If there’s one thing that’s iconic in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars series, other than the lightsabers and force powers, it’s the HyperSpace travel. Whether it’s Han's “Punch it Chewy!” or hearing that high-tech engine powering up as spacecraft suddenly zip into or out of the inky darkness, Hyperspace in Star Wars is incredibly cool, but how does it work?

According to the Star Wars lore - although Senior LucasBooks Editor Jennifer Heddle has said that the entire expanded univer♊se is to be considered non-canon - there is a generally accepted view for how this jump into faster than light travel is achieved. So with that in mind, here’s how Hyperspace w🧸orks in Star Wars.

Updated May 4, 2024 By Matthew Mckeown: It’s a rough time to be a Star Wars fan. From the confused future of the movies to the spiraling chaos of the shows, there’s little left to cling on to for hope. But at least we’ve still got the old lore to fall back on.

Despite an annulment of the expanded universe by the higher ups, the fans still consider it canon and there’s at least somewhere to retreat to that is still enjoyable. Whilst there’s been no retconning or change of how hyperspace works, there’s still some interesting “additions” in the current media that are worth mentioning. So here’s an updated look at how Hyperspace works in Star Wars.

What Is Hyperspace?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you'll likely know that Hyperspace travel is the process by which a subject or object travels faster than the speed of light through space to a distant point. It’s the bread-and-butter transport method for the majority of science fiction and a great workaround for the fact that it takes a really long time to get anywhere in space with current technology.

There have been different takes on it for every genre. From special hyperdrive engines using a space fungus nexus in Star Trek Discovery to flying through literal hell in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer 40K, but in Star Wars it’s far more simple.

The jumping ship is thrust into a dimension of space-time that can only be accessed by molecular displacement caused by going faster than the speed of light. Basically, you p💛oint your ship in the dir🥂ection you want to go, and you hit the big button to go really fast.

How Does Hyperspace Work In Star Wars?

Though the previous description was oversimplified hyperbole, Hyperspace in Star Wars is pretty straightforward, albeit with a lot of behind-the-scenes maths going on. Basically, when a jump is going to be made special calculations have to be performed by navigation computers, this ensures that during the trip the ship is not going to collide with anything.

So routes around planets and stars are mapped out by special nav devices and artificial pathfinders, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:force-sensitives, or with short hops in and out of real space.

Objects within Hyperspace cannot be interacted with unless using special technology - as was the case with Empire Interdictor vessels that were capable of disabling ships from Hyperspace - or if a vessel within approaches another object of significant and substantial mass that creates a shadow outside real space and needs to be navigated around, e.g a planet, star, or large moon.

In some extreme cases, pilots are capable of jumping to and from Hyperspace within a planet's atmosphere. Whilst risky, only the extremely talented, or lucky, have pulled it off.

Hyperspace In Effect

Most ships in the modern Star Wars era have access to hyperdrives. With such vast distances to cover in the universe, it’s the only real way of getting around. The majority of large transport and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:capital ships are capable of jumping out of real space. But smaller ships often require either docking inside larger carriers or special attachable hyperdrive engines that c♏an accelerate a smaller vessel far be🏅yond its means.

Once the jump begins, hyperspace particles from a special fuel mix are manipulated by the drive engine and a pseudo-motion phenomenon occurs where the ship appears to shoot off dramatically. All the stars around the pilot blur into white lines that stream past the cockpit and this effꩲect will continue until the traveling ship drops back 🔥into real space. At this point, everything returns to normal.

Simple, easy, fast.

The Origins Of Hyperspace Technology

An interesting feature of hyperspace technology in Star Wars is that it was inspired by a species in the universe that manages it naturally. A race known as the Purrgil, a gentle space whale that drifts through the galaxy happily in huge ♔swarms, nourishing itself on gas clouds and zi𝓰pping into hyperspace with ease.

It was discovered by the ancient inhabitants of the universe that the Purgil were able to fly through hyperspace by creating spe༺cial tunnels through real space.

This was achieved by using the gas Coulzon-36, which when absorbed turned their gray-brown skin into bright purplish-blue color and through a process of internal fusion provided a hyperdrive effect. Propelling the creatures in large swarms across vast distances of space in seconds.

These whales are a common occurrence in the universe and are often responsible for accidentally crashing into starships or causing massive disasters. As such are usually fired upon or regarded as the equivalent of birds at an airport, a verminous pest that could lead to disaster.

Asohka was able to use the hyperspace traveling ability of the Purgil to reach another galaxy. Something unheard of at the time and a distance that normally requires the use of multiple Hyperspace Engines attached to a vessel.

Hyperspace Weaponry

Though you may think you’re safe when you jump to Hyperspace, and in most cases in the Star Wars universe that has been true, this pocket of subspace is a lot more vulnerable than you would think. The Empire has previously developed ships capable of knocking other vessels out of faster-than-light travel easily. For example, in The Force Awakens, it was shown that this can be used as a weapon. More specifically when the Starkiller Base superweapon was fired.

This event sent the combined energy harvested from a star through hyperspace using an artificially created tunneling effect, allowing it to reach 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:multiple star systems regardless of their distance. This phenomenon also generated enough power to fracture a bubble in real space, allowing the destruction to be viewed from multiple planets outside the effective range. Though whether this effect is intentional or not, it achieved the same purpose. Terrifying everyone that witnessed it.

The Holdo Maneuver

Say what you want about The Last Jedi, but it did bring us the screen-blasting CGI spectacular that was the Holdo Maneuver. A unique usage of a hyperdrive engine that we sadly haven’t seen much of a reappearance of outside a very brief shot of a heavy frꦦeighter destroying a Star Destroyer above Endor in Rise of Skywalker.

For those not aware, The Holdo Maneuver was a tactic used by Resistance leader 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in The Last Jedi and essentially involved ramming the Empire cruiser Supre𒊎macy with the Resistance ship the Raddus whilst the hyperdrive was engaged.

What happened was Holdo's ship was instantly vaporized at the moment of collision, with the energy of the impact at the point of transition from real space shattering the Supremacy, blowing it in half, and blasting apart several Star Destroyers behind it and any vesse🐷l that was docked within t🍷he gargantuan ship.

Unfortunately in the Asohka show it was shown that popping off a Hyperdrive to ram ships is no longer instantly lethal. As was shown by the Eye of Sion blasting through🔯 a few rebel X-Wings and a Corvette.

This move was a suicidal endeavor by Holdo, but it bought the surviving 𒀰Resist𒉰ance members in her, now evacuated crew, enough time to escape to a nearby planet.

Fans and characters in the movie have asked why this move hasn’t been used again, and in Rise Of The Skywalker, Fin remarks that it’s a “one in a million” move. Essentially the writers of the movie shutting down any debate as to why it never appears again. Still, it’s an interesting take on🌜 hyperspace travel as a weapon.