Warp drive

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

Warp drive is a technology that allows space travel at faster-than-light speeds. It does this by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that envelops the starship, distorting the local spacetime continuum and moving the starship at velocities that exceed the speed of light. These velocities are referred to as warp factors.

1 Technology
- 1.1 Parts of the system
- 1.2 System types
2 Development
3 Background information
4 External links

[edit] Technology

The IKS Rotarran accelerates to warp, viewed from within the vessel.

24th century Federation warp engines are fueled by the reaction of matter (deuterium) and antimatter (antideuterium), mediated through an assembly of dilithium crystals, which are nonreactive with antimatter when subjected to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. This reaction produces a highly energetic plasma, called electro-plasma, which is channeled by magnetic conduits through the electro-plasma system (EPS). The warp plasma is funneled to plasma injectors into a series of warp field coils, usually located in remote warp nacelles. These coils are composed of an artificially-produced substance called verterium cortenide. Electromagnetic interactions between the waves of injected electro-plasma and the verterium cortenide coils cause the coils to generate the warp field. Other civilizations use different power sources, such as the Romulans' use of artificial quantum singularities to power their warp drives, but the basic process is similar.

In some vessels, such as the Intrepid-class, the nacelles are mounted on variable-geometry pylons to allow them to travel at greater speeds without causing damage to subspace. Further advances in technology allow the most modern starships, such as the Sovereign-class, to feature newly redesigned warp nacelles that eliminate this need for variable-geometry nacelles while still obtaining the speed benefits.

[edit] Parts of the system

The main components of a warp drive.

Sovereign-class warp core

[edit] System types

[edit] Development

Warp drive and other faster-than-light (FTL) propulsion technologies are the lynch pin of interstellar civilization, making trade and exploration across vast interstellar distances viable. Without these technologies, these distances could not be crossed in any reasonable period of time, making interstellar civilization impossible.

To put in in perspective, the planet Vulcan, the home of one of the first alien species to set foot on Earth, the Vulcans, is approximately 16 light years from Earth. At impulse speeds which, as of 2270, were equal to up to Warp .8, it would take 20 years to reach Vulcan from Earth. But utilizing warp drive, the same trip takes as little as 4 days. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Every culture in the galaxy discovered warp drive at their own pace and rate of development. The Vulcans (and, by extension, the Romulans) had warp drive in the 3rd century (Earth calendar), although the technology was lost during that planet's civil war, and was not reacquired until several centuries later. (ENT: "Kir'Shara")

It had reached the level of warp 7 by 2151, while the Klingons had a capability of warp 6 by the same year, (ENT: "Judgment") although it is unclear when their experiments with the drive began. However, it was the rapid progress of Humanity which led to the wide-scale exploration of the galaxy and the formation of the United Federation of Planets.

Regarding Vulcan propulsion technology aboard the T'Plana-Hath, Ronald D. Moore commented: "Certainly Cochrane is credited with the invention of warp drive as we know it in Trek, so we could assume that the Vulcans were using something else – possibly a variant of the contained singularity used by the Romulans. That might've been a much more dangerous and inefficient technology which was quickly abandoned by most of the galaxy when Cochrane's system was introduced." [1]

The development of the warp drive is recognized by the United Federation of Planets as the marker of an advanced society. It is only after a people develop warp drive that the Federation will make contact, as codified in the Prime Directive. (TNG: "First Contact")

[edit] 21st century

Phoenix goes to warp

On Earth, warp drive was initially developed by Zefram Cochrane in the period following World War III. Despite the hardships imposed by the war's aftermath, and the lack of advanced materials, Cochrane was able to build a warp-capable vessel using a converted Titan II missile as the testbed. The successful first flight of his ship - the Phoenix - took place on April 5, 2063, and drew the attention of a Vulcan exploratory vessel, leading to the event known as First Contact. (Star Trek: First Contact)

[edit] 22nd century

However, development of warp technology proceeded slowly over the next 80 years - due in no small part to the cautious advice of the Vulcans - and it was not until the 2140s that a warp engine developed by Henry Archer at the Warp Five Complex could exceed warp factor 2.

This engine was successfully flown in the second NX prototype by Commanders A.G. Robinson and Jonathan Archer to a speed of warp 2.5, breaking the so-called "warp 2 barrier." (ENT: "First Flight")

By the year 2151, warp technology was sufficiently advanced to allow a vessel to travel at warp 5, and the first Human starship, Enterprise, was built with this capability. (ENT: "Broken Bow") Although at first, Enterprise was unable to fully realize this potential (maxing out at warp 4.7), the starship finally reached warp 5 on February 9, 2152. (ENT: "Fallen Hero")

By 2161, Starfleet had achieved warp 7, and was just starting to install it on the newest of Starfleet vessels. (ENT: "These Are the Voyages...")

[edit] 23rd century

Development and improvement of warp drive continued apace, and by the 2240s, Starfleet vessels of the Constitution-class had standard cruising speeds of warp 6 and emergency speeds as high as warp 8 (although under the right conditions the engines could reach warp 9). These ships took advantage of a major breakthrough in warp technology that took place between 2236 and 2254, the breaking of the so-called "time barrier". (TOS: "The Cage")

Higher warp factors continued to be reached, mostly through alien intervention, or dangerous malfunction. The USS Enterprise was modified by the Kelvans to maintain a speed of Warp 11 in 2268. Later that year, the Enterprise achieved a speed of Warp 14.1 after being sabotaged by an alien woman known as Losira, though at that velocity the ship came within moments of destroying herself. (TOS: "By Any Other Name", "That Which Survives")

At around the same time, warp engines were being redesigned, and the refit of the Constitution-class saw the cylindrical shape replaced with a flattened design that allowed standard speeds of warp 8 and above. Warp core design also changed, being made vertical instead of the horizontal orientation used to that point. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Warp theory continued to advance with the development of the first transwarp drive engines in the mid-2280s, which would have theoretically allowed greater efficiency and higher warp speeds. However, the installation of these massive engines aboard USS Excelsior ended in failure, and the technology was abandoned. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) The Excelsior itself was deemed spaceworthy, retrofitted with more conventional warp engines and commissioned as NCC-2000 under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

[edit] 24th century

At some point in the century, a new warp factor scale came into use, which placed warp 10 as a theoretical maximum.

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, the new scale was a more advanced function than the previous cubic power scale, with factors increasing exponentially in terms of power consumption and equivalent speed.

By the time the Galaxy-class starship was being designed in the 2360s, warp technology had progressed to the point where speeds of warp 9.6 could be sustained for up to twelve hours, although warp 9.2 was considered the "red line". (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

In 2370, the Hekaran scientist Serova discovered that the use of conventional warp engines caused damage to the fabric of spacetime. The Federation Council temporarily imposed a speed limit of warp factor 5 on all Federation vessels in all but extreme emergency cases, such as medical emergencies. (TNG: "Force of Nature", "Eye of the Beholder")

An Intrepid-class vessel at warp, using nacelles mounted on variable geometry pylons.

However, solutions to the problem were developed and Starfleet vessels were again able to use the maximum capacity of their warp drives. The first solution discovered was the use of nacelles mounted on variable geometry pylons. This solution was implemented on vessels of the Intrepid-class. (VOY: "Caretaker"). Later, entirely new nacelle designs were discovered that solved the problem without the need for variable geometry pylons. These were implemented on vessels such as those of the Sovereign-class.

[edit] ...and beyond

In a possible future glimpsed by Jean-Luc Picard, speeds of at least warp 13 were used, indicating a possible reworking of the warp scale. (TNG: "All Good Things...")

Other forms of propulsion, such as the quantum slipstream drive, allowed for speeds much greater than conventional warp technology could achieve.

[edit] Background information

Gene Roddenberry originally intended the Enterprise to become transparent while in warp drive, as depicted in "The Cage" ( later reformatted into the two-part "The Menagerie" ).