Warp drive

Warp drive is a technology based on continuum distortion propulsion (CDP) that allows space travel at faster-than-light (FTL) speeds. It does this by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that envelops the starship, distorting the local space-time continuum and moving the starship at velocities that exceed the speed of light.

History

On Earth, warp drive was initially developed by Zefram Cochrane in the period following World War III. In 2061, Cochrane and his team of engineers generated the first warp field, allowing a small unmanned test vessel to momentarily "straddle" the speed of light (C). (That is, the ship fluctuated between the state of slower- and faster-than-light speeds.)

Encouraged by this success, Cochrane continued development using a converted Titan V missile as the testbed, culminating in the first test flight on April 5, 2063. The successful first flight of his ship, the Phoenix drew the attention of a Vulcan exploratory vessel, leading to first contact with that species.

While Cochrane's original warp engines were fusion-powered(1), the development of reliable matter-antimatter reactors was what would truly allow warp drive to realize its potential. Cochrane and his team relocated to Alpha Centauri to undertake the hazardous integration of these two technologies(2).

However, development of warp technology proceeded slowly over the next 80 years, and it was not until the 2140's(3) 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."

By the year 2151, warp technology was sufficiently advanced to allow a vessel to travel at warp 5 (old scale), and the starship Enterprise (NX-01) was the first ship built with this capability. This warp 5 capable starship was first used to travel to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS in April of that year to return an injured member of that species.

The Constitution class starships built approximately 90 years later, in the 2240's, used fourth-generation warp engines that allowed standard cruising speeds of warp 6 and emergency speeds as high as warp 8.

In 2269, research was done that showed that the optimum number of warp nacelles for a starship is two, although warp nacelles in pairs can generate greater speeds and longer durations at a loss of efficiency. (This research of using four nacelles eventually led to the creation of the Constellation class starships in the 2290's. (4))

However, the reign of the circumferential warp engine design first implemented by Cochrane on his Phoenix was soon to end and by the time the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was refitted in the 2270's, linear warp engines were installed that allowed standard speeds of warp 8 and speeds of up to warp 12 in emergencies.

Warp theory continued to advance with the development of the first transwarp engines in the mid 2280's, which would have theoretically allowed greater efficiency and higher warp speeds. However, the installation of these massive engines on the equally massive cruiser Excelsior (NX-2000) ended in failure, and the technology was abandoned. (However, the Excelsior itself was retrofitted with more conventional warp engines and was commisioned as NCC-2000 under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu.)

One significant development of transwarp theory was retained, however.(5) The warp scale, which is a measure of the multiples of C at which a starship is travelling, was refactored in 2313.(6) The old scale was based upon cube powers, such that each warp factor could be translated nearly directly into a factor of C by cubing it. For example, warp factor 7= 7^3=7*7*7=~ 343 times the speed of light. (This speed was also dependent on the local density of matter, so the actual equation was slightly different.) The new scale was a piecewise function containing both logarithmic and exponential components (7), with warp factor 10 equalling infinity.

By the time the Galaxy class of starships was being designed in the 2340's, warp technology had progressed to the point where speeds of warp 9.6 (new scale) could be sustained for up to twelve hours.

In 2370 the Hekaran scientist Serova discovered that the use of conventional warp engines caused damage to the fabric of space-time. The Federation Council temporarily imposed a speed restriction of warp factor 5 on all Federation vessels in all but extreme emergency cases. Fortunately, a solution was developed less than 8 months later that was gradually implemented on all vessels, and Star Fleet vessels were again able to use the maximum capacity of their warp drives.

The Intrepid class vessels introduced yet another advance in warp propulsion systems; the variable geometry nacelle. This allowed a warp engine of essentially the same construction as those on the Galaxy class to achieve speeds of warp 9.75.

Technology

Modern warp technology is fuelled by the matter-antimatter reaction of deuterium and anti-deuterium mediated through an assembly of dilithium crystals, which are nonreactive with antimatter when subjected to high-frequency electromagnetic (EM) fields. This reaction produces a highly energetic plasma, which is channelled by conduits to the plasma injection systems and ultimately through the warp-field coils, which generate warp-field energy.

Warp field coils are composed of cast verterium cortenide surrounding a core of densified tungsten-cobalt-magnesium contained within a nacelle of standard duranium and trititanium construction. In some vessels, such as the Intrepid class, these nacelles are mounted on variable-geometry pylons to allow them to travel at greater speeds . Further advances in technology allow the most modern starships such as the Sovereign class vessels to feature newly redesigned warp nacelles that eliminate this need for variable-geometry nacelles while still obtaining the speed benefits.

The frequency at which the warp field coils are energized dictates how many layers of warp field energy are generated, much like the skin of an onion. Higher warp speeds require greater numbers of these fields to be generated. These fields cause the warp-capable ship to make the transition into subspace, with each field forcing the ship farther down into subspace. The number of warp coils also influences at what frequency the warp coils must be energized to achieve a specific warp speed and increases the maximum speed of a vessel. For example, the Galaxy class vessels with 18 coils have a top speed of warp 9.6, and the Sovereign class with 26 coils has a top speed of warp 9.95.

The overlapping warp fields generated by a pair of warp engines is what allows a starship to maneuver at warp. Failure of one engine can cause a catastrophic reaction as the delicately balanced warp fields increasingly go out of phase with one another, and can ultimately tear a starship apart.

The warp field of a starship is persistent for up to four seconds following the shutdown of the matter-antimatter reactor as the remaining plasma in the system is exhausted. Ultimately, though, the starship must drop out of warp following such a shutdown.

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Author's Note: This article contains a number of speculative extrapolations based on canonical sources. I have enumerated these below.

(1) The idea that Cochrane's original Phoenix was fusion-powered is my speculation based on the fact that in First Contact, Cochrane and his team are inoculated for radiation exposure after the Borg attack and I was hoping they weren't playing around with a fission pile.

(2) Cochrane's move to Alpha Centauri being motivated by wanting to integrate warp drive with matter-antimatter reactors (which I assume were another technology in its infancy) is, I think, a reasonable idea, especially considering how dangerous a real matter-antimatter reaction is.

(3) I speculate that these events (as shown in the episode First Flight)took place about 10 years before Enterprise was launched.

(4) Roddenberry decided that all starships should have 2 warp nacelles, so I had to come up with a convincing explanation of why a lot of starships have 1, 3 or 4 nacelles.

(5) I took the liberty of tying the refactoring of the warp scale in with the failed transwarp program of Excelsior.

(6) I saw someone somewhere had a date of 2313 for the refactoring of the Warp scale which jibed well with the movie-era Enterprise being capable of warp 12 and the TOS Enterprise achieving warp 14.1, but the TNG Enterprise was only capable of warp 9.6. (The real reason was that Roddenberry, when developing ST:TNG, decided that the absolute top speed at which anything can travel should be warp 10.)

(7) The part about the warp scale being a piecewise function was an idea I got when researching formulae for computing "new" warp speeds, when in actuality the scale is just a pretty picture drawn by Michael Okuda.