Project Arcturus was an attempt by the Ancients in Atlantis (or Lantean's) to extract vacuum
energy from our local spacetime, as opposed to Zero Point Modules (ZPMs), which extract
zero-point energy from an artificially-created region of subspace, much like a universe in a bottle.
Or "making it potentially as powerful as the scope of the Universe itself," as Dr. Zelenka put it.
Arcturus was their Manhattan Project, part of an Ancient defensive outpost
located on a planet known as Doranda. Its construction was ordered by Atlantis in an
effort to defend the Dorandan people, with the intended purpose of powering weapons of their own design.
Some 10,000 years ago, it is believed that the Ancients began their work on Project Arcturus.
By this point in history, they've been at war with the Wraith for more than a century.
Arcturus was originally designed as not only a means to power the weapons intended
to defend the Dorandan people, but also with the higher ambition to potentially render ZPMs obsolete.
With the Ancients at war and vastly outnumbered, and the Wraith relentless in their incursion,
the team of scientists assigned to the project knew it wasn't yet ready to be tested in the field,
let alone under battle conditions. Given the circumstance, however, with a Wraith fleet in orbit,
they had little choice but to continue with the test, and Project Arcturus failed.
In order to prevent a catastrophic overload, the Dorandan weapons platform acted much like
a pressure release valve, in that the excess energy was able to safely dissipate by firing the weapon,
discharging it randomly in all directions. Although the scientists involved
managed to shut down the weapon, the damage was done; it was too late. The Dorandan surface
was completely obliterated, their civilization, left in ruins.
The Ancient researchers were killed nearly instantly, hit by a massive release of hard radiation.
Now, the Atlantis expedition first discovered the outpost and consequently their experimental
Project Arcturus upon learning of the Dorandan gate address found in the city's database.
According to Dr. McKay, Project Arcturus was designed to generate wholly absurd amounts of energy.
By his estimation, running the device at even 50% its maximum output,
still it would generate enough power to equal perhaps a dozen ZPMs.
"It is the ultimate power source," McKay explained, "something that would make Zero Point Modules
seem like alkaline batteries in comparison." Had instead Project Arcturus been a success,
it very likely would've turned the tides of war, tipping the balance greatly in the Ancient's favour.
But extracting zero point energy from our local region of spacetime is difficult,
to say the least, impossibly difficult even. Doing so radically alters the fundamental
physical laws within that region. As Dr. Zelenka noted, "The very act of trying to contain
vacuum energy from our own spacetime creates an environment where the laws of physics cease to apply."
Inside the containment field would, as a result, be bombarded by the continuous creation
and destruction of exotic particles; such that, being a region governed by wholly different
laws of physics, these new energetic particles would then behave in ways impossible for them to predict,
thereby rendering the containment field unable to properly contain them.
It would only be a matter of time before it failed entirely. Upon breaking containment, moreover,
all the newly created exotic particles would then breach the chamber as hard radiation.
The Ancients, despite all their genius and accomplishments, at times their seeming infallibility,
ultimately they failed to achieve what they set out to do. If only they had more time.
One cannot help but wonder-- had only the fates been reversed.
Project Arcturus was an ambitious undertaking, perhaps even too ambitious. It was described by Dr. McKay as
"the Ancients' last great discovery" after ascension and the gate system."
It was too late to win the war for them," McKay argued, "but I think if I can finish the work they started..."
Although his first attempt ended in spectacular failure, in the annihilation of an entire solar system,
McKay would in fact go on to later revise the process.
So did you think about Project Arcturus? Blowing up an entire solar system is actually quite impressive.
I bet that'd look good on a resume. Let me know what you think down below in the comment section,
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