Pilot Chair.... what is its Purpose?

Now that you mention it, it looks like an upside down phallus.

It obviously has a viewer for the pilot and the longer part could be a sensory/navigation array of sorts. I never saw any evidence it was a weapon of any kind.

The Engineer climbs into it in order to take off - the pilot chair is for piloting.

Well, it seems obvious that the pilot chair is for piloting. You need to start her up, get her airborne, plot a route on the star map, and off you go. Then it's bedtime. :)

Symbolic? When aligned correctly,it shows the true path.

Used to guide the pilot in quantum separation?

It monitors the pilot and sends the data to the empire?

It focuses/channels the aura of the universe into the pilot.

alien, unknowable, bizarre tech.

I'm guessing it's an X-ray pulsar navigation device.

The Galaxy is littered with pulsars (spinning neutron stars that emit X-rays) and each one has a characteristic frequency, up to several hundred rotations per second.

It is estimated that such a device could pin down its location anywhere in the Galaxy to within a few kilometres.

The 'telescope' could point in an arbitrary direction, which is just as well, since the one on the pilot chair would be of little use as an optical device.

The below video slows down to give us a look at the Orrery and it's components.  I hope that this assists in the above, very impressive discussion.

The Orrery

The apparent glass beads at the top of the Orrery are shown below from the outside and inside.  

The supporting structures connected to the ring above this transparent ceiling can be seen in both images below as well. 

A Double Helix

Additional Angles

Certainly that is the Conclusion that i arrive at, it appears that its NOT required once the Juggernaught is in Space and has a Destination Set, but it is required to Take Off/Land and so it acts like the Landing Gear on a Plane... so ONCE the Ship is in Orbit the Pilot Chair can Retract back into Floor.

I would say for this Purpose there was NO real need for the Telescopic look of the Device, if say has a set of Controls and some Screen or other way to Communicate Visually with the Pilot.

Looks really COOL though... Epic Set Piece.

Like some of the Detail given by some of you Guys, MonsterZero, Hox and Ingeniero ;)

Certainly that is the conclusion that i arrive at, it appears that its NOT required once the Juggernaught is in Space and has a Destination Set, but it is required to Take Off/Land and so it acts like the Landing Gear on a Plane... so ONCE the Ship is in Oribit the Pilot Chair can Retract back into Floor.

Yeah, the main thing was the visual. Giger was undoubtedly inspired by images such as this one of Percival Lowell scanning the heavens...

I always considered the pilot's chair to be more of a massive telescope, allowing the Engineer/Jockey to track their course through space since the Juggernaut / Derelict had no windshield!

@Hox hit the nail on the head, I believe.

I like this topic, it is interesting. To me it could something that can be used to see where it is like a telescope but then would not the ship have coordinates to understand where it is. Maybe it is as simple as something to use to see what is outside or to look at the stars?

About its role being changed with the prequels I do not see how that would be possible since Prometheus did not show us much of that. We can only guess in this case.

Perhaps it is a canon and a telescope, depending on what adjustment that you have. Push one button and you get X, push another and you get Y.

"How does it Escape the Ships HULL?"

There could be something that we do not know about? I am not sure what that would be

"And so WHY are there Four Cryo-Pods if ONE Engineer is Needed to Control the Ship?"

Maybe they alternate so one is flying as long as he can and then he wakes up another? Who says that there is only one Engineer in there. Maybe they also need to sleep? We do not know how far those ships travel or if the Engineers sleep so maybe that is the explanation.

"And so Once the Ship is in Space and a Destination is SET then the Pilot Chair has NO Use..."

You can autopilot it or drive manually, it could be about that.

It could be more about style than about what it is actually good for.

BD: as far as I remember it you mentioned before that they do not think things through logically when they do those things but that they put things there just because so maybe that is the case.

Indeed Hox

I got the Impression when i First saw the Pilot Chair in ALIEN and for Many Years after, that it was INDEED some kind of Telescope of Sorts for Pinpointing Locations/Destinations.

But the More i looked into it say the Last 10 Years and also since Prometheus was that to Imagine the Pilot Room as some kind of Observatory did mean the View was Restricted due to the Size of the Domed Section.

So the Telescopic Apparatus of the Chair would have a Restricted View through the TOP of the Ship, that would NOT fit the purpose of locating Star Systems and the Orrery Scene in Prometheus kind of made such a Idea a bit MOOT anyway....

I would However Suspect the idea was for it to Perform a Similar Function as a Telescope or at least like a Submarine Periscope.

While with Prometheus and The Crossing it would appear that the Pilot Chair is NOT required apart from maybe to TAKE-OFF and LAND this does not mean we can RULE out that it can be used to SCAN the STARS.

Its Sci-Fi and Alien and so just because the Ship has a Small Glass like Dome does not mean that the Telescopic Apparatus uses this WINDOW area to View the Sky/Space. The Ship could have Various Cameras or Similar that Provide a LARGER view of the Heavens to the Pilot.

Bottom line like the overall Design of the Ship it just looked AWESOME...

if the ship is indeed bio-mechanical in nature then perhaps it is a form of interface between what the ship sees/ senses and the helmet of the pilot. the ships information is collected in the telescope like device and transformed into a 3D holographic projection inside the pilots helmet. when he makes a course correction, the device relays the relevant information to the ship. this would negate the need for windows

Indeed, i have mentioned before that maybe the SHIP has some kind of Sensory Devices all over the Ship or some way that anything can be Captured from outside the SHIP and sent to the Telescopic Device and so it Acts more like a Viewing Screen. 

This Concept Work for Prometheus which i had not seen before does seem to Indicate as such.

This Gives a Indication of the Pilot Chamber Room Scale

That's a nice concept work, BigDave. I've not seen that one before. I wonder if it's a coincidence that it bears a strong resemblance to a cross-section diagram of an organic eye, with the lens at the top.

It could be that the window might just be there to provide illumination. Everybody likes a bit of natural light, right?

You're right, the pilot chair does look awesome, and maybe some details are best left as a mystery. It could be, for example, that it has multiple purposes.

As for how the 'telescope' receives its input, it could indeed receive signals from remote sensors. Alternatively, it could be using advanced alien technology, something like imaging neutrinos rather than light. You could put a neutrino telescope at the centre of a planet and its view of the cosmos would be unhindered. Virtually everything in the universe looks like glass to a neutrino including, perhaps, the hull of the juggernaut.