Time and space in the Alien universe (or, Was Weyland really a megalomaniac?)

[FenGiddel]

For a future blog post, I have been researching space travel as depicted in the Alien and Prometheus films and while browsing the still-active Weyland Industries website's corporate timeline, I found something I'd forgotten about:

FTL TRAVEL MADE POSSIBLE:  Weyland scientists discover the inverse relationship between velocity and the flow of time making the long sought-after concept of faster than light travel a reality. The search for practical application begins. MAY 20, 2032.

   (Fantastic news, that.  I'll still be a spry sexagenarian by then.)

But I thought Einstein discovered that relationship in  1905?  Generally speaking, he found that the faster the relative velocity, the greater the magnitude of time dilation (sometimes called special relativistic time dilation).

If Einstein discovered this inverse relationship in 1905, maybe Weyland Industries' PR department got a little out of hand and instead meant they discovered a way to beat the clock, so to speak.


But that is really only an issue if Weyland Ind.'s ships were traveling at a percentage of the speed of light, right? 

What, if has been posited before, they instead discovered the loophole that allowed spacecraft to sidestep the laws of physics and travel interstellar distances without the deleterious effects of time dilation?

And if they did, what role does cryosleep play in that equation?  Meaning that if I am traveling outside the limits of Relativity, and time's crawl aboard Nostromo is essentially the same at Antarctica Traffic Control, why do I need cryosleep?

Is the journey so long that I need it?

(Have I been haring too far down the rabbit hole?)

[SM]

What, if has been posited before, they instead discovered the loophole that allowed spacecraft to sidestep the laws of physics and travel interstellar distances without the deleterious effects of time dilation?

That's how I always read it (never having looked into what "the inverse relationship between velocity and the flow of time" actually means).

As for hypersleep I never saw it as being linked to FTL travel.  As far as I'm concerned it's a resource thing.  If everyone is asleep you don't need 18 months worth of food, water, air, heat and entertainment.  The script for Alien says they go straight to hyperspace after docking with the refinery so are going FTL without hypersleep for the second half of the film.

[markweatherill]

I imagine that this version of faster-than-light travel still takes appreciable time because of acceleration and deceleration times. And maybe a trade-off in fuel costs.

[FenGiddel]

Separating cryosleep from hyperspace travel in this manner is helpful as I fabricate backstory that might fit into what is seen on screen. 


I am referring in one regard to making some sense of the throwaway-but-intriguing mentions in the Nostromo dossiers relative to "miles logged" and how they factor into a space trucker's log of experience. 


As written, there is a distinct difference in miles logged for FTL and sub-FTL flight.  This makes sense since miles traveled at FTL take less time than sub-FTL.


If cryosleep is used as a cost-savings measure and for the behavioral health of crew looking at otherwise long-duration up-mode travel, then it seems cryosleep could be used for in-system travel as well as beyond.


Perhaps FTL might even be used in-system as well...

[bb-15]

For a future blog post, I have been researching space travel as depicted in the Alien and Prometheus films and while browsing the still-active Weyland Industries website's corporate timeline, I found something I'd forgotten about:

FTL TRAVEL MADE POSSIBLE:  Weyland scientists discover the inverse relationship between velocity and the flow of time making the long sought-after concept of faster than light travel a reality. The search for practical application begins. MAY 20, 2032.

   (Fantastic news, that.  I'll still be a spry sexagenarian by then.)

But I thought Einstein discovered that relationship in  1905?  Generally speaking, he found that the faster the relative velocity, the greater the magnitude of time dilation (sometimes called special relativistic time dilation).

If Einstein discovered this inverse relationship in 1905, maybe Weyland Industries' PR department got a little out of hand and instead meant they discovered a way to beat the clock, so to speak.

But that is really only an issue if Weyland Ind.'s ships were traveling at a percentage of the speed of light, right?

You are pointing out how in certain Alien franchise extended universe materials, it is mentioned that FTL occurs because of some kind of reverse time dilation (Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual) or that FTL is due to an inverse relationship between velocity and the flow of time (Weyland Industries website) which again seems to refer to time dilation. 

There is an interesting discussion imo of Alien franchise FTL in a scifi stackexchange thread.
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/8386/is-there-ftl-travel-in-the-aliens-franchise

I'll base my comments on one answer in the linked thread (by user; 'All I got are questions').
First, playing with time dilation does not seem to be a theoretical method of FTL. Time dilation at relative high speeds is unavoidable and as you pointed out, it seems to refer to ships traveling at a percentage of the speed of light.
So, in science fiction reversing time dilation is not usually used as a way to go faster than light.

What, if has been posited before, they instead discovered the loophole that allowed spacecraft to sidestep the laws of physics and travel interstellar distances without the deleterious effects of time dilation?

That is the trick of FTL in science fiction; finding a loophole in physics to arrive somewhere faster than light.
The usual SF methods could still apply to Alien franchise movies.
- Warp drive
- Wormholes
- Even more exotic things like extra dimensional travel including hyperdrive.

And these methods could be done in a way to avoid massive time dilation relative to earth for instance.

Imo at least. ;-)

[SM]

Hyperspace, with Doppler shift effects is referenced in the Alien script.

Instead Scott opted for simpler 'Nostromo trucking away from camera shots' (possibly for budgetary reasons).

Similarly the Auriga travelled from Pluto to Earth faster than light in Resurrection while never displaying any kind of warp effect (ditto Prometheus; and possibly Sulaco the first time we see her).

[bb-15]

Hyperspace, with Doppler shift effects is referenced in the Alien script.

Instead Scott opted for simpler 'Nostromo trucking away from camera shots' (possibly for budgetary reasons).

Similarly the Auriga travelled from Pluto to Earth faster than light in Resurrection while never displaying any kind of warp effect (ditto Prometheus; and possibly Sulaco the first time we see her).

Thanks for the script reference SM. Hyperspace travel works.

Imo at least. ;-)

[whiterabbit]

People go into hypersleep within the alien universe for 3 reasons.

• It saves on resources.
• It bypasses the sheer and unrelenting boredom.
• Because no one wants to get old.

The only question... does everyone back home also go into hyper sleep... no, no. Aliens already answered that one.

Also I'm pretty sure they just do it like everyone else and move the space around the ship.

[lv_226]

Haag mentioned in the podcast that there were references to The Forever War while working on Covenant. This thread made me wonder if that is how Covenant is going to approach Alien: via some weird time-dilation effect where the events in the Covenant storyline link up to Alien in a "this isn't directly connected to the derelict in Alien but some of the events of Alien were influenced by Covenant/Prometheus" way? Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but it would be nice to have the events of the derelict on LV-426 never explained and the prequel trilogy of films be their own self-contained, although prequel-is, story.