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Time travel possible at Mission Repair? Sort of. Here's why.



In the Back to the Future franchise, the DeLorean time machine is a time travel device made by retrofitting a DMC DeLorean vehicle with a flux capacitor. The car requires 1.21 gigawatts ("jigawatts/jigowatts") of power and needs to travel 88 miles per hour (142 km/h) to initiate time travel.


Observers outside the vehicle see an implosion of plasma as the vehicle disappears, leaving behind a trail of fire aligned with the DeLorean's tires (which can also appear in midair), while occupants within the vehicle see a quick flash of light and instantaneously arrive at the target time in the same spatial location (relative to the Earth) as when it departed. In the destination time, immediately before the car's arrival, three large and loud flashes occur at the point from which the car emerges from its time travel. After the trip, the exterior of the DeLorean is extremely cold, and frost forms from atmospheric moisture all over the car's body. Vents on the back heat the vehicle after time travel.




Time travel possible at Mission Repair Sort of.




The DeLorean suffers assorted malfunctions and damage over the course of the trilogy. In the first film, the car has starter problems and has a hard time restarting once stopped, much to Marty's repeated frustration.[2] In the second film, the destination time display malfunctions and begins to show a series of random dates, causing Doc to be sent back to 1885 when the DeLorean is struck by lightning with him inside.[3] In the third film, a note left by Doc's 1885 self reveals that the DeLorean's flying circuits (added by him in 2015) were destroyed by the strike. After Marty travels back to 1885, the fuel line and fuel injection manifold both suffer damage, leaving the car unable to move under its own power.[4]


Although the Mr. Fusion unit provides the required power for the time machine, the DeLorean is still powered by an internal combustion engine for propulsion. The fuel line is damaged during Marty's trip to 1885 in Back to the Future Part III; after he and Doc patch it, they attempt to use whiskey as a replacement fuel since commercial gasoline is not yet available. The test fails, damaging the car's fuel injection manifold and leaving it unable to travel under its own power.


The flux capacitor, which consists of a rectangular-shaped compartment with three flashing Geissler-style tubes arranged in a "Y" configuration, is described by Doc as "what makes time travel possible." The device is the core component of the time machine.[2]


The time circuits are an integral part of the DeLorean time machine. They were built with an input device and a display. The display was divided into three sections: destination time (shown in red), present time (shown in green), and last time departed (shown in yellow), all annotated with Dymo labels. Each display includes a month, a day, a year, and the hour and minutes in that point in time. The years on the time circuits were limited to four digits and there were no possible negative years that could be reached, i.e. years before "0 A.D." (1 B.C.). This means the DeLorean could travel to any time from 12:00 am on January 1, 1 B.C. to 11:59 p.m. on December 31, A.D. 9999. It is unknown what would happen if one were to travel to the latter date since, after only one minute, it would be the year A.D. 10000 and the time circuits would no longer be able to show the present time.


The destination time display shows the date that the operator wants the DeLorean to go to (when the operator types in a date using the keypad in the DeLorean, it will be shown in the destination time display), the present time display shows the DeLorean's current location in time, and the last time departed display shows what point in time the DeLorean originally was after making a journey through time. Doc demonstrated its capabilities to Marty after its first test, giving two well-known but erroneous dates as examples: the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776; and the birth of Christ, December 25, 0000. He also used the day that he invented time travel, November 5, 1955.


The Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor converts household waste to power for the time machine's flux capacitor and time circuits using nuclear fusion, presumably cold fusion. In the film, Mr. Fusion allows the DeLorean time machine to generate the required 1.21 gigawatts needed to travel to any point in time. The energy produced by Mr. Fusion replaces plutonium as the primary power source of the DeLorean's time travel, allowing the characters to bypass the arduous power-generation requirements upon which the plot of the first film hinges. The plutonium fission reactor was most likely left installed underneath Mr. Fusion as a backup power source.[2][3]


The Mr. Fusion can provide enough power to the flux capacitor and the time circuits, but is not used to power up the DeLorean itself, which makes use of an ordinary gasoline combustion engine to reach the 88 mph speed necessary for it to time travel. This limitation proved crucial in the third movie when Doc and Marty find themselves stuck in 1885 and unable to drive the DeLorean due to a punctured fuel line. The vehicle's hover system is powered by Mr. Fusion and is capable of bringing the DeLorean up to the required 88 mph; the combustion engine was also probably left on board as a backup. However, the flight systems were destroyed as a result of a lightning strike, leaving Marty to rely on the original combustion engine, which in turn was disabled.


The vents attached to the back of the DeLorean were designed to cool the nuclear reactor that the flux capacitor used to generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity after making a trip through time. After traveling through time, the vents would expel a cloud of cold air as the time machine vented. Later, after the DeLorean's hover conversion in 2015, they were used to propel the DeLorean while in flight. When they were operating, they lit up to a bright white color. After the initial acceleration, the vents would stop glowing. It is possible they may have controlled operation of the vehicle while in flight. A similar pair of vents were used on the Time Train's tender for propulsion.


The plutonium chamber is what originally powers the flux capacitor and the time circuits. At the end of the first film, it was replaced by the Mr. Fusion Reactor during Doc's trip to 2015. It is possible that the plutonium chamber is still installed under Mr. Fusion as a backup source.


During the DeLorean's first test run with Einstein inside it, Doc had built a special remote that is hooked to the car. The remote is similar to an RC car remote and has a digital speedometer that is synchronized with the one on the DeLorean. It is possible that it also has the ability to control the time circuits. Doc uses it to move the car a few feet away and make it accelerate up to 88 mph with its brake on. When the car got near that speed, Doc releases the brake and lets it move towards him and Marty as it disappears one minute into the future with Einstein before it could hit them. Following this event, the remote is no longer used and it is unknown what happens to it afterwards.


After purchasing the DeLorean (it is unknown who or where Doc bought it from) and modifying it into a time machine, Doc brought it to the Twin Pines Mall and tests it out by using a remote control to send it one minute into the future with his dog Einstein in it, leaving its license plate behind. He also shows Marty the major functions of the DeLorean: the flux capacitor, the time circuits, and the plutonium chamber that powers them. After refueling the time machine with plutonium stolen from Libyan terrorists (who previously stole the plutonium from a power plant), Doc prepares to travel into the future, but the Libyans unexpectedly arrive and shoot Doc. Marty uses the DeLorean to flee from the Libyans and is transported to 1955 after accidentally activating the time circuits, but without the plutonium that is needed to power it. Once there, Marty flees from Old Man Peabody (who thinks he's an alien), crushing one of his baby pine trees in the process, and stops in an undeveloped area. Due to problems with the starter and with the plutonium chamber empty, Marty is forced to hide the DeLorean behind a sign and cover it with branches to keep anyone from seeing it. Marty later shows it to 1955 Doc, who then has it brought back to his workshop. At one point, they had to cover the DeLorean with a tarp to keep Lorraine Baines, Marty's future mother, from seeing it.


After returning to 1985, the DeLorean once again suffers another starter problem, forcing Marty to run to the Twin Pines Mall (now called Lone Pine Mall due to Marty's actions in 1955). He arrives too late as Doc is gunned down and watches his counterpart escape to 1955 in the other DeLorean while the Libyans crash into a photo booth, but it is revealed that Doc's death was averted since he had listened to Marty's warning after all. After recovering the DeLorean (which apparently had its starter fixed) and taking Marty home, Doc travels to October 21, 2015, with Einstein, where he upgrades the DeLorean with 2015 technology (replacing the plutonium chamber with a Mr. Fusion Reactor, outfitting a barcode license plate on the back, and giving it the ability to fly), but briefly returns to 1985 to pick up Marty (who brings his girlfriend Jennifer Parker along) and get him to help stop his future son from committing a crime. While there, the DeLorean is stolen by Biff Tannen (who discovers that it's a time machine), who then travels back to November 12, 1955, the same day as the climax of the first film, to give his past self a sports almanac to be used for gambling. Once Biff returns to 2015 without Doc knowing, Doc, Marty, Jennifer (who has fallen unconscious after seeing her future self), and Einstein return to 1985, but find themselves in an alternate timeline where Hill Valley is ruled by Biff that Doc describes as 1985A (alternate 1985). Because of Biff's tampering, the time circuits have malfunctioned, displaying random dates. After learning of 2015 Biff's actions, Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to restore the timeline.[3] Upon arrival, the DeLorean is hidden behind the same sign that Marty hid the DeLorean in the first film. During the mission, Marty had to wait for 2015 Biff to return to 2015 in his DeLorean in order to retrieve the almanac without 2015 Biff knowing and to prevent further changes to the timeline. Doc later uses the DeLorean to pick up Marty (accidentally switching on the malfunctioning time circuits) and chase down Biff, where they recover and destroy the almanac, but Doc is unable to land the DeLorean due to strong turbulence. It is struck by lightning again in the very same electrical storm, this time by accident. 2ff7e9595c


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