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"Believing their ships were unbeatable, they sent them deeper and deeper into Wraith-controlled territory, trying to weed us out."
Todd[src]

The Aurora-class battleship[3] was a series of Lantean battleships used during the Lanteans' war with the Wraith. They are among the most advanced class of warships ever created.

This class of ship was first encountered by the Atlantis expedition in 2005 in the form of the Aurora, with only four having been encountered since the fall of the Lanteans, excluding those built by the Asurans.

Overview

"A few more [ships] like this and we can give the Wraith a serious fight."
Ronon Dex[src]

In terms of design, ships of the Aurora-class are visually long and slender, being far longer than they are wide. They possess a light brown hull with accents of dark brown outlining sections at the front and rear of the ships. While the Aurora-class overall appears rather sleek and symmetrical, the hull of the ships appears visually "chunky", being lined with arrays of weapons turrets, reinforcing plates, windows, and other systems.

In terms of size, ships of the Aurora-class are quite large. For reference, Aurora-class ships are several times longer, taller, and wider than a Tau'ri BC-304, and possess several times the internal space as well. They are far more comparable in size to a Wraith Hive ship, though even still appear smaller. (SGA: "Inferno", "No Man's Land", "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

In addition to being used extensively by the Lanteans, the Aurora-class was used extensively by the Asuran replicators. Until their destruction in 2008, and following the departure of the Ancients from the Pegasus galaxy 10,000 years ago, the Asurans were the only race actively constructing new vessels of the class, using it as their main class of battleship. Though the Asuran variant appears mostly identical to those used by the Lanteans, it is unclear if they posses all the same attributes; while the Lanteans would have been able to continue making improvements to the class for hundreds of years following their attempted 'eradication' of the Asurans, the design used by the Asurans would have remained stagnant in that time. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

Technology

Weapons

AuroraDrones

Drone weapons being fired.

Ships of the Aurora-class boast an impressive arsenal of drone weapons capable of destroying a Wraith Hive ship in a single salvo. They are fired using a Control chair and the drones themselves are released from a reservoir located on the top middle of the ship. (SGA: "No Man's Land", "Travelers")

Lantean pulse weapon 2

An Aurora-class ship's pulse turrets firing.

For secondary weaponry, Aurora-class ships feature at least 16 pulse weapon turrets placed around the ship, allowing for complete coverage of the vessel. While these weapons are far less effective than drone weapons, they are still capable of heavily damaging a Wraith Hive ship and destroying a shielded Traveler generational ship after sustained fire. Though the turrets for the pulse weapons appear to be present on all Aurora-class ships, they have predominantly seen use on those Aurora-class ships utilized by the Asurans.[Note] (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd", "Progeny")

Energy and power systems

"Eventually we were able to capture three [Aurora-class ships], each one powered by a ZPM."
Todd[src]

A large power distribution center is located near the rear of the ship, in the slender section immediately preceding the engines.[3] Though the primary energy source of the Aurora-class is unknown, the Lanteans were known to occasionally supplement the ship's main power supply with a Zero Point Module. Under such power, the Tria was able to travel at .999 the speed of light for over 10,000 years. (SGA: "The Return, Part 1")

Even without a ZPM, an Aurora-class ship may remain fully powered and operational for thousands of years. (SGA: "Aurora", "The Return, Part 1", "Spoils of War")

Shielding

Hive ship (Allies)

The shields of the Orion.

Aurora-class ships possess extremely powerful shields; They are capable of repelling sustained weapons fire from a Wraith Hive ship with minimal bleed-through. In terms of color, the shields appear a dark, translucent brown. Unlike the "bubble" shields used by the ships of most races, the Aurora-class' shields closely contour the hull of the ship. (SGA: "No Man's Land") Though powerful, they appear to be particularly susceptible to Asgard plasma beam weapons (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

The Hull of the Aurora-class is highly durable as well. The Aurora remained operational after having experienced battle damage so severe that the entire front end of the ship had been destroyed. (SGA: "Aurora") During a battle, the bare hull of the Orion was similarly able to survive a massive barrage of weapons fire from a Hive ship for several minutes before succumbing to the assault. In contrast, during the same battle, the Daedalus' hull was able to survive only six single shots before becoming critically damaged. (SGA: "No Man's Land")

Hyperdrive and propulsion systems

"There are two different types of Ancient hyperdrive. There's the more basic interstellar kind, like the one the Aurora has, and then there's the more powerful intergalactic kind."
―Dr. Rodney McKay[src]
Orion 1

The Orion opens a hyperspace window.

The Aurora-class possesses the fastest sublight engines known to exist. Though they are typically operated at conventional sublight speeds, the Tria's engines were modified to be able to sustain .999 of the speed of light for 10,000 years. (SGA: "The Return, Part 1") The sublight engine units are located at the rear of the ship. There, a grouping of four individual and roughly triangular-shaped engine units are located on either side of a central grouping composed of three smaller circular units. Furthermore, further up along the ship's length, there is a single circular engine unit present on both sides of the ship positioned on a section of the hull that protrudes away from the ship's midsection.

The original design of all Aurora-class ships included an interstellar hyperdrive, limiting the vessel for operation only within the Pegasus galaxy. As the Ancients clearly possessed intergalactive hyperdrive technology at the time that the Aurora-class was created (as such hyperdrives were present on city ships which had originally been created millions of years prior) it is possible that this interstellar limit was intentional, perhaps to prevent the Wraith from reverse-engineering their own intergalactic drive or to maintain a quarantine against the Plague. Despite not possessing them natively, the interstellar hyperdrives of Aurora-class ships may be modified to traverse intergalactic distances. (SGA: "Aurora")

Other systems

AuroraPodsS2D2SF

A grouping of stasis pods in a hallway of the Aurora.

Aurora-class ships possess a subspace communications array allowing them to send out distress signals or communicate at faster-than-light speeds with other vessels at interstellar distances. (SGA: "Travelers") They can also project stable holograms onto other ships capable of also projecting sound. (SGA: "The Return, Part 1")

To protect the crew in the event of critical damage, ships of the Aurora-class are equipped with several hundred Stasis pods. While in stasis, the mind of each person can be connected through the ship's main computer as to allow for virtual interaction with the other crew members in stasis. While these pods significantly slow aging, they do not fully stop it; Over the course of 10,000 years, the adult crew of the Aurora was severely aged to the point that removing them from stasis would have immediately resulted in their deaths. (SGA: "Aurora")

Interior layout

Auxiliary control room

Aurora-class battleship auxilary control room

The auxiliary control center.

Much like Lantean City-ships, Aurora-class battleships contain a secondary control center where ship's systems can be controlled If the bridge was ever destroyed or made uninhabitable. From this position, a crewman is capable of tracking the activities of individuals throughout the ship, scanning life signs, and controlling access to corridors. Numerous control terminals are present in the room. (SGA: "Travelers", "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

Bridge

The bridge of the Aurora-class can control most (if not all) basic systems required for the battleship to function. It is located inside the dome in the middle of the top side of the ship. The front of the bridge consists of several large windows, allowing for a wide field of view, while the bridge's rear walls contain numerous panels and displays (similar to those of the Atlantis control room).

The bridge of the Aurora-class contains a captain's chair located near the center of the bridge. While different from a traditional Ancient control chair, from this chair, an individual possessing the Ancient Technology Activation gene can control most, if not all, of the ship's functions. Additionally, some Aurora-class ships have consoles located on either side of the chair. (SGA: "No Man's Land", "Travelers")

Holding cells

Two configurations of brigs are known to exist on Aurora-class vessels. The brig of the Aurora consisted of a large room surrounded by thin metal bars, between which a forcefield was projected. (SGA: "Aurora") The bridge of the Traveler's Aurora-class battleship consisted of a grid of thick metals bars for the walls, with an un-barred force field being used as a doorway to allow entrance into and out of the cell. (SGA: "Aurora", "Travelers")

Weapons control platform

Aurora Control Chair

The chair room of an Aurora-class battleship.

Ships of the Aurora-class are equipped with an Ancient control chair, also known as a weapon's control platform, which allows the ship's complement of Drone weapons to be fired. The control chair is located in its own room, separate from the ship's bridge or auxiliary control center, which is located at the rear of the vessel. This room additionally contains a visual display. It is unknown if other ship systems, or secondary weapon systems, can be accessed from this location. (SGA: "Travelers")

Other locations

History

It is known that the Lanteans once controlled an entire fleet of Aurora-class battleships. When Niam showed Dr. Elizabeth Weir the Lanteans' attempt to destroy the Asurans, at least seven Aurora-class ships were seen firing either Drone weapons or what appeared to be energy weapons at the outpost. (SGA: "Progeny")

Later, they were used in their war against the Wraith, with many ships equipped with Zero Point Modules. In the end, however, the Lanteans lost the war with most of their ships being destroyed. It is not known if the Aurora-class' were the most powerful vessels in the Lantean fleet other than the City-ship; however it has been implied that the Lantean fleet was more diverse. (SGA: "Spoils of War")

Aurora derlict ship

Aurora as a derelict.

10,000 years later, the Atlantis expedition became aware of these ships when they detected the Aurora via Atlantis' Long range sensors. After traveling to the location of the ship with the Daedalus they found the Aurora as a badly damaged vessel floating in space and the crew in stasis, infiltrated by a Wraith. To prevent the ship from falling in the hands of the Wraith, the Captain of Aurora gave Lt. Colonel John Sheppard his code so that he could activate the self-destruct which destroyed the vessel. Later all such ships were designated as Aurora-class battleships in the crew's honor. (SGA: "Aurora")

Sometime later, the Atlantis expedition made contact with the Taranians, who not only discovered a Lantean outpost on their planet but also a hangar with a damaged but repairable Aurora-class ship, named after the Lantean General Hippaforalkus. Since the planet was threatened by a supervolcano, the population was evacuated on the ship, (newly named Orion) which then was repaired enough by Dr. Rodney McKay to escape the catastrophe. Grateful, the Taranians "loaned" the Atlantis expedition the ship, which was then repaired to help fight against the Wraith, which were again on their way to Atlantis. (SGA: "Inferno")

After the Wraith gained access to intergalactic hyperspace technology, the Orion and Daedalus followed and engaged them in a battle at the edge of the Pegasus galaxy. Although the Orion had shields they could not fire Drone weapons until they sacrificed their shields to fire them, taking out one Hive ship in the process. The other Hive ship however quickly responded and destroyed the shieldless Orion. (SGA: "No Man's Land")

Tria

The Tria moving past the Daedalus at .999 light speed.

About half a year later the Daedalus, while conducting a test with the new Midway space station, discovered another such ship, traveling at .999 the speed of light. It turned out to be the Lantean warship Tria, which was damaged by the Wraith. The crew of the ship was then evacuated by the Daedalus and brought back to Atlantis. Since the hyperspace engines of the Tria were irreparable, the ship was presumably abandoned in the intergalactic void. (SGA: "The Return, Part 1")

The last currently known Aurora-class ship was found by a space traveling human race known as the Travelers. They abducted Sheppard so that he would "help" them activate the ship. After preventing the Wraith from getting the ship, it was repaired by the Travelers. This currently unnamed ship participated in the Battle of Asuras to defeat the Asurans once and for all. According to Katana Labrea, this Aurora-class ship was destroyed along with a Traveler generational ship, and a colony of 3,000 people when a Stargate exploded; an unfortunate side-effect of the Attero device. (SGA: "Travelers", "Be All My Sins Remember'd", "The Lost Tribe")

Traveler Aurora-class battleship 1

The Travelers' Aurora-class battleship being escorted by two BC-304s.

The Asurans, who were able to duplicate much of Lantean technology, built their own fleet of nearly forty Aurora-class ships, but using older Ancient technology. One was sent to destroy the Asuran copy of Atlantis and the Organic Asuran copy of the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team and Doctor Elizabeth Weir hitched a ride on it to Asuras. Using a core drive gotten from Niam's faction, the Daedalus and the Apollo were able to launch first strikes against these ships before they could destroy more human worlds. With the two BC-304s upgraded with Asgard plasma beam weapons, these ships were destroyed easily and the rest retreated to Asuras. There they came under attack by a fleet of Tau'ri, Wraith and Traveler ships during an effort to destroy the Asurans once and for all. The Asuran Aurora-class ships were no match for the fleet despite outnumbering it and were easily held off though they did destroy one Hive ship and one Traveler generational ship in the battle before the Asurans were pulled from their ships and into one huge blob of nanites. The ships that survived the battle were destroyed when Asuras exploded. One ship remained under the control of Niam's faction until they asceneded to subspace. The fate of the last remaining Asuran-built Aurora-class battleship remains unknown. (SGA: "This Mortal Coil", "Be All My Sins Remember'd", "Ghost in the Machine")

Known Lantean ships

During the course of the Atlantis expedition's tenure in the Pegasus galaxy, several Aurora-class battleships have been encountered or referenced, the vast majority of which have remained unnamed, such as the Traveler's Aurora-class battleship. Known ships include the Aurora, Orion (originally named Hippaforalkus), and Tria.

Known Asuran ships

Notes

Wiki2
Stargate Wiki has a collection of images related to Aurora-class battleship.

Ship size

  • The exact size of the Aurora-class battleship is, as is the case with most vessels in the Stargate franchise, difficult to determine. The first Aurora-class ship to appear in Stargate Atlantis was the Aurora. As the Aurora was a derelict left floating in empty space, there was no object to use for reference in determining the ship's size visually. The Orion, seen next, originally appeared to be about 350 meters long, based on visual observation. In later appearances of the Aurora-class, the vessel's size stabilized, with screen measurements usually appearing around the accepted value of 3 km in length. It would likely be logical to assume that the Orion was meant to be the same size as the other vessels, since they shared the same basic design.
    • Of consideration is how a 3 km ship would compare to the spaceships of other races. Considering the dimensions of the Aurora-class provided in Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 76 and 73 to be canon, the Aurora-class warship would be 3 times larger than an Ori warship (dimensions provided in Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection 63), approximately 15 times larger than a Daedalus-class ship (provided in Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 70 and 62), and approximately 30 times larger than a Traveler vessel (which is approximately half the size of a Daedalus-class ship). Each Aurora would also be larger than individual Hive ships (considered 13x larger than the Daedalus).
    • Some issues of The DVD Collection magazine are known to contain errors with respect to the dimensions they provide for spaceships. Dimensions for the same class of ship may vary between issues. The dimensions given in an issue may contradict how the ship visually appears on screen. The dimensions of two ships which appear similarly sized on screen may be given different measurements in The DVD Collection magazines. However, as the DVD Collection Magazines are officially licensed by MGM (and thus considered canon) Stargate Wiki includes them, while noting the apparent discrepancies in instances where they occur. See policy and List of spaceships by size for more information.


Pulse cannons

  • All Aurora-class ships appear to be armed with an array of pulse cannons. However, the Atlantis expedition has only made use of the drone weapons on those Aurora-class ships that have come into their possession; The Orion used only drones in No Man's Land, and the Traveler's Aurora-class ship used only drones in the episodes Travelers and Be All My Sins Remember'd. The first instance of pulse weapons being used on an Aurora-class ship occurs in the episode Progeny, where they are arguably seen being fired from the Lantean Aurora-class ships at the surface of Asuras. The next instance of these weapons being used is by the Asuran-controlled Aurora-class ships in Be All My Sins Remember'd during the Battle of Asuras (though similar weapons also seem to be equipped on the Asuran cruiser in Lifeline.) It is unknown why the Atlantis expedition has never made use of or mentioned Aurora-class ships being armed with pulse weapons, or why the Asurans seem to make heavy use of them on their ships.

Miscellaneous

  • The MGM Tech Journal mistakenly describes the bridge as being in a structure at the very front of the ship, however, throughout the show the bridge is repeatedly shown as being in the domed structure atop the middle of the ship. As such, Stargate wiki describes the bridge as being at that location.
  • The set for the bridge and the auxiliary control room is also used for the Auxiliary control center of Atlantis.
  • The Lantean name for this class of ship has never been revealed. However, Replicator Keller called them Aurora-class as well though she may have been using this name as it was the one the Organic Asuran copies of the team knew.
  • "Aurora" is the Latin for "dawn".

Appearances

Appearances for Aurora-class battleship

In chronological order:

Gallery

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 76
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 73
    Note: Some issues of The DVD Collection magazine are known to contain errors with respect to the dimensions they provide for spaceships. Dimensions for the same class of ship may vary between issues. The dimensions given in an issue may contradict how the ship visually appears on screen. The dimensions of two ships which appear similarly sized on screen may be given different measurements in The DVD Collection magazines. However, as the DVD Collection Magazines are officially licensed by MGM (and thus considered canon) Stargate Wiki includes them, while noting the apparent discrepancies in instances where they occur. See policy and List of spaceships by size for more information.
  3. 3.0 3.1 MGM Tech Journal entry Aurora-class Battleship. Note: The location of the Bridge is incorrect.

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