Into the Unknown
An analysis
of the various factors, both natural
and political, that may have contributed to the slow expansion of the Old Republic throughout
the Star Wars Galaxy, specifically as
regards the area of space called the Unknown Regions. |
By
Matthew
Trias
II. The Hyperspace
Dilemma
According to A Guide to the Star Wars Universe 3rd
Edition hyperspace is,” A dimension (emphasis mine) of space
time that
can be reached only by traveling at light speed and using a hyperdrive
engine.
Hyperspace converges with realspace, so that every point in realspace
is
associated with a unique point in hyperspace. If a ship travels in a
specific
direction in realspace prior to jumping to hyperspace, then it
continues to
travel in that direction through hyperspace. Objects in realspace cast
gravity
shadows into hyperspace that have to be plotted to avoid collision”
(Slavicsek).
The databank of the official Star Wars website basically repeats this
definition with some alteration of the wording, while the Star War
Encyclopedia almost repeats the definition verbatim. The New
Essential
Guide to Vehicles and Vessels states, “the hyperdrive is
responsible for
accelerating a vehicle to faster-than-lightspeed velocities and
propelling it
into a dimension known as hyperspace” (Blackman xi). Star Wars:
Incredible
Cross Sections states, “complex hyperdrive engines use a
trans-physical
effect to take a ship out of real space into hyperspace.” The Attack
of the
Clones Incredible Cross Sections (Saxton) tells us that,
“Hyperdrives
allow voyages through an eerie realm called hyperspace, i.e. the
ordinary
universe viewed from a ship traveling faster than the speed of light.
Hyperdrives adjust faster than light hypermatter particles to allow a
jump to
light speed without changing the complex mass and energy of the ship.”
References to hyperspace in Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke
Skywalker
also appear to agree with the explanation given in the Attack
of the
Clones Incredible Cross Sections. In the novel Tyrant’s Test, hyperspace
is portrayed as a dimension that can only be entered and exited with
the aid of
a hyperdrive. Things dropped from a ship in hyperspace, stay in
hyperspace.
So, we are
left with two seemingly contradictory
explanations of hyperspace. One
explanation tells us that hyperspace is merely normal space when viewed
from
faster than light velocities. The other explanation tells us that
hyperspace is
another dimension entirely. Of course, one can merely assume that
“dimension”
is a colloquialism, or a point of view, since one could argue that an
existence
at faster than light velocities is akin to another dimension of
existence. That
would mean, that objects dropped from ships in hyperspace, remain at
faster
than light velocities unless they have a hyperdrive.
Supporters of
the Halo Hypothesis (See
Part I)
have often pointed out, however, that words used in Star Wars should be
understood as much as possible, to have similar or identical
explanations to
the words as they are used in real life, that is a captain in Star Wars
is
understood to be a captain and not a lieutenant. A ship described as a
destroyer should be understood to be a destroyer and not a battleship
equivalent. This is a reasonable and logical method, since going
against it
would render Star Wars unintelligible, as it would mean that we could
never be
sure what the characters mean if the definitions of words they use are
different from the definitions the words have in real life. So, using
their
very logical method, let us examine what the word hyperspace has meant
historically in real life.
The word
“hyperspace” has been made famous by
the so called theory of hyperspace, according to the book Hyperspace
by
professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York,
Dr. Michio
Kaku. The theory of hyperspace, according to Dr. Kaku, states that
dimensions
exist beyond the commonly accepted four of space and time (Kaku vii).
These
dimensions are called hyperspace. Georg Bernhard Reimann of Germany,
introduced
the foundation of modern hyperspace theory on June 10, 1854 (Kaku 30).
At the time however, his ideas, while
intriguing, were seen as having no valuable application. In the one
hundred
fifty or so years since that time, however, the theory of hyperspace
has seen a
comeback as it has been incorporated in modern theories such as
Kaluza-Klein
and superstring theory (Kaku vii,viii), which attempts to unify
classical
physics with quantum physics in a “Theory of Everything.”
Hyperspace, as far as the writer of this
essay is aware, has never been used to describe anything other than the
concept
of extra, literal dimensions existing besides the accepted four
dimensions of
space and time. It has never been used, as far as this author is aware,
to
describe normal space as viewed from a faster than light perspective.
As
mentioned before, this provides us with a contradiction, between the
sources
that adhere to the classical definition of hyperspace, and the
definition given
in the Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Section. However,
as we
shall soon see, reconciling the two definitions is not an
insurmountable task.
First, however, let us examine how the classical concept of hyperspace
can
provide us with our first reason for the slow colonization of the
Galaxy Far,
Far Away.
It should
first be stated, that the theory of
hyperspace has not yet been conclusively proven in any experiment, and
it is
not an easily provable idea. No one has yet thought of any way to
conclusively
test the theory in the foreseeable future. If the definition of
hyperspace in
the real world is accepted for the term hyperspace in Star Wars,
however, then
obviously civilizations in Star Wars have long ago proven the theory to
be
fact. Just because it has not proven to be so in our own world, should
not
concern us, however. Star Wars is fiction, a mixture of science fiction
and
classical fantasy in the vein of such masterpieces as Lord of the
Rings
with its evil Dark Lords and magical wizards. If in the future,
hyperspace is
proven to be false, that should be no reason to not enjoy the stories
presented
in Star Wars. Do we enjoy stories containing tales of magic any less
because
the age of reason long ago pushed such nonsense to the confining bars
of myth
and superstition? Of course not. It should simply be accepted that in
the Star
Wars universe, the notion of hyperspace is correct. In the Star Wars
universe,
there are more than the commonly accepted four dimensions of space-time.
That being
said, the question of just how
denizens of the Galaxy Far, Far Away use hyperspace to get around can
now be
addressed. The first possibility provided to us is that of the
wormhole. Rather
than summarize this idea myself, allow me to quote Jeanne Cavelos from
her book,
The Science of Star Wars. Cavelos is an astrophysicist and a
mathematician. She has taught astronomy at Michigan State University and Cornell University and has
worked in the Astronaught Training Division
at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She is far
more qualified to summarize this idea,
and has done so neatly and concisely in her book. Cavelos tells us,
“Imagine
you are about to skydive out of a plane twelve thousand feet up. When
you step
out of the plane, the force of gravity is going to pull you toward the
massive
Earth below. But how does your body know that the Earth is there?
Exactly how
does the Earth exert this force on your body? The answer provided by
the
general theory of relativity is that the mass of the Earth actually
distorts
space-time, and that distortion pulls your body downward. Since it’s
pretty
impossible for most of us to visualize four- dimensional space-time,
instead
imagine we live in two dimensions. Space would then be like a huge
sheet. Now
imagine this sheet is made of a stretchy material like a trampoline. A
mass,
like a bowling ball, placed on this sheet will make a depression. If
you step
onto this sheet, you will slide down toward the bowling ball.
Similarly, the
Earth, placed on this sheet , will create a depression. If you step out
of a
plane twelve thousand feet away from Earth, the curvature of the sheet
will
draw you down towards the Earth’s mass, just as you slid down the sheet
toward
the bowling ball. This is exactly what Einstein described in his
general theory
of relativity. The heavier the mass, the greater the distortion of
space-time.
The mass will sink lower and lower into the sheet, creating a deeper
and deeper
depression, and a steeper and steeper curvature on the sides of the
depression.
Now, when I said to imagine space as a sheet, you probably imagined a
flat
sheet stretching as far as the eye could see. But as we are learning,
the sheet
will not remain flat. It will be subject to all sorts of curves and
distortions, from every mass in it. So now imagine that this sheet has
a
large-scale curve to it, like a bed sheet hanging out dry on a
clothesline,
half on one side and half on the other. On one side of our sheet, a
huge mass
creates a deep depression. Now walk around to the other side of the
clothesline. On the comparable point on this side of the sheet is
another huge
mass creating another deep depression. These two depressions could then
theoretically touch and merge, creating a tunnel from one point on the
sheet to
the other. Without this tunnel, the shortest distance between these two
points
is to travel the full distance up to the clothesline and down to ther
side. But
with this tunnel we now have a short cut that could theoretically take
us very
quickly from one point to another a great distance away. Dr. Kaku
explains, ‘When
your teacher told you that the shortest distance between two points is
a line,
that was wrong. The shortest distance is a wormhole. The tunnel does
not exist
in regular space, since regular space in this model, is just the
two-dimensional
sheet. The wormhole exists in an additional dimension, outside regular
space-time
as we know it. Such additional dimensions are called hyperspace and we
would
travel through the tunnel in hyperspace to get to our destination, just
as Han
Solo does. Perhaps when Han Solo prepares for the jump to hyperspace,
he is
actually creating a wormhole from his current location to his
destination that
will serve as an easy shortcut. Using such a shortcut, he could
potentially
travel from one star to another in a matter of hours” (140,141).
If you can
follow Mrs. Cavelos description of
the wormhole method of travel, then you should realize that it fits in
quite
nicely with hyperspace travel depicted in Star Wars. As Mrs. Cavelos
later
points out, the problem with wormhole travel is that wormholes should
exert
tremendous gravitational stresses on objects going through them,
crushing those
objects. The second problem is that opening these wormholes would
require
tremendous amounts of energy. However, as Dr. Michio Kaku later points
out in
Mrs. Cavelos’s book, both these problems should be no problem for a
civilization as advanced as the one seen in Star Wars. Dr. Kaku
explains that such
a civilization could easily acquire exotic matter that could repulse
gravitational
forces exerted on objects by wormholes. This exotic matter could also
be used
to keep the wormhole tunnel open. Dr. Kaku also tells us that the
energy
required to open a wormhole should not be a problem for a civilization
such as
the type seen in Star Wars. According to Mrs. Cavelos, if Dr. Kaku’s
calculations
are correct, the physicists in the Galaxy Far, Far Away “should have
all the
gas [energy] they need” (Cavelos 146, 147, 158).
The
only other problem with the wormhole theory
that this author could detect, is the description of what one should
see upon
entering hyperspace. According to a Dr. Visser, whom Mrs. Cavelos
interviewed
for her book, people would see a “region of space that looked like a
window
that opened up to a distant region of the galaxy” (141). This is
certainly not
what characters in the Galaxy Far, Far Away experience. They see a blur
of blue
and white light, funneling around them. This, however, does provide us
with a
way to reconcile the description of hyperspace found in Attack of
the Clones
Incredible Cross Sections with other descriptions of hyperspace
found
throughout the Expanded Universe that describe hyperspace as being
another
dimension. If it can take a few hours to traverse a wormhole and exit
the other
side, as Mrs. Cavelos tells us, perhaps it might even take a few days,
weeks,
or even years to traverse the wormhole. Though still a shorter amount
of time
than it would usually take to get to their location, denizens of the
Galaxy
Far, Far Away might still find this travel time inconvenient. Perhaps
in an
effort to avoid long travels, the Galaxy Far, Far Away augmented
hyperspace
travel with a type of space drive that could allow them to traverse
wormhole
distances at faster-than-light speeds. With their realspace destination
showing
through the wormhole exit, it would be seen as one would see it from a
faster-than-light velocity. This is, however, a rather dubious fix, as
the
Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections definition of
hyperspace
implies that hyperspace is merely realspace as observed from a
faster-than-light velocity.
There is a
second possible method of hyperspace
travel. This method arises from superstring theory, the theory that
supposes
that the smallest particles are condensed energy strings that vibrate
at
certain frequencies. Depending on those frequencies, the strings will
take on
the qualities of the various particles that we observe in the universe. The vibration of these strings appear as
particles because they are so small. According to Mrs. Cavelos,
adherents to
this theory found the resonances of these strings could not occur
without the
addition of extra dimensions beyond the four of space-time. These
strings could
not move or vibrate without the addition of at least ten extra spatial
dimensions
(one version of the theory says at least thirty-six) beyond the three
we are
aware of (156). Right now you are probably asking, “Where are these
dimensions?” Once again, allow me to let Mrs. Cavelos answer your
question. In
her book she tells us,” Imagine the universe is a giant toilet paper
tube and
we live on the outside of it. We inhabitants living on the outside of
the tube
can travel in two directions, along the length of the tube or around
the
circumference of the tube. Yet, what if the diameter of the tube became
very,
very small? Then we inhabitants will believe we are living in a
one-dimensional
universe, like a string, in which we can only travel along the length.
So if
one dimension is curled up very tightly, smaller than our ability to
measure,
we might not even know it exists.” (157).
String
theorists believe that during the big
bang, four dimensions expanded, becoming those which we are so familiar
with,
while the other six or more, curled up. According to Dr. Michio Kaku,
these
dimensions can be “100 billion billion times smaller than the proton.”
(Cavelos
157). According to Cavelos, if one “could uncurl a dimension, he might
be able
to take ashortcut through it. This shortcut would be through
higher-dimensional
hyperspace, like a wormhole. Once he reached his destination, he could
theoretically curl the dimension back up again. Like the wormhole, this
method
could explain the Falcon’s jump to hyperspace, quick travel, and return
to
normal space” (157). As with the wormhole idea, this idea also requires
tremendous amounts of energy to make it feasible. However, as Cavelos
once
again points out: “if we consider that, according to Dr. Kaku’s earlier
estimate, Star Wars’s galactic Republic and Empire have access to
energy more
than one hundred thousand quadrillion times greater than we do, they
could
access these tiny dimensions. They might even consider traveling
through hyperspace
as simple as dusting crops” (158).
It
is the second idea, that denizens of the
Galaxy Far, Far Away unravel curled up dimensions in order to travel
interstellar distances, that may help explain why after twenty-five
thousand
years of hyperspace travel, fifteen percent of the galactic disk of the
Galaxy
Far, Far Away remains unexplored. If
these dimensions do remained curled up, then perhaps it is possible
that at
some locations in the universe the dimensional pathways are more
gnarled and
twisted than at other locations. Since these dimensions can also be
affected by
gravity, massive gravity wells could further convolute an already
twisted
pathway, making the potential hyperspace route unusable, even for a
civilization as advanced as the one in the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It is implied
by several Star Wars source books,
including the New Essential Chronology by Daniel Wallace, that
the
second possible method of hyperspace travel along with its possible
drawbacks,
is the method that was used to travel the galaxy, at least in the early
days of
the Old Republic. It is
mentioned many times in the New Essential
Chronology that major expansion did not occur until new hyperspace
routes
were discovered. Some of the hyperspace routes mentioned are the
Perlemian
Trade Route, the Hydian Way,
and the Corellian Run (Wallace 2-25). The last major route discovered,
the Hydian Way, is said to
have opened up widespread colonization of
the galaxy. (25) These routes and the smaller routes that ran from
them, appear
to have been the only way to travel the length and breadth of the
galaxy. The New
Essential Chronology further states that the borders of the
Republic seemed
to “defy logic, incorporating odd juts, asymmetrical lumps, and lonely
outposts
surrounded by light- years of unexplored space. This was a function of
hyperspace. Clear and stable paths through hyperspace, known as
hyperroutes or
hyperlanes, became the bedrock of travel, communication, and commerce,
but
trail blazing such paths was difficult” (6). It certainly seems that
the
borders of the Old Republic were shaped
by the twisting gnarls of curled
hyperspace dimensions. It appears that finding hyperspace trails that
can be
easily unfurled and utilized is very difficult.
If
we do accept this method as being the primary
method of traveling interstellar distances, then we must also contend
with two
more problems. In various Star Wars sources, the time of travel is
attributed
to the speed of a hyperdrive. This is a problem if a hyperdrive merely
opens up
dimensional doorways which are themselves responsible for how long it
takes to
reach a destination.
However,
perhaps the speed of a hyperdrive
merely refers to how fast a hyperdrive propels a starship through
hyperspace,
augmenting the advantage that traveling through hyperspace already
gives a
starship. Therefore, when one refers to a starship traveling five times
faster
than the speed of light, this is a shorthand phrase, indicating that a
starship
got to its destination five times faster than it would have if it
traveled at
the speed of light in normal space. Thus, traveling through hyperspace
provides
the illusion that a starship is traveling faster than the speed of
light. The
speed that a hyperdrive propels a starship through hyperspace can
augment how
much faster than the speed of light a starship appears
to be traveling. To put the idea simply, a starship
traveling at nine hundred thousand miles per hour through a certain
hyperspace
route will, barring any complications, reach its destination sooner
than a
starship traveling five hundred thousand miles per hour traveling
through the
same hyperspace route. Therefore, one hyperdrive is definitely faster
than the
other. Both ships however, will get to their location much faster than
if they
traveled at the speed of light through normal space, thus producing the
illusion, for those outside of hyperspace, that they traveled faster
than the
speed of light.
The
last problem with the second method of
hyperspace travel is that it does nothing to reconcile the description
of
hyperspace given in Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections with
the classic definition of hyperspace. There is one possibility however.
Perhaps
the hyperspace described in that book has nothing to do with classical
hyperspace. It could even be a new type of drive, one not dependant
upon the
discovery of stable hyperspace routes. Perhaps it is a drive intended
to
overcome the disadvantages of the classical hyperdrive. Perhaps with
this new
drive, one only needs to plot a course between the stars and other
astronomical
roadblocks and hit ignition. There are no higher dimensions involved
with this
drive. It merely creates some type of quantum shift, which literally
throws a
starship across vast interstellar distances at faster than light
velocities.
The name hyperspace could have been kept for psychological reasons; to
make
denizens of the Galaxy Far, Far Away forget that the new space drive
was not
the same as the reliable classic hyperdrive used by the Old Republic for
millennia. Using the old name would comfort
pilots. It must be pointed out that this is merely idle speculation,
and has no
basis in any official writings, but it is intriguing speculation
nonetheless, spawned from official writings, and it reconciles the
description
of hyperspace given in the Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross
Sections with
the description of hyperspace given in the majority of other resource
books.
An
alternative explanation, is that hyperdrives
utilize a combination of accelerating a ship faster than the speed of
light and
opening up hyperspace routes; that is, a ship travels faster than the
speeder
of light through hyperspace corridors. This however does not explain
the part
in the Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections that
states that
hyperspace is merely the normal universe viewed from a faster
than light
perspective. Though perhaps, from a certain point of view, hyperspace
can be
considered the “normal universe.” After all, hyperspace is still a part
of the
universe even though it is a curled up hidden dimension. If hyperspace
is real,
then it is a part of the normal universe and affects it. It is just
unseen. However,
one doubts the author of the book had that particular point of view in
mind
when he wrote what he did. Nor is it certain that scientists would
consider
that explanation valid.
Two issues
should be mentioned before this
section of the essay comes to a close. First, it should be mentioned
that
twisted hyperspace routes could even affect the use of wormholes. If
you
recall, wormholes also rely on higher dimensions, and perhaps the
twisting of
those higher dimensions could keep wormholes from being opened at
certain
points in space. Second, even if the
space drive mentioned in Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross
Sections
were the only space drive available to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, that
does not
mean there is no force in the universe that limits its usage. It is
currently
speculated by astronomers that based on calculations, there is an
abundance of
matter in the universe that has yet to be discovered and identified.
This
unknown matter has been called dark matter. It may be that this matter
is made up
of black holes, brown dwarf stars, and Jupiter-like bodies, and our
modern
scientific tools of observation have merely not yet been able to prove
they exist
on the scale calculations predict they should exist on. Or it is
possible that
this dark matter is made up of something far more exotic, something
that cannot
be detected through means available to us now. It stands to reason that
the
exotic, faster-than-light hypermatter particles mentioned in the Attack
of
the Clones Incredible Cross Section is part of this dark matter
assumed to
exist. If these hypermatter particles exist, then it is possible that
other
forms of exotic matter exist that interact with this matter. In
sufficient
amounts, they may even interfere with the ability of a hyperdrive to
adjust
faster-than-light hypermatter particles in order to accelerate a
starship to faster-than-light
speeds. These exotic particles may exist in various quantities
throughout the
galaxy, forcing galactic civilization to find routes sufficiently clear
of their
interference. Alternatively, parts of space may even be void of the
hypermatter
particles needed to bring a ship to faster-than-light speeds forcing
galactic
civilization to find routes that have sufficient
quantities of hypermatter. That said, it should be noted that the
Galaxy, Far,
Far Away apparently has hypermatter reactors. This implies that they’re
able to
create hypermatter, though this may not have been true when the
hyperdrive was
first introduced twenty five thousand years before the Battle of Yavin.
It cannot be
stressed enough that this is
speculation intended to explain discrepancies on the nature of
hyperspace in
various sources. Perhaps none of these explanations are true.
Ultimately, it
all depends on which definition of hyperspace is designated correct by
Lucasfilm. If the higher dimension hyperdrive is the one they accept,
then
twisted hyperroutes are the cause for slow expansion throughout the
galaxy. If
the Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections hyperdrive
is
the one they designate as being correct, then exotic matter interfering
with
its quantum workings is the most likely reason for slow expansion of
galactic
civilization. The explanations addressing the slow expansion of
galactic
civilization are needed if the powers that be continue to insist that
the
Unknown Regions are in the galactic disk. Perhaps Lucasfilm will
designate both
hyperdrives as existing space drives within the Star Wars universe,
making the Attack
of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections hyperdrive a more modern
space
drive system, intended to replace the classical hyperdrive which relied
on the
discovery of higher dimension hyperspace routes. Or perhaps the higher
dimensional routes are used in conjunction with the adjusting of
hypermatter
particles that propel a ship faster than the speed of light. Only time
will
resolve the fate of these space drive systems and their place in Star
Wars
continuity.
Next
… Into the
Unknown: III. Politics and Human Agency
Bibliography
Blackman,
Haden W.. Star Wars: The New
Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels. New York: The
Ballantine Publishing Group, 2003.
Cavelos,
Jeanne. The Science of Star Wars.
New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000.
Kaku, Michio.
Hyperspace. 1994. New York: Anchor
Books, 1995.
Kube-McDowell,
Michael P.. Tyrant’s Test.
New York: Bantam
Books, 1996.
Lucas,
George. Star Wars: From the Adventures
of Luke Skywalker. New York: Ballantine,
1976.
Reynolds,
David West. Star Wars: Incredible
Cross Sections. DK Books, 1998.
Saxton,
Curtis. Star Wars: Attack of the
Clones Incredible Cross Sections. DK Books, 2002.
Slavicsek,
Bill. A Guide to the Star Wars
Universe 3rd Edition. New York: Ballantine,
2000.
Sansweet,
Steven J.. Star Wars Encyclopedia.
New York: Ballantine,
1998.
Wallace,
Daniel and Anderson, Kevin. Star
Wars: The New Essential Chronology. New York: Del Rey Books, 2005.
Return to
the main
page
STAR WARS is ®,TM, and © Lucasfilm,
Ltd. (LFL) All Rights
Reserved.
This site is for entertainment purposes
only.
Please don't sue us!