Mapping unknown regions of space?

[Illuminatus Primus]

Uh, the ICS and SWTC describe hyperspace quite clearly as a the universe viewed from a tachyonic perspective. The "extra-dimensional" interpretation is essentially cruft: an "extra dimension" where objects from normal 4-D space-time exist and one may travel faster than c is almost indistinguishable from the former explanation anyway, and in the name of reconciliation we should assume they comply with each other. Anyway, tachyons still interact with bradyons in SW but clearly not in a way MORE interactive than normal matter (hypermatter reactor cook-offs do not liberate more than a small fraction of their potential energy). We know accidents DO happen but knowing what we do about the density of interstellar space I don't see it as likely. Surlethe's explanation is preferable. I mean the MF didn't noticeably suffer from decanting through the Graveyard, nor were hyperjumps in the very violent and dense Hoth system problematic in of themselves. I don't think it makes sense to say they have to clear whole paths of any debris or that it would possible to track every miniscule piece of debris (like small asteroids and comets et al, that'd have to be "moved" instead of maneuvered around, like moons and planets and stars)

[Rogue 9]

What I was getting at when posting this thread was an issue posited to me in a Galactic Empire vs. the Imperium of Man debate: The IoM's advocates resorted to claiming that the Empire couldn't navigate the Milky Way because it doesn't have star charts of it after I hammered home the point of firepower and the Empire's superior industrial base enough for them to get it. Knowing how hyperspace routes are charted and how long it takes seems like a useful thing to know for versus debates in general.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Hence my argument: its tachyonic travel, space is mostly empty. You send a few probots through and use the data. Easy. If you can set up a base to support an invasion you can afford to easily chart by probot most of the important areas of the galaxy.

[Surlethe]

Even if you haven't got probots (and there's no particular reason, in a full-fledged versus, for the Empire to not be able to make them), the Empire could simply look out the window; a ship equipped with sufficiently high-powered telescopes and computers should be able to chart the galaxy's stars and, given their velocities and uncertainties, chart the probability cones for the stars' current locations, taking much of the risk out of full-fledged pan-galactic hyperdrive travel.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Right. The density of comets/asteroids, rogue planets, and MACHOs as a percentage of dark matter should be sufficiently low to be irrelevant.

[evillejedi]

from Mr. Saxton

It is possible that starships in hyperspace will experience a drag force due to tiny collisions with diffuse interstellar gas. If this effect is significant then it will tend to accelerate the vessel. Starships passing through thicker portions of the interstellar medium might suffer ablation as well as being in peril of reaching unnavigably high speeds, overshooting the proper destination and possibly ending in a more serious collision.

there is A LOT of hydrogen, helium and dust, though very diffuse, in space, this alone may account for the reason of hyperlanes, not because it is hazardous, but because it is efficient (if hyperdrives are regulation of a safe velocity in hyperspace) the documented cases of zones to avoid tend to be denser nebulas, which will have time varying density and motion that may not necessarily be mapped or calculated. I have no idea how a high velocity subspace particle will change the vector of a vessel in hyperspace (except in cases like the Questor which sounds like an uncontrolled acceleration through the planet) or what the density would be to create an off target arrival, but the quote above seems to me that it would be best to plot routes that involved the least dense areas of interstellar space possible. it may also provide challenges to exploration because of unknown density of very diffuse areas that may not be detected on sensors (what is the sensor resolution? how many H,H2,He atoms per m^3? at how many light years?) a route shouldn't be considered commercially navigable if it keeps placing the vessels in different places or needs an uneconomic amount of fuel to adjust for (also see saxton's comments) or takes longer than another route due to adjustments. For military operations many of these conditions should be relaxed

[Illuminatus Primus]

Except all of the space above and below the galactic disk satisfies this requirement, and narrow "lanes" do not.

Please establish that this effect would be significant and that it would conform to convenient lanes arbitrarily through the galactic plane. And that these would be preferable or prevent the use of simply arbitrary parabolic arcs over the dense disk through the halo above and below the disk. With galaxies, typically what you see is what you got; the inner regions and the arms of the disk are the densest regions; so you'd expect common paths of travel to be arcs above and below the disk and through the spaces between the arms while within the disk. This does not conform with the naive WEG model for hyperlanes.