In Destiny, the Stargate vents and flashes when it closes. I don't think I've seen this happen to any other gates. Are there any reasons why this is the case?
asked May 15, 2011 at 0:50
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3It's especially odd given that the gates on the planets that the Destiny crew visit don't vent.– user1027Commented May 15, 2011 at 1:27
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I was thinking the same thing. I know that these gates are "old" compared to the ones from SG-1, but in that case, ALL of them should have the same "flaw" or need to vent.– TeknophiliaCommented May 15, 2011 at 1:41
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8Writers: "How can we make the Destiny gate different?". "Venting?". "Venting is cool, let's go with that"– badgerrCommented May 16, 2011 at 8:14
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Didn't Orlin's one-shot gate do the same thing? Not really a fully functional gate but it stands to reason his jury-rigged contraption was closer in operation to Destiny's gate than to anything else.– John LACommented Aug 16, 2019 at 3:57
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3 Answers
According to the Stargate Wiki, the CO2 vents (that's what vents after the gate closes) appears to be superfluous.
That said, my own theory is that the venting is shown only on the Destiny because the Destiny is already pretty far along on it's path, and I would assume the seed ships would be programmed to discover newer and better ways to build gates, and eventually they possibly found a way to not need CO2 discharge, where the Destiny's gate didn't get the upgrades.
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14It might have something to do with it being on a ship as well... Commented May 15, 2011 at 3:55
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Agreeing with @PearsonArtPhoto. The Destiny gate is in a closed system with extremely little ability to dissipate heat (an enclosed room in a spacecraft), and has to be able to connect to any and all seeded gates and viable for high-energy transfers over extreme distances (9th chevron connections); this is furthermore compounded by any other heat buildup in the system, such as, e.g., leftover heat from the standard refueling stardive. Venting CO2 ensures that anyone or anything that arrives won't be fried if the room or gate is running especially hot. Commented Apr 8, 2021 at 20:06
I'm going to go from DKuntz information, and stretch this a bit further.
So, let's start with the facts.
- The Stargate on Destiny is older than any known stargate, at least, in that part of the universe.
- The Stargate on Destiny is the only known operating one on a ship, at least in that part of the universe.
- It's common practice for ships to have higher concentration of oxygen than normal. This enables a few cool tricks, including easier space walking, lower overall weight of gas, etc. See this link.
- The gas coming from the gate is Carbon Dioxide, per the Stargate Wiki.
- We know that the gates are much more flimsy than the Milky Way gates. A shot produced a hole in one episode.
- We know that the stargates deal with lots of energy.
- While most of the gates aren't of huge importance at any one point in time, Destiny's must be more important, because it's where the Ancients wanted to land.
So, putting all of that together, we can assume the following.
- Closing a wormhole must involve large amount of energy, of a type that could potentially produce a spark.
- In order to minimize any affect, it seems likely that CO2 is forced near the gate, to keep any fire from occurring at this sensitive time.
- This CO2 spray also helps to improve the longevity of the stargate somehow, and isn't required if the stargate isn't going to be used for a long period of time.
- It could also be that the stargate is full of pure CO2 during the active wormhole, and that it's vented out after the wormhole closes, for the same reasons as above.
answered May 15, 2011 at 17:55
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For #1, do we know that to be true? The seeding ships dumped their gates on planets centuries prior, so shouldn't those gates be older than the one on Destiny?– user1027Commented May 15, 2011 at 18:34
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1@Keen: The one on Destiny dates to its launch, one can reasonably assume. The ones on the seeding ship are manufactured (See SGU 2.03 "Awakening"). Commented May 15, 2011 at 19:27
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Based on all of the series, closing a wormhole doesn't take any extra energy, it's just that the gate no longer pushes energy to the wormhole, closing the connection. Making your first assumption outright wrong. (sorry, just need to point that out). Additionally, because your first assumption is wrong, none of your following assumptions can be correct.– dkuntz2Commented Nov 5, 2011 at 4:34
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And by no longer pushing energy, I mean that the gate just stops drawing power (which is why it's always confusing at the SGC as to why a gate stays open longer than it should have and why it's still drawing energy). We know that this limit is based either on when the Gate somehow detects when everyone intending to come through makes their way through and closes, or after 38 minutes elapses.– dkuntz2Commented Nov 5, 2011 at 4:36
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Inductance (which is impossible to avoid, even with superconductors) trys to keep current moving. It is like inertia. When you suddenly stop drawing power, the inductance keeps the current flowing if there is nothing on the other end, it causes voltages to het higher and higher until it breaks through. So when dealing with large amounts of power you can't just turn it off, you need to reroute it somewhere while the field decays. The co2 is likely part of this mechanism. Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 4:01
The planet gates are designed to only be used a few times, but the Destiny gate is designed to be used time and again, perhaps it improves the longevity of the gate to cool off the capacitors afterwards? Also, Destiny's gate is the only gate in the network that can dial an extragalactic connection, requiring way more power, my guess is that, similar to how the Icarus gate sparked from the power levels being at maximum, the older Destiny design gets really hot when powered up by a 9 chevron address, and so it was designed to vent whenever it dials, regardless... Also, I'm not sure it it vents just co2, there must be more to it, unless it's just extremely hot, because when the Lucian Alliance boarded, one member got caught in the blast after the gate closed, and either got injured or killed...
