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2069-2123 2127-2179 2325-2381 The Banned Histories Vehicles and Planets Astro-Cartography |
With thanks to Darrell Curtis, Eric Adams and Tom Baviour NOTE: I am not a physicist or an engineer so the information below is open to interpretation and discussion. If you have anything to add please let know, preferably with evidence to back your claim up. The dimensions in a lot of cases are taken from photos and notes from the ‘Alien Photonovel’, ‘The Book of Alien’, ‘The Making of Alien : Resurrection’, and ‘The Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’, and of course evidence from the four films and their novelisations. NOSTROMO Measurements based the claim from 'Alien' model makers that the Nostromo is 800' long. Further info taken from ‘Alien Photonovel’ and ‘The Book of Alien’. Further reference from ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’. USCSS Nostromo Modified Lockmart CM-88B Bison Transport Registration – 180924609  The USCSS Nostromo with refinery - 2122 LENGTH – 243.8 m (800’) WIDTH – 164.6 m (540’) HEIGHT – 72.05 m (246.4’) Refinery LENGTH – 1500 m (4921.2’) WIDTH – 978.7 m (3210.9’) HEIGHT – 880.8 m (2889.7’) SPEED - 0.12 light years per sidereal day (fully laden) The Nostromo has three decks - A, B, and C. A deck contains the galley, bridge, infirmary, hypersleep chamber, Mother interface and the main airlock. B deck contains equipment and provides access to the shuttles. C deck is used mainly for equipment storage and contains the landing struts (when retracted). It also contains Ash’s observation blister, and Brett and Parker’s engineering station (which houses the auto-destruct console). The crew consists of a Captain, Executive Officer, Warrant Officer, Navigator, Science Officer, Engineer and Engineering Technician. The crew are mainly on board to handle docking, take off/ landing, and to perform repairs. The minimum crew requirement for take off/ landing is four. If we assume 4 metres space per deck (2.5 metres for corridors and 1.5 metres in between and either side for air ducts and wiring), we have 8 metres for decks A and B plus another 21 metres for C deck (incorporating 1.7 metres for the main airduct between B and C deck). We now have a ship 29 metres high, then add on the height of the docking port (24.5 metres) on top of the ship, and add outer hull plating, and count the fact the ship is higher at the stern (and houses 27 metres of engine room) to make up the remaining 18.55 metres. Rough calculations suggest a FTL speed of 4,783,050,655.738 KMH (or 79,717,510.929 KM/Min). Based on a distance of 37 light years (11.35 parsecs) to Zeta 2 Reticuli and 10 months travel time. Calculations are open to conjecture. (NOTE: Nostromo dimensions are currently under review. In the meantime check out The Nostromo Files by Darrell Curtis.) DERELICT With the lack of a lot of proof, I have made certain assumptions. It is generally considered that the Derelict when in flight, flies with it’s two ‘prongs’ forward. From footage, stills and H R Giger’s designs I have come up with the approximate dimensions of the Derelict.  Derelict spacecraft on LV-426 - 2122 EXTERIOR PORT PRONG (hammerhead) – 161.6 m (530’) long STARBOARD PRONG – 174.3 m (571.7’) long INGRESS/ EGRESS HOLES – 5.5 m (18’) high x 3.1 m (10.2’) wide HEIGHT AT ‘BRIDGE’ AREA – 33.5 m (180’) high LENGTH OF ‘BRIDGE’ AREA – 43 m (141’) long WIDTH (AFT) – 116.6 m (382.6’) wide WIDTH (AFT BETWEEN PRONGS) – 61 m (200’) wide INTERIOR EGG ‘CAVE’ – 39.6 m (130’) high SPACE JOCKEY CHAMBER – 12.2 m (40’) high From evidence in Alien, we're lead to believe (from the way it was filmed) that the trio went in and then turned left to get to the Space Jockey. However when you look at Giger's drawings it's probably more likely that a tunnel goes straight from the ingress holes to the Space Jockey room, seeing that from the exterior designs the aft end of the ship has a large circular shape.  The same Derelict spacecraft, now lava damaged, as encountered by the Jorden family - 2179 Having said that there must be more of the ship underground. My calculations indicate the egg cave must be at least 130 feet high. The ingress holes are about 18 feet high. We can see about 110 feet of the derelict above ground where Dallas, Kane and Lambert enter. They climb up (at least 6 feet) to the Space Jockey room which is at least 30 feet high. So internally we've got at least 170 feet, which indicates there is at least 60 feet of the Derelict buried. NARCISSUS Measurements based around the hatch being 6 feet tall. Shuttlecraft Narcissus Modified Lockmart Starcub Light Intrasystem Shuttle  The Narcissus docks with a Deep Salvage ship - 2179 LENGTH – 16.3 m (53.5’) WIDTH – 19.7 m (64.5’) HEIGHT – 7.5 m (24.5’) An exterior shot of Ripley in the cockpit while powering up the shuttle reveals her upper half (about 3 feet). This measured against the rest of the visible shuttle supports the above calculations. The Narcissus is one of two shuttles attached to the Nostromo and is located under the port engine nacelle support. The Narcissus was the only operational shuttle in 2122, as the other one was out of order and in need of repairs. The Narcissus can support 2 people in hypersleep for extended periods. SULACO Measurements based on the length of 385 metres given in the ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’. USS Sulaco Conestoga Class Starship  The USS Sulaco en route to Acheron - 2179 LENGTH – 385 m (1263.1’) WIDTH – 50 m (164’) HEIGHT – 85 m (278.9’) SPEED - 1.762 light years per sidereal day We don’t see very much of the Sulaco internally. The main deck houses the hypersleep chamber, and locker room. It is not unreasonable to assume that the showers and galley are adjacent to the hypersleep chamber. It is also not unreasonable to assume that these are all on the same deck as the hangar bay. Adjacent to the hangar bay are equipment bays containing powerloaders, armaments and supplies for the dropships and APCs (missiles and supplies are only loaded into the dropships and APC immediately prior to a mission). The hangar bay has at least two airlocks. Also directly adjacent to the hangar bay is a ready room for the troops. This room contains all the marines weapons and equipment, plus lockers containing the marines personal effects. If all the above rooms are on the one deck, then this deck is located on the underside of the ship, due to the dropships being ‘dropped’ out of a lower airlock. The Sulaco is an almost completely automated troop transport. It only requires one synthetic Executive Officer to perform basic navigation duties such as orbital insertion. If we use the Nostromo ‘4 metres per deck rule’, we would have to deduct 30 metres from the height to compensate for the lower comms antenna, plus make allowances for extra hull plating, we would have approximately 12 decks. Rough calculations suggest a FTL speed of 694,681,166,666.667 KMH (or 11,578,019,444.444 KM/Min). Based on a distance of 37 light years (11.35 parsecs) to Zeta 2 Reticuli and 3 weeks travel time. Calculations are open to conjecture. DROPSHIP Measurements taken from ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’. UD-4L ‘Cheyenne’ Utility Dropship  UD-4L Dropship prepares to land at Hadley's Hope, Acheron - 2179 LENGTH – 25.18 m (82.6’) WIDTH – 12.59 m (41.3’) HEIGHT – 6.05 m (19.8’) APC Measurements taken from ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’. M577 Armoured Personnel Carrier  M577 APC prepares for loading on board the USS Sulaco - 2179 LENGTH – 8.58 m (28.1’) LENGTH (Turret stowed) – 9.22 m (30.2) WIDTH – 3.38 m (11.1’) HEIGHT – 2.81 m (9.2’) HEIGHT (Turret stowed) – 2.17 m (7.1’) EEV Measurements taken from ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’. Bodenwerke Gemeinschift Type 337 Emergency Escape Vehicle  337 EEV from USS Sulaco above Fiorina 161 - 2179 LENGTH – 13.2 m (43.3’) WIDTH – 4.4 m (14.4’) WIDTH (at base of ‘L’) – 6.0 m (19.7’) HEIGHT – 2.8 m (9.2’) The Sulaco carries 10 EEV's, each capable of supporting 5 people in hypersleep. AURIGA Based on evidence from ‘The Making of Alien : Resurrection’. It states the Auriga is 12000 feet long. USM Auriga  The USM Auriga cruises past Jupiter en route to Earth - 2381 LENGTH – 3658 m (12000') WIDTH – 718 m (2355') HEIGHT – 628 m (2060') SPEED - 0.08 light years per sidereal day (intrasystem); interstellar speed CLASSIFIED. The Auriga is the largest ship ever seen in the Alien films and is something of labyrinth. Going by the ‘4 metres per deck rule’ we’re left with over 150 decks. However the Auriga has a lot of taller rooms eg. The rec-room is about 2-3 decks high as is Ripley’s cell and the Alien observation chamber. The Auriga would also have extra thick hull plating, being a military ship with stealth run capability. It would not be unreasonable to assume the Auriga has at least 100 decks. It also interesting to note that a ship the size of the Auriga would cause cataclysmic damage if it crashed into Africa at full speed. A 200 ft rock is supposed to have exploded over Tunguska in Siberia in 1908 causing incredible damage (if it had been a populated area, hundred of thousands would have been killed). Ripley comments that Call has ‘saved the world’, but if something the size of the Auriga (about 60 times larger than the Tunguska rock) hit the Earth we’d be talking about an explosion of Armegeddon level proportions and ‘adios muchachos’. One possible explanantion is that Call programmed ‘Father’ to slow the ship down to a less destructive speed before it crashed. Rough calculations suggest a known FTL speed of 3,169,777,333.333 KMH (or 52,829,622.222 KM/Min). Based on a distance of 47.67 AU (about 7,131,999,000 km) from Pluto to Earth and 135 minutes travel time. Calculations are open to conjecture. ESCAPE POD Based on measurements taken from 'The Making of Alien : Resurrection'. USM STANDARD 12 PERSON LIFEBOAT  A lifeboat departs the USM Auriga - 2381 Ovoid configuration DIAMETER - 7.8 m (25.5') WIDTH (including launching struts) - 25.2 m (82.7') HEIGHT - 10.9 m (35.8') These measurements were taken from the film and photos (sketches/ maquettes) from the aforementioned book, and are therefore rough, but fairly accurate nonetheless. BETTY Based on measurements taken from ‘The Making of Alien : Resurrection’. The Betty Unregistered Known false registrations – EA-TM-E  The Betty docked inside the USM Auriga - 2381 LENGTH – 44.4 m (145.6’) WIDTH – 74.7 m (245.1’) WIDTH (not including engines) – 12.7 m (41.6’) HEIGHT – 20.0 m (65.7’) The Betty normally carries a crew complement of six, but can be flown effectively by one person. It is highly recommended that a pilot and co-pilot are present for planetary landings. The measurements for The Betty are very rough and based on a variety of pictures. These measurements along with all the other measurements are open to dicussion. ACHERON Designation – LV-426, Zeta 2 Reticuli system (second moon of Zeta 2 Reticuli IV) Diameter – 1,200 km Rotation – 2 hours Gravity – 0.86g Orbital period – 5.07 days Colonies – Hadleys Hope, population 158 before destruction in 2179 Further notes: The Nostromo’s Science Officer, Ash, said the planet had 'Rock, lava base' (2122). The Company woman at the inquest of Ellen Ripley called LV-426 a 'rock' (2179). So it's obviously better to go with Ash's scientific analysis. However not being a geologist, I have no idea what 'rock, lava base' exactly means. To me it says 'it's a rock'. However a lot of geyser activity was witnessed by the Nostromo’s search party in 2122, during the walk to the Derelict. This geyser activity abated around local sunrise. It was not evident at all in 2179, so perhaps the atmosphere processing has some effect on it (unlikely but possible). In 2122 the atmosphere was described as ‘primordial [with] inert nitrogen, a high concentration of carbon dioxide crystals, methane and trace elements’. It was not breathable to humans, however after 20 years of atmosphere processing it became breathable. The wild dust storms witnessed by the crew of the Nostromo, were still evident in 2179 despite the atmosphere processing. To get more technical, 'the crust is made up from aluminum silicates, though there is plenty of evidence of magnesium silicate intrusion, manifest on the surface as basalt, rhyolite and microgranite lava flows. Despite the ample evidence of activity in the planetoids core, there is no discernable volcanism or tectonic activity present, which would be consistent with a tidally locked body.' Having said all that, there was some volcanic activity in the recent past, as the Derelict spacecraft investigated by crew of the Nostromo in 2122 was heavily damaged and partially buried under a lava flow when it was re-discovered by the Jorden family in 2179. Points of interest: Hadley's Hope Terraforming Colony - Established by Weyland Yutani and the ECA around 2157, it took the colonists nearly 20 years to make the air just breathable to humans. The colony consisted of three levels - Sub Basement (below ground) Which was predominantly used for maintenance and storage. Level 1 (ground level) Mainly living quarters and colonists services such as the Hadley Bar & Grill. Level 2 (above ground) Mainly Colonial Operations, offices, medical and science lab. There is also another level beneath the Sub Basement, but is only used as a maintenance crawlspace and reservoir for the colony's water supply. The colony was commanded by Al Simpson along with Operations Assistant Lydecker at the time of it's destruction in 2179. Russ Jorden and his family accidently introduced an Alien organism into the colony which subsequently multiplied and wiped out the population of 157. The only survivor was Jorden's daughter Rebecca. The Atmosphere Processor is located approximately one mile from the colony proper, and consists of some 30+ levels, plus 5 levels below ground. Points of reference include - Dock 7 (gates 27 and 28) which is where the Bishop synthetic dropped off Ellen Ripley in her rescue attempt of Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden. - Sub Level 3 which is part of the Alien hive where the marines of 2nd Battalion 9th Regiment discovered the remains of the colonists, and subsequently lost 6 of their number when the Aliens atacked. - Sub Level 4 which is where Ellen Ripley and Newt Jorden first encountered the Alien Queen. All that remains of Hadley's Hope is a large crater thanks to the atmosphere processor going critical. The Ilium Range: Located approximately 20-30 km* in an easterly direction of Hadley's Hope lies an unremarkable mountain range, that has been volcanically active during the mid 22nd century. The Derelict: Just east again of the Ilium Range, on a high plateau, is a gigantic Derelict spacecraft of unknown origin, that was investigated by the crew of the USCSS Nostromo in 2122 and again by the Jorden family in 2179. Discovered on board was a fossilised Alien organism (type unknown) and thousands of Alien 'eggs'. One of these 'eggs' infected Exec Officer G.W. Kane in 2122 and another infected Russ Jorden in 2179 with xenomorph spore. The Derelict was destroyed after Hadley's Hope was obliterated in 2179. USCSS Nostromo LZ: Approximately 2000 metres south west of where the Derelict once stood, is the spot where the Nostromo landed in 2122. Due to the high winds on Acheron, there is now no trace of where the Nostromo set down. There seems to be some dispute regarding the diameter and rotation of LV-426. The ‘Alien novelisation’ gives a diameter of 1200 km which is supported by the 'Alien' DVD and the cut-scene where the bridge crew listen to the Derelict transmission; the ‘Official Alien film magazine’ gives a diameter of 1200 m as does the Heavy Metal comic adaption; the ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’ gives a diameter of 12,201 km. 1200 m gives us a circumference of 3768 m. The distance from the Nostromo’s LZ to the Derelict was “just under 2000 metres” meaning Dallas, Kane and Lambert walked to the other side of the planet. Also the destruction of the atmosphere processor in Aliens would have destroyed the entire planetoid. 1200 m is obviously wrong. On the other extreme 12,201 km makes LV-426 almost the size of the Earth. We’re lead to believe from the films that LV-426 is a small dirtball, so 12,201 km is a bit too big. Which means we’re left with 1200 km. This is the size of a mid-sized Jovian moon, and as Zeta 2 Reticuli IV is a ringed gas giant, it makes sense that one of it’s moons would be about this size. Also, the atmosphere of LV-426 extends some 39 km into space. Earth's atmosphere extends some 80 km into space. More evidence pointing towards a much smaller planet. The rotation given in the ‘Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual’ as 5.07 days, but this does not correlate with the ‘Alien novelisation’ or ‘Official Alien film magazine’ which give a rotation of 2 hours. The orbit around Zeta 2 Reticuli IV of 5.07 days seems to makes sense though. As a real life comparison, Uranus’ moon, Umbriel, has a diameter of 1190 km and an orbital period of 4.144 days. From the films it’s difficult to determine whether the colonists regarded ‘night’ as the time the local sun was below the horizon, or the time the local sun was eclipsed by the gas giant. Probably the latter. * - The 20-30 km distance from the colony to the Ilium Range is based on the fact that Bishop said the blast radius from the exploding AP station was about 30 km. The 'Alien Resurrection' novel says the Derelict was destroyed in the AP station explosion, so logically, the Derelict must've been within the blast radius. FIORINA 161 aka 'FURY' Fiorina 161 is a small planet orbiting an insignificant binary star in the Neroid Sector of the Outer Veil. It orbits just inside the outer edge of the system’s life zone, and shares the system with at least one other planet. A planet of dark seas and high winds, night temperatures are in the vicinity of minus 40 degrees centigrade. It’s rotation is approximately 10 days. The major indigenous life form on the planet is a microscopic parasitic carnivorous arthropods, simply called ‘lice’ by the local populous. They will infest any other life form with hair, as they have an appetite for keratin (though they aren’t attracted to fingernails). Any lotions strong enough to combat the parasites caused skin blistering. The lice themselves causing itching and major skin irritation. Weyland-Yutani set up a large (approx 10 miles square) mineral ore mine and refinery on Fiorina which was subsequently converted into a Class C maximum security male work correctional facility when the last of the ore (mainly platinum) was refined and shipped off-world. Weyland-Yutani leased the operational part of the facility to the government for the prison, effectively leaving a custodial presence – 22 prisoners, 2 warders, and 1 medical officer. They now porduce lead sheets for toxic wste containers. The inhabitants of the facility dealt with the lice by shaving off all their body hair. After the bio-weapon incident of 2179, the facility was shut down permanently and the remaining prisoner was re-assigned. Sourced from the 'Alien 3' film and novelisation. |
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