Space Travel

[Bruce Wayne]

This specifically refers to JL:TAS.

Remember in Secret Origins, the very first episode? The episode starts with a scene on Mars. Now when seeing the Javelin-7, a ship created on Earth, I wonder, why is this the only advanced space travel ship we see? I'm trying to go for the big picture and make a generalization. At this point in its time, wouldn't there be people space traveling? Someone must have the technology to make this, after all, Bruce Wayne most likely funded the building of the ship.

Ok, so my thought provoker is, are there people space traveling? If the technology available during this time, then people would be traveling to other worlds! Not just the JL or any hero.

Now I know we would never see some guy just travel around space on the show for the heck of it. And in no way do I want to see this happen unless it advances a story line. But to me, it seems the citizens of the TAS world are just restricted to Earth.

[Alba Aulbath]

I dunno. I guess this is just my automatic assumption of placing stuff together based on what I do know of the cast.

AKA, bull******** my way through. Joy.

I assume that, while Bruce Wayne has the funds and perhaps the parts, J'onn would have the brilliance for such creations and also perhaps Superman (base parts of it perhaps on that li'l thang that brought itty bitty Kal-El to Earth). Maybe it's a bit of a stretch. Maybe we're trying to look too deep into something 'cuz we got more important things to worry about, like supervillains who can blow popiscles out of their nose or something.

Point is, maybe it doesn't matter, 'cuz there's talking gorillas, zombies, magic, demons, dragons, cyborgs, mutants, and what have you on Earth that you should probably not worry about the Javelin-7.

In other words, Alba doesn't know and it makes her brain hurt.

[tkyoung21]

May be the technology that are avaiable to the JL are not accessable to normal business world and developed secretly. Remember the watchtower is only a line-item hidden in the Aerospace R&D budget, plus most of Batman's tools and equipment are probably developed by Wayne tech. too and they are not available to the public, you simply do not want the common criminal to get their hands on a Batman's weapons and stuffs online.

[dev_chieftain]

Perhaps because actual space travel would be...nearly impossible?

For *so* many reasons, the people of Earth (in reality) are currently limited to *Earth* as far as travel goes.

Why?

First, radiation--outside of our solar system, there's no protection against cosmic radiation. That means, unless you got yourself some skippy shielding? You have brain cancer after about five minutes.

Second, heat--XD Nebulae and other stars alike are way way way hotter than even the sun--heck, the Io Torus is the hottest place in our Solar system, that's around Jupiter an' all...so it'd be a matter of finding a ship that could fly through the space gases without burning up...which, shall we say, is *very* unlikely. ( ^_^;; only thing not burning in a temperature like that would be either some miraculously stable element that has a very dense molecular structure that we haven't found yet or...well, that's about it XD;;; )

Third? Time/Distance. You can only travel up to about the speed of Light. 'Less you're Flash, then presumably you can cross it. That leaves the world with very *sloooww* means of space travel...only *approaching* the speed of light, not even necessarily reaching it. That means it takes a *long* time to get anywhere.

XD so basically? I figure it's probably just way too much trouble for the people of earth to get anywhere with space travel. It's almost unfeasible.

But. That's assuming the writers of the show know astronomy and all and have chosen to use those facts XD; instead of something else.

So...that kinda answers your question...assuming that all the basic laws of physics, yadda, are in operation in the JL universe. Which...granted, they probably aren't, because the Javelin exists. XD; )

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Ok, so my thought provoker is, are there people space traveling? If the technology available during this time, then people would be traveling to other worlds! Not just the JL or any hero.

I'd make a distinction between technology being available vs. it being commonplace. To pick an example from the headlines recently, the technology to build fuel-cell driven cars is available, and there are actually fuel cell cars being driven around in America right now. However, that doesn't mean that EVERYBODY has a fuel cell car, or will have one for a good, long time.

That actually ties in to another point I wanted to make. The major obstacle to fuel-cell cars isn't the tech itself -- it's the lack of easily available fuel for them and the infrastructure already in place for gas-powered vehicles. The same can be said for nuclear power (or nuclear weapons), where the obstacle isn't the technology, but getting the fissile stuff to make the big booms and the facilities to handle it without glowing in the dark when you get home. Maybe the real constraint in the Animated Age DCU isn't space-travel technology, but getting enough gas to go anywhere useful.

Both the Mars mission and even Superman's jaunts into space in STAS seemed like unusual events.

-- Ed/Ace

[Karkull]

I think that the answer is a little more simple: Earth's knowledge of advanced space travel is largely based on the spacecraft that brought Superman here. He loaned it to Star Labs to examine and, later, WayneTech got the technology when Brainiac took over Wayne in Knight Time. I'd say that the Javelin-7 and The Watchtower are largely thanks to a blending of Earth and Kryptonian technology.

Otherwise, most of this stuff isn't really in circulation as of yet. Remember: there's usually a gap of time between when a technology is perfected and when it is introduced to the public (thus the sightings of "alien" aircraft that are later revealed to be a top-secret plane). As for WayneTech, since he doesn't build military weapons I don't see him being too keen on releasing this stuff just yet.

Other parties that have access to such technology would probably be LexCorp (they have the remains of Brainiac from Ghost in the Machine and whatever they scraped up of his ship from Stolen Memories). Another party would probably be the U.S. Government, who would have first dibs on anything due to "national security." This would probably be a lot of the stuff that LexCorp has access to, as well as J'onn's aircraft that he initially used to get to Earth.

[The Detective]

I'm with Karkull. I think we can assume that Waynetech and maybe LexCorp have access to alien technology but other than those two enterprises, it's probably not that common. Plus, it may be incredibly expensive. Batman was willing to spend that much for the safety of earth, it just may not be econimal yet to produce it hardly at all.

[Bruce Wayne]

All of your responses are logical. I can understand why human beings aren't using ships to travel in space like cars... but what about scientific purposes?

[tphile]

I'm with Karkull. I think we can assume that Waynetech and maybe LexCorp have access to alien technology but other than those two enterprises, it's probably not that common. Plus, it may be incredibly expensive. Batman was willing to spend that much for the safety of earth, it just may not be econimal yet to produce it hardly at all.

Not even Bruce Wayne is rich enough to pay for the Watchtower, The funds could have been collected from all the Nations thru the UN but its more likely Superman just crushed enough coals into diamonds or x-ray visioned some treasure. Also Superman had technology from the ship that became his Fortress of Solitude. GL could help bypass using the space shuttle to get everything into orbit.
They would still need Waynetech to help coordinate things, handle the red tape and legalites and to subcontract out specialized stuff.

but do JL members get a paycheck? a spending budget of any kind?
Anything to keep Flash from doing commercials

[Knight]

Not even Bruce Wayne is rich enough to pay for the Watchtower, The funds could have been collected from all the Nations thru the UN but its more likely Superman just crushed enough coals into diamonds or x-ray visioned some treasure. Also Superman had technology from the ship that became his Fortress of Solitude. GL could help bypass using the space shuttle to get everything into orbit.

Except that Superman and The rest of the League didnt even know that Batman was having the satalite made. So its unlikely they had anything to do with its creation. Only Superman suspected that Batman funded it. The rest of the team were in the dark on its orgin.

[jadrax]

Not even Bruce Wayne is rich enough to pay for the Watchtower,

Yes he is. In fact it's not even expensive to him.
Ref: Secret Origins.

[The Detective]

Yeah according to Bruce he was able to hide the Wathctower as a line item in the R&D Budget.

[Clayface]

First, radiation--outside of our solar system, there's no protection against cosmic radiation. That means, unless you got yourself some skippy shielding? You have brain cancer after about five minutes.

Wait, I'm not sure what you're saying here. There's no protection against cosmic radiation inside our solar system either - except on the planet's surface, where our atmosphere protects us. We're at no more risk from solar radiation outside our solar system than we are orbiting the earth or sitting on the moon. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.

Second, heat--XD Nebulae and other stars alike are way way way hotter than even the sun--heck, the Io Torus is the hottest place in our Solar system, that's around Jupiter an' all...

Well, the hottest next to the sun.

so it'd be a matter of finding a ship that could fly through the space gases without burning up...which, shall we say, is *very* unlikely. ( ^_^;; only thing not burning in a temperature like that would be either some miraculously stable element that has a very dense molecular structure that we haven't found yet or...well, that's about it XD;;; )

We can already easily spot stars and other collection of hot gases throughout the galaxy, and navigate around them in our own solar system. Heck, we've sent the Galelio spacecraft through parts of the Io Torus. I would hope any technology advanced enough to allow us to travel around the universe would be capable of similar navigational feats when the spacecraft is at high speeds.

[The Detective]

All of your responses are logical. I can understand why human beings aren't using ships to travel in space like cars... but what about scientific purposes?

I think you're missing the point of what we're trying to say. It may not be practical, it might be too expensive, the goverment might consider it dangerous, etc, etc. And as you mentioned yourself we know they did send a team to Mars. And after that fiasco the powers that be might have decided it wasn't worth it.

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

From my understanding of it all, the Javelin-7 uses Martian technology, thereby allowing it to travel great distances through deep space. I don't imagine that J'onn shares too much technology with the rest of the world except for the JLA. But anyway, that's just my thoughts.

[Knight]

From my understanding of it all, the Javelin-7 uses Martian technology, thereby allowing it to travel great distances through deep space. I don't imagine that J'onn shares too much technology with the rest of the world except for the JLA. But anyway, that's just my thoughts.

Just curious on why you think the Javelin-7 uses martian technology I've seen no indication or heard any mention of it in the series.

As a matter of fact the only thing known about the Javelins origins were in the "Brave and The Bold" ep when J'onn questioned the reliability of the ships scanners and Wonder Woman said they couldn't be wrong because " Batman built it". Or something to that effect.

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Just curious on why you think the Javelin-7 uses martian technology I've seen no indication or heard any mention of it in the series.

As a matter of fact the only thing known about the Javelins origins were in the "Brave and The Bold" ep when J'onn questioned the reliability of the ships scanners and Wonder Woman said they couldn't be wrong because " Batman built it". Or something to that effect.

J'onn seems to know quite a bit about the Javelin-7's engines and stuff...that's where I got my theory from...plus there's also the fact that no where else on earth is there any ship that can travel through deep space faster than light or with worm holes or whatever. I don't think that Earth technology could develop such technology in this modern world, even though it is just a fantasy world. It would be stupid in my opinion...it would make the human race limitless throughout the galaxy...and that stuff doesn't exist in the modern world of the real world or the world from the comics and animated series...except in the form of the Javelin-7. I'm not saying that the Javelin-7 wasn't built by WayneTech, but I think that whatever it is that's used for interstellar space travel, such as warp speed or worm holes or whatever is used, was developed from Martian technology. At least I like that idea anyway, it sounds better than a human in a primitive world inventing such a device.

[Toddman]

J'onn seems to know quite a bit about the Javelin-7's engines and stuff...that's where I got my theory from...plus there's also the fact that no where else on earth is there any ship that can travel through deep space faster than light or with worm holes or whatever. I don't think that Earth technology could develop such technology in this modern world, even though it is just a fantasy world. It would be stupid in my opinion...it would make the human race limitless throughout the galaxy...and that stuff doesn't exist in the modern world of the real world or the world from the comics and animated series...except in the form of the Javelin-7. I'm not saying that the Javelin-7 wasn't built by WayneTech, but I think that whatever it is that's used for interstellar space travel, such as warp speed or worm holes or whatever is used, was developed from Martian technology. At least I like that idea anyway, it sounds better than a human in a primitive world inventing such a device.

That's not necessarily acurate. As was stated in a previous post, scientists on Earth already had their hands on technology for "warp-drive" space travel long before J'onn J'onzz arrived.

Superman's rocket ship was studied by S.T.A.R. Labs and the ship itself was used by Superman to return to the remains of his home planet. There is also the point about Brainiac leaving his mark behind at Wayne Aerospace.

Maybe those spacecrafts were reverse-engineered on Earth by S.T.A.R. or Wayne or LexCorp or whoever which is what enabled American astronauts to reach Mars in the first place.

Toddman

[Alph]

I remember somewhere in "Zeta Project",they had a bunch of people in one ep rallying against the government to be aloud to use space travel or something like that.Of course,this is years in the future.

[dev_chieftain]

Wait, I'm not sure what you're saying here. There's no protection against cosmic radiation inside our solar system either - except on the planet's surface, where our atmosphere protects us. We're at no more risk from solar radiation outside our solar system than we are orbiting the earth or sitting on the moon. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.

Sun has a magnetosphere of sorts too. XD; inside the solar system? The only cosmic radiation is from the sun itself.

Well, the hottest next to the sun.

....No, the hottest.

It's hotter than the sun by about 100,000 degrees K at least. ^^;

We can already easily spot stars and other collection of hot gases throughout the galaxy, and navigate around them in our own solar system. Heck, we've sent the Galelio spacecraft through parts of the Io Torus. I would hope any technology advanced enough to allow us to travel around the universe would be capable of similar navigational feats when the spacecraft is at high speeds.

x__x; highest speed attained yet? 20km/s.

Speed of light? Lessee....a whole lot more.

^_~ I really do know what I'm talking about. It'd take too long for space travel, in reality. The whole show is bending facts. Unless we discover a real warp speed? We can't even go as fast as light.