Hyperdrive

Hyperdrive is the method of faster-than-light travel used in Star Wars. It allows ships, from massive ISDs to small fighters such as the X-wing, to be able to travel the galaxy in a few hours or days at most.

Hyperspace

Hyperdrive allows for faster-than-light travel by pushing ships into Hyperspace. The exact nature of Hyperspace is largely unknown, but there are various ideas as to what it is, such as:

• Hyperspace being another dimension of space, one where the lightspeed barrier is non-existent.

• A parallel universe.

• Simply the way the universe is viewed when traveling faster than light.

Indeed, hyperspace may be paradoxically all these things at once. If this gives fans headaches, its probably best to simply accept that Hyperspace IS, and get on with your life.

Hyperdrive Speeds

Hyperdrive allows ships to travel the galaxy in a matter of hours or days.

According to the Behind the Magic CD-ROM, the direct travel time from Coruscant to Tatooine is over three weeks while the travel time from Corellia to Tatooine is only four hours, despite both Corellia and Coruscant being in the galactic core.

If one assumes that Corellia is 30,000 light years from Tatooine, then it is possible to arrive at a figure of 65 million times the speed of light. Even the slowest route listed, Coruscant to Tatooine direct, is still over 500,000 c.

If we assume that the Millennium Falcon spent eight hours in hyperspace to get to Alderaan, and that it traveled 30,000 light years to do so, we still arrive at a figure of slightly more than 32 million c.