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  • Subject: A quick question about Slipspace
Subject: A quick question about Slipspace

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  • 11.20.2010 2:19 PM PDT
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A walking contradiction.

Posted by: orphan
When a ship is traveling through slipspace, does it get there instantly in "normal time", but to the passengers, it takes several weeks or even months? It said something about time traveling inconsistently between slipspace and "normal" space, I think it said it could possibly take Crew A to reach their destination in two weeks, but to them it felt like one, while Crew B took one week, but it felt like two.

I've asked the same question quite some time ago, and, though not an official statement/answer is given, it is suggested that there is no definite arrival date. With that said, time is relative in space.

Posted by: orphan
The article also claims that slipspace appears completely black to the human eye, as there is nothing in the visible spectrum to view. Does this mean that outside of the ship is completely black, like a starless space, or everything is completely black, so they can't even see themselves? Would that mean going into slipspace would be incredibly dangerous if not prepared?

I believe the article said so because of Halo Wars: Genesis; the graphic novel had some artistic freedom and that the purple slipspace was to make things prettier.

However, as to answering your question, slipspace has been said to resemble travelling through a hole in interstellar space (GoO, page 288). As the Dusk reentered "normal space", their viewscreens were no longer blackened by the darkness of space. With that said, slipspace is total darkness... and yes, very dangerous if entered without any preparation.

  • 11.20.2010 4:33 PM PDT
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When a ship is traveling through slipspace, does it get there instantly in "normal time", but to the passengers, it takes several weeks or even months?

IIRC, outside of a few special cases in First Strike were travel was influenced by the reach crystal, there's never been any time dilation effects mentioned. A 2 week from Reach to Earth will take two weeks for both the people on the ship and people waiting on Earth for the ship to arrive. Might be mis remembering though.

I've always wondered what prohibited them using slipspace as time travel. Is relativity wrong in the Haloverse(FTL, Causality, Relativity. Pick two). I know it's been mentioned in the novels a couple times.



[Edited on 11.20.2010 4:45 PM PST]

  • 11.20.2010 4:40 PM PDT

Isn't it time travel, just not omg200000000years in the future?

Time travel is about the relationship of those traveling to the passing of time. Most "possible" time travel is just about going so fast that the person inside the vehicle barely ages (minutes to days) while the world outside of the vehicle ages an amount of years.

This would explain why certain officers in the UNSC are fifty years + with thirty year old bodies.

[Edited on 11.20.2010 4:51 PM PST]

  • 11.20.2010 4:51 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.


Posted by: opogjijijp
When a ship is traveling through slipspace, does it get there instantly in "normal time", but to the passengers, it takes several weeks or even months?

IIRC, outside of a few special cases in First Strike were travel was influenced by the reach crystal, there's never been any time dilation effects mentioned. A 2 week from Reach to Earth will take two weeks for both the people on the ship and people waiting on Earth for the ship to arrive. Might be mis remembering though.

I've always wondered what prohibited them using slipspace as time travel. Is relativity wrong in the Haloverse(FTL, Causality, Relativity. Pick two). I know it's been mentioned in the novels a couple times.



No, your right. Although on the Relativity note, I assumed it was because Einstein meant traveling faster than light in this dimension. In slipspace you are only going so fast, but the difference in distance is substantial.

Something like 1 Kilometer in Slipspace = 100,000 in "normal" space. Thus the Theory of Relativity cannot be properly tested.

  • 11.20.2010 4:57 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Mythic Member

I am...whimsical today.

As much as I hate to be the wet blanket, it's worth remembering that Slipspace is more a plot-device than an actual technology.
It's there to allow Humanity to have colonies that interact in 'real-time' with eachother, and also to allow the invasion of the Covenant to be both widespread and impacting.

It's effectively what you need to include when you scale up what are really motifs stemming from terrestrial based issues, such as colonies, empires and war, to an inter-stellar scale.

This is not something just confined to the Haloverse. All(most) Sci-fi Universes have FTL as primarily a method of stringing together planets and events than as a focus in its own right.

  • 11.20.2010 6:07 PM PDT
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. Although on the Relativity note, I assumed it was because Einstein meant traveling faster than light in this dimension. In slipspace you are only going so fast, but the difference in distance is substantial.

But it shouldn't matter *how* you achieve FTL, you still run into problems with Causality. Whether it's somehow pushing your ship past c in this dimension, an instaneus jump drive, a warp drive, or using an alternate dimension, as long as you have relativity the possibility of arriving at locations before you left still exists.

Obviously there's ways around it. Ditch Relativity, or propose some that it is possible, but slipspace drives are designed to prevent them moving along trajectories that would lead to causality violation. Or Maybe it's only theoretically possible because as part of the process of going to slipspace the conditions required prohibit speeds/trajectories leading to causality violation. Unless you have a magic crystal from Reach

  • 11.20.2010 6:28 PM PDT