Puddle Jumper

"Nice ride."

- Jack O'Neill

The Gateship, nicknamed Puddle Jumper by the Tau'ri, was a small craft capable of space travel created by the Ancients. Several of these ships were discovered in the Atlantis hangar, and are used by the Atlantis Expedition. The Puddle Jumpers have retractable engines which allows them to fly through stargates, advanced Ancient drone weaponry, and cloaking technology. They are equipped with a neural interface and the ATA Gene is required to successfully activate and pilot the ship.

The name "Puddle Jumper", is a pun on the ship's ability to travel through Stargate's event horizons, which visually resemble pools of water. That had already been called a "puddle" e.g. by General George Hammond in "Prophecy". The name was coined by Major John Sheppard, an experienced pilot, who found a serendipitous double meaning when describing the craft. The nomenclature of the ship was protested by Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Aiden Ford, who preferred the name Gateship, although their suggestion was rejected.

However, the Asurans, referred to it as a gateship, which may indicate that the Ancients may well have called it that too.

Design


The design of a Puddle Jumper is a small, roughly cylindrical shape with an angled front and rear, allowing it to slide perfectly through open Stargates. 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 ship.

Similar to the Tel'tak, the craft is split into two sections, the cockpit and cargo hold, with a bulkhead door to separate them. This door is quite strong, capable of retaining atmosphere against the vacuum of space or holding back the pressure of deep ocean water. Strangely, Dr. Rodney McKay once remarked that the door would "leak like a sieve" if exposed to space for a long period of time. However, as he was not yet quite familiar with Ancient technology at the time; he was probably mistaken because it was capable of holding back the crushing pressure of the Ocean when a jumper sank.

Entry and exit to the puddle jumper is provided through the use of the cargo bay door in the rear. This door can be lowered and raised in normal operation, or can be jettisoned by use of the emergency release located in the rear section of the cargo bay. The cargo area also serves for additional seating within the jumper for more than the flight crew. Jumpers have a limited power supply, but it is presumably rechargeable. The vessel contains an arsenal of Drones and engines pods on both the port and starboard sides. The jumpers also carry a portable DHD to dial addresses regardless if the Stargate is orbital or not.

Control Console
Throughout the series, there have been three different designs of main control consoles for the jumpers. The reason for the changes was not explained in the show but it is most likely a design change made by the creators of the series.


 * The original console from the first season featured many colored panels and knobs which would glow when the jumper was started up by a person with the ATA Gene. Most of the console was brown-colored.


 * The second jumper console featured a rigid gray panel without any type of lights. This console was featured in the beginning of the second season of the series. The light colored buttons and dials were replaced with gray sliders and other controls. The control panels on board the Orion and at the center of Project Arcturus were similar. It is implied by Dr. McKay that these control panels were the Ancients latest stuff - the latest being 10,000 years old. This would indicate that the second jumper console is actually more advanced than the first, but it is not explained how the team came across the newer design. It is possible that they were obtained from Atlantis' sister ship, seen in the episode "The Tower".


 * The third jumper console was first introduced in the puddle jumper stolen from the Asuran City Ship, and has been featured ever since. It appears as a mix of the two previous jumper consoles with a solid panel but with many small buttons, blue lights and sliders while in the previous jumpers there were two sticks controlling speed and direction. In this there is one which moves up, down, and side to side for direction and another controlling speed. When moved completely forward it is at zero, and when pulled fully back it is at max throttle, a good example being in the episode "Echoes". This design has only 4 bench seats in the rear compartment, as opposed to the first two designs which had 6 bench seats.

It should also be noted that since the start of the second season, the characters have been seen using the control stick to fly instead of piloting the vessel by mental interface. However, in the episode "Sateda", drones were still required to be launched with the mental interface.

Defensive Systems
The Jumper's weapon systems consist of at least 16 Ancient Drone Weapons, housed in two weapon pods located on both sides in front of the engine pods. These pods must be extended before the drones can be fired. Each jumper utilizes Drones which fire by command of the pilot's thoughts.

It was theorized by Dr. Rodney McKay that these drones could also be used to pilot the jumper, although this was never tested. It is assumed that the craft would not be very maneuverable or fast, however, it would require very little power. Eventually, Rodney McKay discovered the jumper could be controlled through an Ancient Control Chair in this way.

The Jumpers can be used as bombers by attaching explosives to the bottom of the craft and later releasing them.

A Puddle Jumper has no true shields at all, suggesting that it is an exploration and trading ship. Its only defense consists of an advanced cloaking generator capable of masking the ship to both the naked eye and sensors, much like those on Goa'uld Cargo ships and Al'kesh bombers. The Jumper's cloak cannot be penetrated by Wraith sensors and. The cloak 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. However, through major system modifications, the cloaking generator can be "reversed" to act as a shield, but this drains the jumper's power far too rapidly, making it almost useless in a combat situation. This situation occurred in "The Defiant One", when a wraith prevented Major Sheppard from entering his jumper by the use of a shield which he activated with the jumper's remote cloaking device.


 * How a shield was created by a Wraith on the jumper is unknown.

The cloaking generator can only project either the cloak or the shield, as both are generated the same way, just at a different frequency. Therefore it is impossible to have both running at the same time. The shield, however, has enough power to deflect at least one drone, although such an impact would severely damage the craft, even through the shield. Radek Zelenka was also able to modify the cloak on a puddle jumper to act as a shield against the pressure of ocean water.

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

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.

As the jumpers are used on a regular basis by the Atlantis Expedition to explore planets in the Pegasus Galaxy, their jumpers have been equipped with a large amount of Earth equipment. All of their jumpers possess plenty of food, medicine, weapons and other supplies on board, suspended over the seats in the rear compartment by rubber netting and behind the seats in the forward compartment.

As off-world teams are likely to come under fire, there is a healthy supply of weapons, ammunition and tactical vests on board, including P90's, M4 Carbines, M249 SAWs, and pistols, usually Beretta 92s. In addition, there are at least two AT4 rocket launchers on either side of the rear hatch in the back of the jumper. There is also enough equipment in the jumper, including laptops and tools to fix the jumper in case of a breakdown.

During the brief time that Rodney McKay was being accelerated towards ascension, he designed a virtual prototype for a hyperspace window generator for the puddle jumper. In the season 4 episode Lifeline, Rodney and Zelenka formulated a plan to use the experimental jumper hyperdrive, so the team are able to fly from the stranded Atlantis to the Asuran homeworld. Unfortunately this took a lot of power and the only way they would have been able to fly it back would be to hook up the ZPM they stole. Also in this episode, McKay modified the jumper's cloak to emit an Anti-Replicator field that would destroy all Asurans in range.

Time Jumper
An Ancient scientist named Janus created at least one puddle jumper capable of traveling through time known as a: Time-Jumper, by means of a device installed in the cargo hold. In the main timeline, this experimental technology was banned by the Atlantean Council in order to prevent dangers associated with time travel.

In an alternate reality, members of the Atlantis expedition discovered a Time-Jumper in Atlantis's jumper bay. In that reality, the expedition had suffered tragedy immediately upon arriving at the Ancient city, as the shield had begun to fail from lack of power, causing the city to flood. Desperate and with no method of escape, the alternate versions of John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir and Radek Zelenka sealed themselves in this jumper as the jumper bay flooded. They subsequently activated the time device by accident.

They traveled 10,000 years into the past, arriving at the final days of the Ancients' war with the Wraith. Orbiting Wraith ships sieging Atlantis mistook the newly-arrived time jumper for a contemporary Atlantean craft, and opened fire, causing the jumper to crash land on Lantea. The alternate Sheppard and Zelenka were both killed in the crash, but the alternate Weir and the jumper itself were rescued by the Ancients inhabiting Atlantis, including Janus. Meeting a woman from 10,000 years in the future prompted the Atlantean Council's decision to ban further time-travel research, thus changing the timeline such that Janus's prototype would no longer be left behind for the expedition to later find. Fortunately, Janus ensured that the expedition would also be saved from drowning, in the new reality.

An identically-equipped puddle jumper, equally capable of time travel, was later discovered by SG-1 abandoned on a planet in the Milky Way galaxy. This newly discovered ship's time travel device was visually and functionally identical to the Janus prototype, implying that in the new timeline Janus chose to disobey the Atlantean Council's ban on time-travel research. The time jumper discovered by SG-1 in Milky Way was most likely the new timeline's version of Janus's original prototype. As the Lantean High Council ordered the original destroyed, this Time-Jumper was probably built in the Milky Way. It also had a Milky Way DHD installed instead of the Pegasus DHD.

This jumper was later used by SG-1 as a means of traveling back in time to ancient Egypt, in order to steal a ZPM from Ra, setting into motion the somewhat convoluted series of events depicted in Moebius, and further aging the time jumper by about five thousand years... twice.

It is unknown what has happened to this jumper as it is not seen, heard, nor mentioned of. It is assumed it was destroyed as mentioned by the alternate Samantha Carter in Moebius, Part 2 who like her "prime counterpart" believed it would be best if the time jumper be destroyed to prevent damaging the timeline any further. It is possible that the time jumper might have still been hidden elsewhere either on Earth or at another location, or that it was still found on Arkhan's World, just not used to travel back in time as the events that took place in Moebius never would have happened (at least to the current SG-1 team).

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 city through the retractable roof, or enter the gate room to be sent through the Stargate.

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

Puddle Jumpers are susceptible 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 one Puddle Jumper. At that time, another Puddle Jumper, was stuck on the 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 One to the far edges of the Lantean system for research. They were able to locate an Ancient defense satellite and a downed Wraith ship on the satellite-orbiting planet. Landing on the planet, a lone Wraith survivor was able to access the Jumper while Sheppard and his team were investigating the crashed Wraith 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-destructed 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 were flying Jumper 3 over Lantea's ocean until it encountered an engine failure and crashed 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 Arkhan's World, 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 Ares' Ha'tak to prevent an invasion of Arkhan's World. 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 alternate Samantha Carter discovered that, after dialing, seismic activity had occurred in Antarctica, signaling the location of the hidden Antarctic Stargate.

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.

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.

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 Antarctica and Earth.

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.