Warp drive (Star Trek) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Faster-than-light

Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....

(FTL) propulsion system in the setting

Setting (fiction)

In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...

of many science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

works, most notably Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at velocities greater than that of light

Speed of light

The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...

by many orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time dilation

Time dilation

In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...

. Some of the other fictions in which warp drive technology is featured include: Stars!
Stars!
Stars! is a complex turn-based computer game based around the management of planets and fleets of spaceships following the 4X game model...

, Freelancer

Freelancer (video game)

Freelancer is a space trading and combat simulation video game developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game was initially announced by Chris Roberts in 1999, and following many production schedule mishaps and a buyout of Digital Anvil by Microsoft, it was eventually...

, EVE Online
EVE Online
Eve Online is a video game by CCP Games. It is a player-driven, persistent-world MMORPG set in a science fiction space setting. Characters pilot customizable ships through a galaxy of over 7,500 star systems. Most star systems are connected to one or more other star systems by means of stargates...

, Earth and Beyond, StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...

, DarkSpace
DarkSpace
DarkSpace is a massively multiplayer real-time strategy computer game developed by PaleStar. Released in December 2001, DarkSpace involves multiplayer spaceship combat between three player-controlled factions....

, Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...

, Astro Empires, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

and Star Ocean
Star Ocean
is a franchise of action role-playing video games developed by tri-Ace and published and owned by Square Enix .-Creation and influence:...

. In contrast to many other fictional FTL technologies, such as a "jump drive

Jump drive

A jump drive is one of the speculative inventions in science fiction, a method of traveling faster than light .Related concepts are hyperdrive, warp drive and interstellar teleporter. The key characteristic of a jump drive is that it allows a starship to be instantaneously teleported between two...

" or the Infinite Improbability Drive, the warp drive does not permit instantaneous travel between two points; instead, warp drive technology creates an artificial "bubble" of normal space-time that surrounds the spacecraft (as opposed to entering a separate realm or dimension like hyperspace

Hyperspace (science fiction)

Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...

, such as the "warp drive" which is used in the Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...

universe). Consequently, spacecraft at warp velocity can continue to interact with objects in normal space.

The Original Series: establishing a background

Warp drive is one of the fundamental features of the Star Trek storyline; in the first pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...

, "The Cage

The Cage (TOS episode)

"The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series science fiction series. It was completed in early 1965 , but not broadcast on television in its complete form until the autumn of 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler...

", it is referred to as a "hyperdrive"/"time warp" drive combination, and it is stated that the "time barrier" has been broken, allowing a group of stranded interstellar travelers to return to Earth far sooner than would have otherwise been possible. (Possibly refers to Time Dilation}

The episode "Metamorphosis", also from the original series, establishes a backstory for the invention of warp drive, stating that it was invented by Zefram Cochrane

Zefram Cochrane

Zefram Cochrane is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. Created by writer Gene L. Coon, the character first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek episode "Metamorphosis", in which he was played by Glenn Corbett. James Cromwell later played Cochrane in the 1996 feature film Star Trek: First...

. Cochrane is repeatedly referred to afterwards, but the exact details of the first warp trials were not shown until the second Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

movie, Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise, released in November 1996, by Paramount Pictures. First Contact is the first film in the franchise to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s...

. The movie depicts Cochrane as having invented warp drive on Earth in 2063 (two years after the date speculated by the first edition of the Star Trek Chronology). By using a matter/antimatter reactor to create plasma

Plasma (physics)

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...

, and by sending this plasma through warp coils, he created a warp bubble which he could use to move a craft into subspace

Subspace (Star Trek)

In the Star Trek fictional universe, subspace is a feature of space-time which facilitates faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace obeys different laws of physics...

and hence exceed the speed of light. This successful first trial led directly to first contact with the Vulcans

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...

.

The later prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...

describes the warp engine technology as a 'Gravimetric Field Displacement Manifold' (Commander Tucker's tour, "Cold Front"), and describes the device as being powered by an anti-matter/matter reaction which powers the two separate nacelles (one on each side of the ship) to create a displacement field (the aforementioned "bubble") The episode also firmly establishes that many other civilizations had warp drive before humans; First Contact co-writer Ronald D. Moore

Ronald D. Moore

Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...

suggested that Cochrane's drive was in some way superior to forms that existed beforehand, and was gradually adopted by the galaxy at large. Throughout the series, the viewer is made aware that the Vulcan

Vulcan (Star Trek)

s have more advanced warp drive technology than humans even in the 22nd century. Enterprise, set in 2151 onwards, follows the voyages of the first human ship capable of traveling at warp factor 5.2 which under the old warp table formula, is about 140 times the speed of light. In the episode "Broken Bow", Capt. Archer

Jonathan Archer

Jonathan Archer is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He is the protagonist of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, where he is played by Scott Bakula...

equates warp 4.5 as "...Neptune

Neptune

Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...

and back [from Earth] in six minutes."

The Next Generation onwards

Plots involving the Enterprise traveling beyond warp 10 were once in the original series (such as warp 14.1 in That Which Survives), but for The Next Generation it was decided that these would no longer be featured. A new warp scale was drawn up, with warp factor 10 set as an unattainable maximum. This is described in some technical manuals as Eugene's Limit, in homage to creator/producer Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...

. Normal maximum warp in the original series was warp 8.
The warp factors above warp 10 in TOS
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...

, such as the one above, were slower than warp 10 on the new scale, which reaches an asymptote

Asymptote

In analytic geometry, an asymptote of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as they tend to infinity. Some sources include the requirement that the curve may not cross the line infinitely often, but this is unusual for modern authors...

at warp 10, representing infinite speed in accordance with the limit imposed by the producers. Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

episode "Threshold" concurred with this: the characters ruled that reaching the speed of warp 10 was impossible. In spite of this, they went on to achieve the speed, experiencing a peculiar side effect: they underwent a [reversible] process of hyper-evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

culminating in their transformation into anthropomorphic

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...

newt

Newt

A newt is an aquatic amphibian of the family Salamandridae, although not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts. Newts are classified in the subfamily Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae, and are found in North America, Europe and Asia...

s. In this episode, Tom Paris

Tom Paris

Thomas Eugene "Tom" Paris, played by Robert Duncan McNeill, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Paris serves as the chief helmsman and an auxiliary medic aboard the USS Voyager...

explains that, while traveling at warp 10, he was simultaneously present in every part of the universe. At this speed, the shuttlecraft Cochrane's sensors are able to collect such enormous amounts of telemetry that the shuttle's storage capacity is completely filled.

The limit of 10 did not entirely stop warp inflation. By the mid-24th century, the Enterprise-D could travel at warp 9.8 at "extreme risk", while normal maximum operating speed was warp 9.6 and maximum rated cruise was warp 9.2. The Intrepid-class starship Voyager has a maximum sustainable cruising speed of warp 9.975, the Enterprise-E can go even faster at Warp 9.985. In the alternative future depicted in "All Good Things..." (the final episode of the Star Trek:TNG), Federation starships travel at warp 13.

Warp velocities

Warp drive velocity in Star Trek is generally expressed in "warp factor" units, which—according to the Star Trek Technical Manuals—correspond to the magnitude of the warp field. Achieving warp factor 1 is equivalent to breaking the light barrier, while the actual velocity corresponding to higher factors is determined using an ambiguous formula. Several episodes of the original series placed the Enterprise in peril by having it travel at high warp factors; at one point in "That Which Survives" the Enterprise traveled at a warp factor of 14.1. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

episode "The Most Toys" the crew of Enterprise-D discovers that the android Data

Data (Star Trek)

Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek...

may have been stolen while on board another ship, Jovis. At this point the Jovis, which has a maximum warp factor of 3 has had a 23 hour head start which the Enterprise-D figures puts her anywhere within .102 light year radius of her last known position. However, the velocity [in present dimensional units] of any given warp factor is rarely the subject of explicit expression, and travel times for specific interstellar distances are not consistent through the various series.

According to the Star Trek episode writer's guide for The Original Series, warp factors are converted to multiples of c with the cubic function

Cubic function

In mathematics, a cubic function is a function of the formf=ax^3+bx^2+cx+d,\,where a is nonzero; or in other words, a polynomial of degree three. The derivative of a cubic function is a quadratic function...

, where w is the warp factor, is the velocity, and c is the speed of light

Speed of light

. Accordingly, "warp 1" is equivalent to the speed of light, "warp 2" is 8 times the speed of light, "warp 3" is 27 times the speed of light, etc.

For Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

and the subsequent series, Star Trek artist Michael Okuda

Michael Okuda

- Work in Star Trek :In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This led to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props...

devised a formula based on the original one but with important differences. For warp factors 1 through 9,

. In the half-open interval from warp 9 to warp 10, the exponent of w increases toward infinity. Thus, in the Okuda scale, warp velocities approach warp 10 asymptotically

Asymptote

. There is no exact formula for this interval because the quoted velocities are based on a hand-drawn curve; what can be said is that at velocities greater than warp 9, the form of the warp function changes because of an increase in the exponent of the warp factor

. Due to the resultant increase in the derivative

Derivative

In calculus, a branch of mathematics, the derivative is a measure of how a function changes as its input changes. Loosely speaking, a derivative can be thought of as how much one quantity is changing in response to changes in some other quantity; for example, the derivative of the position of a...

, even minor changes in the warp factor eventually correspond to a greater than exponential change in velocity. In the episode "Threshold", Tom Paris breaks the warp 10 threshold.

Exact velocities were only given in the Voyager episode "The 37's" where Tom Paris

Tom Paris

describes Voyager's velocity at warp factor 9.9 (under the new warp table formula) as being about 4 billion miles per second, which would be over 21,000 times the speed of light (although Voyager cannot maintain this velocity for very long).

Transwarp

The term transwarp has been used a number of times, referring to an advanced form of warp drive used by the Borg

Borg (Star Trek)

The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...

. However, the term also refers to a Starfleet

Starfleet

In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...

development project in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...

. Episodes of The Next Generation and Voyager seem to indicate that transwarp technology involves a wormhole

Wormhole

In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...

conduit directly through subspace

Subspace (Star Trek)

as opposed to warping normal space via a manipulation of subspace. However, in the Voyager episode "Distant Origin

Distant Origin

"Distant Origin" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the 23rd episode of the third season.-Plot:Professor Gegen and his assistant, Veer, two Voth palaeontologists, make a shocking find on a nearby planet: the skeletal remains of a creature whose genome is so closely related to their own that it...

", a species known as the Voth used a transwarp technology that did not appear to be similar to Borg transwarp, but rather an enhanced warp technology. It would seem more appropriate, therefore, for the term "transwarp" to refer to any propulsion system that can be considered superior in potential velocity to standard warp drive, without implying any specific technique correlating to this superior velocity. Transwarp was additionally mentioned in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Threshold" in regards to breaking the warp 10 barrier, the shuttle's engines were "Transwarp" engines.

Federation experiments

The USS Excelsior (NX-2000), under command of Captain Styles, was a Federation test-ship for prototype transwarp drive. The technology was initially mentioned in Star Trek III
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...

, however the film does not provide details of its operation or explain how "transwarp drive" differs from the "warp drive". Excelsiors first attempt to enter transwarp failed due to sabotage by Chief Engineer Scott of the Enterprise, which prevented the Excelsior from pursuing them.

The bridge readouts of Enterprise-A

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A is a starship in the fourth, fifth, and sixth Star Trek films.-Origin and design:The Enterprise-A used the same shooting model as the preceding NCC-1701...

at the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...

(illustrated in the spin-off reference work, Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise
Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise
Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, written and illustrated by Shane Johnson and published by Pocket Books, is a book describing the post-refit USS Enterprise from the Star Trek fictional universe. It is written from the viewpoint of the ship's chief engineer, Montgomery Scott...

published in 1987) suggest that the project ultimately succeeded and the USS Enterprise was indeed fitted with transwarp. Susan Sackett

Susan Sackett

Susan Sackett is an American author and screenwriter, best known for her involvement in the Star Trek franchise.-Biography:Susan Sackett was born in New York City on December 18, 1943, raised in Connecticut and moved to Florida after graduating from Hillhouse High School in New Haven...

's memoirs attribute the lack of transwarp in Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

to Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry

's dislike of the concept.

Borg conduits

It is revealed in the episodes "Descent

Descent (TNG episode)

"Descent" comprises the 152nd and 153rd episodes of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a two-part story where part one is a cliffhanger ending to season 6 and part two begins season 7.-Overview:...

" and "Endgame

Endgame (Voyager episode)

"Endgame" is the title of the series finale of the Star Trek spinoff series, Star Trek: Voyager. Originally shown as a double-length episode and presented as such in DVD collections, it is shown in repeat broadcasts as two linked episodes.-Plot:...

" that the Borg

Borg (Star Trek)

have discovered the existence of transwarp conduits — regions in subspace that facilitate travel at velocities up to 20 times those of conventional warp drives. These episodes established that the Borg set up networks of these conduits between important areas in the galaxy. Borg transwarp conduits are activated by an encoded tachyon

Tachyon

A tachyon is a hypothetical subatomic particle that always moves faster than light. In the language of special relativity, a tachyon would be a particle with space-like four-momentum and imaginary proper time. A tachyon would be constrained to the space-like portion of the energy-momentum graph...

pulse. When a Borg vessel enters a transwarp conduit, it is subject to extreme gravimetric shear; to compensate, the Borg project a structural integrity field ahead of the vessel. Artificial conduits are linked together with transwarp hubs, of which six were known to exist; in "Endgame

Endgame (Voyager episode)

" one of these hubs, along with the Unicomplex, is destroyed by Voyager - which then proceeds to use one of the transwarp conduits to triumphantly return to Federation space.

Quantum slipstream

Quantum slipstream drive is presumably the standard means of interstellar travel used by Species 116 (of which Arturis was a member) prior to their assimilation by the Borg. In the Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

episode "Hope and Fear

Hope and Fear (Voyager episode)

"Hope and Fear" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the final episode of the fourth season. The episode has an average rating of 4.3/5 on the official Star Trek website ....

", Seven of Nine

Seven of Nine

Seven of Nine is a fictional character on Star Trek: Voyager, portrayed by actress Jeri Ryan. Born human, she was assimilated by the Borg at the age of six. Eighteen years later, Voyager left Borg space with Seven on board, after attempts to negotiate passage through Borg space proved only...

remarks that the technology involved is not dissimilar to Borg transwarp technology — her point being that both drives involve the traveling vessel becoming immersed in an alternative plane of space-time rather than warping normal space-time. In the episode "Timeless", the shuttlecraft Delta Flyer successfully uses the technology to return to Earth, but Voyager itself is destroyed in the attempt; fifteen years later, Harry Kim

Harry Kim (Star Trek)

Ensign Harry S. L. Kim, played by Garrett Wang, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. He serves as the USS Voyagers operations officer.-Depiction:...

and Chakotay

Chakotay

Chakotay , played by Robert Beltran, is a character in Star Trek: Voyager. He is the First Officer of the USS Voyager.-Character biography:...

, armed with stolen Borg technology allowing them to communicate through time, find the wreckage of Voyager and, recovering The Doctor's program so he can help them, send Seven of Nine calculations which would allow Voyager to complete the journey as well. The attempt fails, but as Kim tearfully admits defeat, The Doctor suggests he instead try to stop the ill-fated experiment, not prolong it, and moments before their ship is destroyed, Kim sends calculations which, when implemented on Voyager in the past, safely shut down the slipstream drive and return the ship to normal space.

This method of travel is also highly similar to the method of superluminal

Faster-than-light

Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....

travel used on space ships in Stargate
Stargate
Stargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...

(referenced as "Hyperspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...

" travel), and Slipstream used in Andromeda (TV series)
Andromeda (TV series)
Andromeda is a Canadian-American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt...

, another space opera created by Gene Roddenberry.

In the books

Some years after Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), Pocket Books

Pocket Books

Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...

came out with a series of publications based upon the Enterprise's encounters during both its first and second five year missions. In "The Wounded Sky

The Wounded Sky

The Wounded Sky is a 1983 Star Trek novel by Diane Duane, featuring James T. Kirk as captain of the USS Enterprise. The author would four years later adapt the novel's plot for the teleplay of the first season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Where No One Has Gone Before".-Plot:The...

" written by Diane Duane

Diane Duane

Diane Duane is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her works include the Young Wizards young adult fantasy series and the Rihannsu Star Trek novels.-Biography :...

, the crew picks up a Hamalki engineer, which invents a new form of the transwarp drive. Even though such books are not considered canon, the theories proposed in the book lend to the ideas of warp and transwarp, and further explain the properties of subspace

Subspace (Star Trek)

.

According to the aforementioned book, warp drive does indeed create a bubble of space-time around the ship; however, it is explained that the ship is surrounded by a bubble of subspace — another universe where the speed of light is much faster than in ours; furthermore, the alternate universe is attuned with our own, such that planetary bodies are in exactly the same place, which simplifies navigation — thus the book leans toward the theories of superstring-manipulation, rather than those of warping normal space-time.

The transwarp device invented by the Hamalki uses a different approach to the same idea; in this case, it creates a field around the ship which allows it to enter De Sitter space

De Sitter space

In mathematics and physics, a de Sitter space is the analog in Minkowski space, or spacetime, of a sphere in ordinary, Euclidean space. The n-dimensional de Sitter space , denoted dS_n, is the Lorentzian manifold analog of an n-sphere ; it is maximally symmetric, has constant positive curvature,...

— a space in which there is infinite energy, zero mass (with exceptions) and no absolute laws of physics. This essentially allows the Enterprise to enter De Sitter space and travel millions of times faster than light. In the narrative, the Enterprise succeeds in reaching the Small Magellanic Cloud

Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy. It has a diameter of about 7,000 light-years and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 billion times the mass of our Sun....

(200 years away at warp 8), a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way

Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...

galaxy.

Slingshot effect

A curious extension of warp travel which has been shown throughout Star Trek is the "Slingshot Effect

Gravitational slingshot

In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement and gravity of a planet or other celestial body to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically in order to save propellant, time, and expense...

". First discovered accidentally in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Tomorrow Is Yesterday (TOS episode)

"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is a first-season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #19, production #21, first broadcast on January 26, 1967, repeated July 13, 1967, and was remastered in 2006 for syndication broadcast on May 5, 2007. The teleplay was written by D.C...

" (1967), one of the earlier episodes of the original Star Trek series, it is a method of time travel

Time travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

. Whereas the actual procedure is intentionally obscure, it involved traveling at a high warp velocity (depicted in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...

to be over warp 9.8) in the direction of a star, on a precisely calculated "slingshot" path; if successful, the ship is caused to travel to a desired point, past or future. The same technique was used later in the episode "Assignment: Earth

Assignment: Earth (TOS episode)

"Assignment: Earth" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was first broadcast on March 29, 1968, as the last original episode in the second season. It was repeated on August 9, 1968...

" (1968) for historic research — in this episode, the warp factor required for "time warp" is given the name "light speed breakaway factor" — the term "time warp" being established in Star Trek IV. The technique was mentioned as a viable method of time travel in the TNG episode "Time Squared

Time Squared (TNG episode)

"Time Squared" is the 39th episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:In this episode the crew of the Enterprise encounter a double of Captain Picard, apparently from the future.-Plot:...

" (1989).

This 'slingshot' effect has been explored in theoretical physics: it is hypothetically possible to slingshot oneself 'around' the event horizon of a black hole. The result of such a maneuver would cause time to pass at a faster rate, relative to the ship within the event horizon. Such a journey would, unfortunately, be a 'one-way' trip into the future — the pilot of the craft would not have 'traveled through time' in the classical sense, but would instead have merely 'skipped over' the intervening years. Travel in entropic directions other than forwards remain impossible to ascertain within the rubric of Special Relativity, but the "Time Warp" drive seen in "The Cage" (TOS) may explain some of the issues.

Fans of the show and films have noted that the Slingshot involves a star, rather than a black hole, and the most normal consensus from its use concerns the nature of warp travel and warp velocities. A black hole is noteworthy for its singularity and associated event horizon, where not even light possesses escape velocity. Warp-drive and other transluminal vehicles would however be able to escape a black hole event horizon, as they are capable of speeds greater than c. Stars do not possess an event horizon, as their escape velocities are considerably lower than those of black holes. They do however have very great masses. A vessel able to move at transluminal velocities would then be able to take advantage of relativistic physics: interaction with the mass of non-black hole stellar mass at transluminal velocities is very similar to the interaction between a subluminal vessel and a black hole event horizon, in terms of relativistic boundary interactions and equivalence of energy. A warp-ship, then, is able to perform as its own 'event-horizon' when interacting with a stellar mass.

Warp core

A primary component of the warp drive method of propulsion in the Star Trek

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

universe is the "gravimetric field displacement manifold," more commonly referred to as a warp core. It is a fictional reactor which taps the energy released in a matter

Matter

Matter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...

-antimatter

Antimatter

In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...

annihilation to provide the energy necessary to power a starship's warp drive, allowing faster-than-light

Faster-than-light

Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....

travel. Starship warp cores generally also serve as powerplants for other primary ship systems.

When matter and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate — both matter and antimatter are converted directly and entirely into enormous quantities of energy, as electromagnetic radiation. In the Star Trek universe, fictional "dilithium crystals" are used to regulate this reaction. These crystals are described as being non-reactive to anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. Usually, the reactants are deuterium

Deuterium

Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...

, an isotope

Isotope

Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...

of hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

, and antideuterium (its antimatter

Antimatter

counterpart). In The Original Series and in-universe chronologically subsequent series, the warp core reaction chamber is often referred to as the "dilithium intermix chamber" or the "matter/antimatter reaction chamber", dependent upon the ship's intermix type. The reaction chamber is surrounded by powerful magnetic fields to contain the anti-matter. If the containment fields ever fail, the subsequent interaction of the antimatter fuel with the container walls would result in a catastrophic release of energy, with the resultant explosion capable of utterly destroying the ship. Such "warp core breaches" are used as plot devices in many Star Trek episodes. An intentional warp core breach can also be deliberately created, as one of the methods by which a starship can be made to self-destruct

Self-destruct

A self-destruct is a mechanism which causes a device to destroy itself under a predefined set of circumstances.Self-destruct mechanisms are also found on devices and systems where malfunction could endanger large numbers of people...

External links

Warp Drive, When? A NASA feasibility article
Special Relativity Simulator What would things look like at near-warp speeds?
Alcubierre Warp Drive at the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.