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ftl drive - Is there FTL travel in the "Alien" franchise?


A common event in the Alien movies is people being placed in stasis for long periods of time, presumably because space travel is a slow and arduous process.


Given the vast distances between even the most remotely-interesting interstellar destinations make them many years away even at the speed of light, is there some form of faster-than-light travel that is utilized in the Alien franchise?



Answer



There is faster than light travel in the Alien universe franchise. It is demonstrated by the relatively short time (3 weeks) it takes for the Marines to arrive at LV-426, Zeta 2 Reticuli system (second moon of Zeta 2 Reticuli IV).



  • This star system is 33 light years from Earth, so their ability to reach it in such a short time indicates a well-developed FTL system, whose specifics are undefined. (Such information is not necessary to the story so it's overlooked.)



map of the Alien universe


Click to enlarge map of the Alien Universe.




  • On starships where travel between distant interstellar locations would take centuries due to slower-than-light travel (i.e. generation-ships or anything made by humanity at our current state of technological development), it makes sense to put the crew into suspended animation since it will take thousands of years to reach their destination. Even our closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, which is only four light years away would take 25,000 years at our best possible speeds!




  • The Alien universe possesses faster-than-light travel so their reasons for suspended animation are likely based around the second - and equally important - reason for suspended animation after time delay: the important issue of resource management.





  • Living, moving, active crew require food, oxygen and water to go about their business of being human. It would appear, travel between stars requires very little human interaction except the initiation of the process so it makes more sense to reduce the activity of the crew because it reduces their need for resources.




  • Physically, the suspended animation process seems to have no long-lasting ill effects (witness Ripley and Jonesy's decades-long sleep and revival) so it makes sense the humans of that universe would spend their time asleep to reduce the need for storage space for water, food and air as well as entertainment.




  • It is very likely they have technology to promote the efficient recycling of those resources, but since no replication technology appeared to be available, the easiest best way to have food on hand is to NOT eat it in the first place.





For those of you curious about the ships and technology of the Alien Universe, The Alien Universe Timeline offers very interesting materials based on canonical resources.


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