Puddle Jumper

Puddle jumper "Nice ride."

- Jack O'Neill

The Puddle Jumper is the Human nickname given to a set of small ships used by the Ancients capable of flying through the Stargate. The Puddle Jumpers have retractable wings so they can fly through stargates, advanced Ancient weaponry and a cloak. They can only be flown by an Ancient or by somebody with the Ancient Technology Activation Gene. The name Puddle Jumper is given by Major John Sheppard after a debate with Lt. Aiden Ford and Dr. Rodney McKay, who suggested that it be called a Gateship. The Asurans, however, refer to it as a gateship, which may mean that gateship was what the Ancients called the vessel.

Specifications
The design of the Puddle jumper is of a cylindrical shape, with two inner sections. The front section contains the cockpit of the vessel with all control functions, four seats for passengers and a large viewport at the front of the ship. The aft section contains a passenger and storage area with a hatch in the back to access the jumper. Outside, the vessel contains a weapons and engines pod on both the port and starboard sides. The jumpers carry a Dialing Device to dial addresses, regardless if the Stargate is orbital or not.

Attachments
A various assortment of items can be attached to a Puddle jumper, typically on the underside of the vessel, or can be carried. Examples include objects that need to be launched (that can be carried, such as a Naquadah Generator), a grapple or viewing light.

Weaponry and Shields
The Puddle jumper is equipped with two weapons pods, located on both sides of the ship at the front end in hidden hatches. Each jumper utilizes Ancient drone weapons which fire by command of the pilot's thoughts.

Through major system modification, a Puddle jumper can have a protective shield.
 * How a shield was created by a Wraith on the jumper is unknown.

Radek Zelenka was also able to modify the cloak on a puddle jumper to act as a shield against the pressure of ocean water.

Cloak
Puddle jumpers are equipped with an Ancient cloak, making it completely invisble visually and from sensors. The jumper cloak cannot be penetrated by Wraith sensors and cloaks the full interior of the vessel and it's occupants if the aft hatch is open.

The jumper cloak is not limited to the size of the craft. The cloak can be removed from a jumper and implemented on other objects or ships as long as they are compatible, such as Atlantis.

Communications
The Puddle jumper utilizes a subspace communications system to facilitate real-time communications between locations.

Uses of the Puddle Jumper on Atlantis
The city of Atlantis is equipped with a full hangar of Puddle Jumpers, with the ability to leave the outpost or enter the gate room to be sent through the Stargate.

Escaping from the Wraith, a team from Atlantis led by John Sheppard on a Puddle Jumper got stuck mid-way through the gate when one of it's flight wings did not retract, wedging it into the gate.

Puddle Jumpers are prone to electromagnetic fields. Such a field on M7G-677 downed a Puddle Jumper under control of John Sheppard.

In assisting the Genii to stop the Wraith, Sheppard commanded a cloaked Puddle Jumper to infiltrate a Wraith hive ship. After escaping, the Genii betrayed the Atlantis team at gunpoint. However, thinking ahead, Sheppard called on his communicator and two other Puddle Jumpers uncloaked allowing the team to escape.

The Genii, after seeing the power of the Humans, sent an invasion force to Atlantis to retrieve essential supplies, including 1 Puddle Jumper. At that time, another Puddle Jumper (J2) was stuck on the Atlantis mainland during a large storm that kept it grounded. When the eye of the storm passed the mainland, Doctor Beckett risked a move and flew back to Atlantis to assist Sheppard in regaining control from the Genii.

Sheppard, Doctor Rodney McKay, Gaul and Abrams took Jumper 1 to the far edges of the Atlantis solar system for research. They were able to locate an Ancient Defense Satelite and a downed Wraith hive ship on the satelite-orbitting planet. Landing on the planet, a lone Wraith survivor was able to access the jumper with Sheppard and the team on the Hive ship. The Wraith was able to activate a shield around the jumper through extensive system modification, forcing McKay to determine how to access the shield after the Wraith was killed.


 * It is unknown how McKay was able to disable the shield on the jumper.

In 2005, a Wraith Dart arrived at Atlantis to scan it in a prelude to a Wraith incursion. Jumpers 1, 2 and 3 intercepted the dart to prevent it from reaching Atlantis, but it was able to destroy Jumper 3 and self-destruct after it successfully scanned Atlantis.

The power systems of a Puddle jumper can be linked to other sources. Dr. McKay was able to connect the power system of Jumper 4 to the Atlantis power grid to allow for a quick Stargate wormhole connection to Earth.

The control systems of a Puddle jumper can be controlled by an Ancient control chair for sending jumpers into unsafe areas. This idea was implemented when Wraith Hive ships were over Atlantis and jumpers were to be sent at the Hive ships armed with nuclear warheads. Power to the control chair, when the plan was to be implemented, failed and the jumper had to be sent manually by Sheppard. The jumper was destroyed, taking a Hive ship with it, but Sheppard was saved by the Daedalus.

While visiting Olesia, one of Atlantis' Puddle jumpers was shot down by prisoners on the planet's penal colony. Another Puddle jumper under the command of Dr. Weir went to investigate and assisted in evacuating the prisoners through the Stargate during a Wraith culling and in rescuing the team from the downed Puddle jumper, which could not be retrieved.

A Puddle jumper was used to investigate an Ancient planet with the power source known as Project Arcturus. When the power source began to overload and the outpost's weapon turret started to fire erratically, Sheppard and McKay had to use the Puddle jumper to evade the turret's weapon's fire and return to Atlantis with protection by the Daedalus.

When Sheppard was trapped in the time dilation field of the planet Cloister, McKay, with Elizabeth Weir and doctor Beckett, took a jumper to the planet to launch a probe to investigate the field in order to shut it down.

Testing out a Puddle jumper's systems after it was damaged, McKay and a Daedalus officer flew Jumper 3 around the Atlantis ocean until it encountered an engine failure and landed in the ocean. After a certain depth, the front cockpit's window broke due to the pressure and McKay took refuge in the aft area, while the officer remained in the cockpit to save McKay. After some time, the jumper landed on the ocean floor, but the impact fractured the bottom hull causing a leak. In the meantime, Sheppard and Zelenka were able to figure out how to convert a jumper's cloak into a shield, thus taking it into the ocean with the new shield. They were able to locate McKay's jumper and extend the shield, saving McKay but leaving his jumper on the ocean floor.

In exchange for medicine and overall assistance, Atlantis received a number of Puddle jumpers that were in storage in The Tower.

Uses of the Puddle Jumper on Earth
SG-1, investigating the planet called Paradise, discovered a single Puddle Jumper after finding monuments with Ancient writing. With his gene, Brigadier General Jack O'Neill was able to use the Puddle Jumper to destroy the Goa'uld Aries' Ha'tak to prevent an invasion of Paradise. The Puddle Jumper was then taken to Earth for further study.

After reading an article of text, Daniel Jackson discovered that Ra had a ZPM while he was ruling Egypt. SG-1, along with O'Neill, used the Puddle Jumper they retrieved and went back in time to retrieve the ZPM. Although they retrieved the ZPM, the cloaked Jumper had developed a dune of sand and was discovered by Ra's Jaffa preventing SG-1 from returning to the present, changing the future.

In the alternate timeline, the Puddle Jumper was found in Egypt and brought to Cheyenne Mountain for investigation. After discovering a tape left by Daniel Jackson in the past, gate addresses stated were dialed through the Jumper with no visible effect. However, the alterate Samantha Carter discovered that, after dialing, seizmic activty had occured in Antartica, signaling the location of the hidden Antartic Stargate.

A Puddle jumper from Atlantis was brought to Earth through the Midway Station where it was kept in storage in Stargate Command. It was later stolen by John Sheppard and his team to return to Atlantis to regain control of it.

With the help of the alternate O'Neill, the Jumper was used to dial and travel through the newly discovered gate to Chulak to locate the alternate Teal'c. Though the two teams that went were kidnapped by Apophis, they were able to escape with help by Teal'c and escaped in the Jumper, travelling through to the past then returning to Egypt. The location of the landed Jumper was the restart of the standard timeline where the uprising against Ra went as normal and the ZPM was found in the normal timeline, thus preventing the real SG-1 from using the Jumper to go to the past.

Uses of the Puddle Jumper by others
The Puddle Jumper was commonly used by the Ancients. The Ancients would use Puddle Jumpers to explore other planets and to travel around the Atlantis outpost in Antartica and Earth.

An Ancient by the name of Janis made a modification to the Puddle jumper design by including a time travelling device. His research was condemmed by the Ancient Council, until he continued his work in the Milky Way galaxy.

A number of Puddle jumpers were in storage in The Tower. After some time, they lost power and started to collect dust in storage until some were given to Atlantis.

The Asurans were able to develop Puddle jumpers based off of those used by the Ancients.

Background Information

 * The instances of time travel in Moebius suggest that there are now multiple Puddle Jumpers on Earth, specifically three. The first is the original, the second is the puddle jumper that was abandoned at Giza when the Jaffa located it, and the third is the jumper used by the alternate SG-1.