Warp drive

Technical

Basic functioning

• Warp reactor (officially known as a "gravimetric field displacement manifold", occasionally known as "hyperdrive" as late as the mid-23rd century) generates high energy, exotic particles
• Reactants and energy, often in the form of "warp plasma", are directed through devices known as warp coils, often mounted in nacelle structures mounted away from the ship
• Warp coils function in specifically-aligned sequence to generate a subspace displacement field
  • Subspace field distorts physical laws via manipulation of subspace causing resulting modification of associated space-time
• Distorted space, also known as a "warp bubble", pushes against surrounding space to propel a ship, most commonly at faster-than-light velocities
  • Degree of distortion measured in "cochranes", where 1 cochrane = sufficient distortion for travel at c/Warp 1
    • Non-propulsive applications of subspace fields, including FTL computation, also measure distortions in cochranes or millicochranes
  • Speed of travel dependent on multiple factors
    • Fundamental speed determined by degree of distortion, described by "warp factor"
      • Integral warp factors tend to be most efficient speeds for Cochrane-style warp engines; energy required to achieve a given speed increases as velocity increases, but drops suddenly at next integral warp factor, allowing integral speeds to be sustained more effectively
      • Original warp scale used warp factors such that fundamental speed = WF^3
      • Scale recalibrated in early 24th century as a result of transwarp research from the Excelsior project, in addition to improved field control algorithms
        • Developments lead to increased fine control of warp fields, including shift from single-phase warp coil activation patterns to multiphasic, leading to automatic containment of warp field variability (TNG: "Relics")
      • New scale used warp factors such that fundamental speed = WF^(10/3) up to warp 9, asymptotic increase towards warp 10 (infinite velocity)
    • True speed largely impacted by local subspace conditions, which provide multiplicative effects on fundamental speed
      • Subspace conditions generally globally stable (on a kiloyear timescale) but locally unstable, requiring regular charting of subspace to calculate most efficient geodesics for travel between two points
        • Usual duty for navigator (when role is divided) or conn officer (when it is not); improvement in sensor and computer technology in 24th century led to recombination of this role in Starfleet
      • Additionally, more accurate charting can often vastly reduce energy consumption or time to destination, leading to importance of preliminary exploration of uncharted space when expanding into new areas
    • Analogous in many ways to river or ocean currents, though impact on velocity not necessarily unidirectional
• Velocity vector can be rotated through alteration of field alignment in coils, though this can cause nacelles to exert stress on spaceframe (TNG Novel: The Buried Age)
• Warp travel largely non-Newtonian, as vessel is motionless with regard to immediately local space, and space itself carries the vessel
  • Entry into and out of warp speed does provide an unsafe inertial effect to the vessel, and occasionally improper subspace field formation can lead to inertial effects during travel, both of which must be mediated by inertial dampeners
  • A vessel's Newtonian velocity persists before and after entry into FTL travel (ENT Novel: Live by the Code)
    • Proper asymmetric collapse of a vessel's warp field can impart a desired change to the vessel's Newtonian velocity as it falls back into normal space, but such maneuvers are difficult and potentially dangerous to perform properly (ENT Novel: Live by the Code)

Alternate warp drive configurations

• Vulcan 22nd century coleopteric drive
  • Massive rear-mounted ring structure holding warp coils; single structure means greater efficiency at higher speeds, but less ability to modify course
• Romulan quantum singularity drive
  • Uses strong gravitational fields around a small quantum singularity as a natural particle accelerator to generate the necessary warp plasma and exotic particles

Byproducts of warp drive reactors

• Early warp drive designs generate theta radiation (VOY: "Night")
  • Corrected in most Alpha and Beta Quadrant drive designs by transkinetic chamber to break down residual antimatter from M/AM interaction, radiometric converters to absorb theta radiation
• Trilithium resin

History

Historical achievement of warp drive

• Andorian: 20th century
• Human: 2063 ("First Contact")
• Klingon: after 9th century
  • After the death of Kahless (TNG: "Rightful Heir")
• Romulan: 7th century (Reference: The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire)
• Vissian: 12th century (ENT: "Cogenitor")
• Vulcan: mid-19th century
  • 1,500 years after time of Surak (ENT: "The Forge")

Stages

• First-generation drives short-ranged, tend to be powered via antimatter-spiked fusion reactors (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
• Second-generation drives use dilithium to mediate matter/antimatter reaction for greater efficiency (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference, Reference: TNG Technical Manual)