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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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.

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