Stargate

A stargate, transit gate, or simply gate is device which contains a macro-scale traversable wormhole. The equivalent structure for smaller wormholes is known as a datagate.

Design

Most stargates resemble hollow cylinders of various length, commonly anchored on, in, or near an asteroid or other celestial body used as a convinent source of balance mass. The wormhole is placed at the center of the gate, and supported by its stabilization machinery. Pipes and cables for mass-balancing, data transmission, etc. run around the wormhole's outer regions, leaving the middle open for spacecraft to fly through. The gate's exterior often sports transciever equipment for starnet connections and traffic control.

Stargates are usually located in interplanetary space away from planets, so the energy release from a wormhole failure (which can collapse it into a black hole) will not cause catastrophic damage elsewhere.

Operation

Ships seeking to transit the gate must first come to rest near it, for this reason many stargates are located near beamline stations to reduce the need for internal propulsion. They will then proceed through on maneuvering thrusters, or with the assistance of tugs, crossing the wormhole throat and exiting the gate on the other side whereupon they may continue on their way. The mass of transiting ships will be added to the departure wormhole's mass, and subtracted from that of the arrival one, necessitating mass-balancing in the absence of equal traffic flow. Most stargates accomplish this by pumping water through pipes opposite the direction of passing ships.

Parent Technologies

• Wormholes

Children Technologies

• Tactical Gate