Lifetime
A wormhole's lifetime is how much time it has left before it collapses on its own.
| Status | Time remaining |
|---|---|
| Healthy | More than ~4 hours. Safe to rely on. |
| End of life (EOL) | Under ~4 hours. The hole has started to destabilise and may collapse soon — cross with care. |
| Critical | Under ~1 hour. Treat collapse as imminent; don't get stranded on the wrong side. |
Set it, and let it age
You can set a connection's lifetime by hand, but the app also ages it automatically. Based on how long the hole has been on the map and what kind of wormhole it is, a connection moves toward EOL and then critical as it approaches its natural maximum age — and once a hole is marked EOL, it's treated as critical a few hours later.
Different wormhole types live different lengths of time, so the app uses the hole's type to decide when to age it. A standard hole and a C6 static don't reach end-of-life at the same wall-clock age.
Lifetime is independent of mass — a hole can be fresh on mass and still end-of-life on time. Autopilot can be told how aged a hole it's willing to use; see Wormhole filters.