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In the Stargate science fiction universe, the Puddle Jumper is a small craft capable of space travel created by the Ancients. Several of these ships were discovered in the Atlantis hangar, which is located above the control room in the central tower, and accesses the Stargate through a retractable door in the room's floor. The hangar bay is also a maintenance facility for up to twelve of the craft. There are six bays on the main floor of the two-story structure. The name "puddle jumper" is a pun on the ship's ability to travel through Stargate event horizons, which visually resemble pools of water. It was named by Major John Sheppard, an Air Force pilot, in the Stargate Atlantis pilot Rising. The nomenclature of the ship was protested by Dr. Rodney McKay, who preferred the name "Gateship One", but Sheppard's name appears to have been favored. It should be noted that "puddle jumper" is also a term for small commuter floatplanes. Given the size and practicality of the Atlantis spacecraft, Major Sheppard (an experienced pilot) found a serendipitous double meaning when describing the craft. It's also been said that they are named for an Air Force General.
Design
Control console differences Throughout the series of Stargate Atlantis, there have been 3 different designs of front control consoles for the jumpers: It should be noted that not only the jumpers sported the different design, control panels onboard the Orion and the control panels at the center of Project Arcturus were similar. It is odd that the design was suddenly changed, because they do not look like Ancient (Stargate) design and infact look more like the Earth-based technology. Propulsion System Puddle Jumpers have two retractable thruster pods that power the craft to sublight speeds allowing interplanetary travel, and has an inertial dampening system to shield its passengers from sudden accelerations and stops. This system can also alter the weight of the Puddle Jumper. While the thruster pods are responsible for propelling the craft, the pods must be closed to allow the ship to fit through the Stargate. Limited thrust is apparently possible with retracted pods, as seen on several occasions in the Atlantis control room. Though it has not been confirmed, it is likely that the Jumper operates on an auto-pilot for this maneuver, explaining how Lieutenant Aiden Ford was able to use one to escape Atlantis in the first episode of season two, in spite of his lack of the ATA gene. It is possible to fly a Puddle Jumper with just one functioning thruster pod. Weapons and other Systems Two weapons pods, located in front of the engine pods, house at least eight Ancient Drone Weapons, and must be extended to use the weapons. There are also control crystals through out the jumper in places behind the benches and seats, in cubbies, and most likely on the control panels that even a Wraith can use (as seen in episode 1.14, The Defiant One). Also, as seen in Hot Zone the jumpers can be used as bombers. Major Sheppard put a Naqahdah Generator on the bottom of the jumper and dropped it in space over Atlantis It is believed that a puddle jumper can be powered by using ancient drones as its propulsion; although it would not be maneuverable or fast it would require very little power. It has also been theorized that the Puddle Jumpers can be "remote controlled" by the Ancient chair platform in Atlantis. Dr. Rodney McKay stated that the Drones would be the required method of propulsion in order to control the Puddle Jumper while under control of the Ancient chair platform.• Earth Based Equipment In addition to the drone weapons and the other Ancient Technology in the jumper, there is a large amount of Earth equipment in the jumper; for starters the team equips all of there jumpers with plenty of food, medicine, weapons and other supplies that is suspended over the seats in the rear compartment by rubber netting and behind the seats in the foward compartment. On board the jumpers, there is a healthy supply of weapons, ammunition and tactical vests to fight a war, including P-90's, M4 carbine rifles, and Pistols. In addition, there are at least two AT4 rocket launchers on either side of the rear hatch in the back of the jumper. There is also enough equipment in the jumper; including laptops, and tools to fix the jumper incase of a break down. Mental Interface
Puddle Jumper DHD The Puddle Jumper DHDs are very similar to the Atlantis DHD without Atlantis' extra control-crystal. The ship's DHD is used for travel through an orbital Stargate, possibly in conjunction with a Stargate Power Node, since orbital Stargates have no constant DHD. The Jumper DHDs seem to be tailored (either automatically or by design) to the galaxy they are in since the Puddle Jumpers from Atlantis have the Pegasus set of chevrons, where as the Time Jumper (a Jumper equipped with a time travel device) found by SG-1 in the episode It's Good to Be King had the Milky Way set with the earth point of origin. Shields and Cloaking Puddle Jumpers utilize an advanced cloaking generator. A puddle jumper has no true shields at all, suggesting that it is an exploration and trading ship. However, on one occasion (The Defiant One), a Wraith tampered with a Jumper's controls thereby somehow generating a shield around it, causing Major John Sheppard to run into the vessel. Also, the cloaking generator can be "reversed" to act as a shield, but this drains the Jumper's power far too rapidly making it almost useless in a combat situation. The generator can only perform one function or the other because the shield and cloak are generated the same way, just at a different frequency, therefore it is impossible to have both at the same time. Submersible Properties The Puddle Jumper can also be used as underwater submersible using the drive pods as the means of propulsion. A damaged Jumper dove to a little over twelve hundred feet without a shield before the front window cracked. Using the jumper as an under water vessel requires a copious amount of power. A damaged Jumper has a minimum of three to four hours before its power source becomes completely depleted. The heat the jumper puts out can be adjusted and the inertial dampeners deactivated to preserve power. The Jumper has enough power to sustain on average 30 minutes of the inversed cloaking shield. It also has the ability to increase the area which the shield protects, at least enough to encompass another jumper though at a significantly increased power drain. We assume that if a Jumper is conncected to a ZPM or naquadah generator or other sufficiant power source, the shield could be powered constantly. It is also likely that if the jumper's shields were removed from the main system and not connected to the power supply, it could protect the ship. An example of this is the Personal Shield Time Jumper Originally, one of the Puddle Jumpers had an experimental time travel device installed. The Ancient who built the time machine was named Janus. In the Stargate Atlantis episode Before I Sleep it was revealed that in an alternate timeline the Pegasus team discovered this Puddle Jumper in Atlantis when they first arrived. That version of Atlantis quickly suffered destruction when the shield failed without the city surfacing first, and Dr. Weir became the only survivor when she used the Time Jumper to escape and accidentally travelled back 10,000 years to the time of Atlantis' original evacuation. Due to concerns about altering history further it was ordered to be dismantled by the Ancients before departing for Earth. However, found later by SG-1 in It's Good to Be King, raising the possibility that this jumper was modifed by Janus, the creator of the original time travelling jumper, as the Ancients most likely had more jumpers in the Milky Way galaxy after abandoning Pegasus and Janus last action in Atlantis was to collect all his research material on time travel, before returning to Earth. Lantians evacuated through their Stargate. This Jumper was later used to go back to ancient Egypt for a ZPM in the Stargate SG-1 two-part episode Moebius. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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