@joelamb.freeserve.co.uk> wrote
>
>> DALLAS: "Gimme the short version. How far to earth?"
>>
>> LAMBERT: "Ten Months"
>
> Longer version:
>
> Dallas: Well, some of you may have figured out we're not home yet...we're
> only half-way there.
>
> So assuming equal voyage length in either direction, it took 40 months
> there and back plus presumably some time on station.
>
> This, for me, puts Ripley in a rather different light. In Aliens, we learn
> that her daughter died about 2 years previously aged 66. She's been away
> 57 years - although it's not clear whether this is 57 years overdue, or 57
> in total (i.e. about 53 years overdue). She asks Burke "How long was I out
> there?" and he eventually tells her.
>
> Either way, her kid was about 6 when Ripley left her for the best part of
> 4 years. Astonishing that she'd abandon her kid for that long at that age.
> We don't know with whom. It suggests that the line of work she's in pretty
> lucrative.
>
 >> Stay informed about: space travel time and hypersleep in the ALIEN movies