Summary

In ordering to seek out new life story and new civilizations , Star Trekstarships generally use buckle drive to achieve faster - than - light ( FTL ) travel , because sub - light impulse locomotive engine would not have reached any foreign civilization within a human lifespan . Zefram Cochrane ’s ( James Cromwell ) 2063 flight of the Phoenix , Earth ’s first warp - capable vessel , inStar Trek : First Contactattracts the attention of the Vulcans , who pioneer First Contact with Earth after witnessing the achievement . InStar Trek ’s 24th century , warping driveway is common on spacefaring vessel , with the USS Enterprise - D able to maintain a cruising focal ratio of Warp 9.2 inStar Trek : The Next multiplication .

Warp drive became the dependable means of propulsion used in the legal age of Starfleet vessels , as well as the metric by which civilizations are view as ripe enough to be bring into the astronomical neighborhood , grant to General Order One , Starfleet ’s Prime Directive of non - disturbance with develop societies . As Starfleet explores further into the galax , more effective deflection engine can accomplish higher warp factor to reach longer distances in curt quantity of time . Like many other technologies , Star Trek ’s warp cause continues to evolve , and new propulsion system that are variations on standard warp private road can takeStar Trekstarships further – and faster – than before .

Zefram Cochrane became the first human being to achieve warp flight in Star Trek : First Contact , but how did his ship , the Phoenix , make it back to Earth ?

Star Trek First Contact James Cromwell Zefram Cochrane Phoenix

8Standard Warp Drive

The Standard Faster-Than-Light Engine Throughout Star Trek

Used By

most Everyone inStar TrekWith Warp Drive

Maximum Speed

Scott Bakula as Captain Archer, Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway, and Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard

8,000 x the Speed of Light

Invented ( on world )

2061 , Zefram Cochrane

Picard and Riker in season 1

Pros

Universally Adopted , Scaleable

sting

USS-Discovery-USS-Protostar-from-Prodigy-Borg-Cube

Capped at Warp 10 , May Damage Subspace Long - Term

received warping drive wrap up a range of actuation applied science inStar Trekthat operates on basically the same principle of warp space to achieve FTL travel . In Starfleet vessels , deflection drive operates by combining matter and anti - matter in the warp Congress of Racial Equality reactor , where the output is mitigated by dilithium crystalsand becomes plasma . Warp blood plasma powers all system aboard a spaceship , in addition to being routed to the warp nacelles to generate the warp battlefield that propels the starship . Warp is also achievable via other means , such as Romulan warp engineering being powered by an artificial quantum uniqueness .

Between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries , the warp scale was reconfigured to accommodate the increasing capabilities of stock warp drive engines , with a ceiling of Warp 10 . The technology that powered the warp drive remain the same . In an alternate future ( TNGseason 7 , installment 25 & 26 , " All Good Things " ) the warp scale was again reconfigured , but as ofStar Trek : Picard , no such reconfiguration has occurred .

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Standard deflection campaign can refer to the warp capabilities utilized by Starfleet ’s vessel , the starship operated byUnited Federation of Planets member humankind , and starships belonging to non - Federation species . While buckle drive was invented on Earth by Zefram Cochrane in the 21st century , otherStar Trekspecies manufacture warping drive much earlier than Earth did . Vulcans and Klingons , for example , had their own versions of warp driveway centuries before Earth did . Starfleet continued to improve upon standard warping drive , reaching higher warp factors in far less meter than their warp - subject predecessors did , and even begin subject field into transwarp technology .

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Cast

7Starfleet Transwarp Drive

Star Trek III’s Failed Experimental Transwarp Drive

USS Excelsior

Unknown

forge

Headshot Of Patrick Stewart In The 2024 Audie Awards at the Avalon Hollywood

2285 , Starfleet

Unsustainable

Transwarp drive is an umbrella term for any ripe warp drive that exceeds the normal cap of Warp 10.Starfleet has conducted two notable experiments with transwarp drives , both of which were abortive . The first was in 2285 , when the USS Excelsior was outfitted with an experimental Starfleet transwarp drive inStar Trek III : The Search for Spock . The experimentation failed due to dilithium becoming fluid at speeds above deflection 10 , and the Excelsior was refit with a received deflection drive after 2 years .

Headshot Of Jonathan Frakes IN The Paramount+ ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ FYC And Finale Event

6The Warp 10 Threshold Experiment

Star Trek: Voyager’s Infinite Velocity in Infinite Mutations

Class 2 Shuttle Cochrane

Theoretically Infinite

2372 , Lt . Tom Paris ( Robert Duncan McNeill ) , Lt . B’Elanna Torres ( Roxann Dawson ) , & Ensign Harry Kim ( Garrett Wang )

Star Trek Undiscovered Country USS Excelsior Praxis

Mutagenic

Starfleet ’s 2d attempt to reach transwarp was an independent project lead by Lt . Tom Paris ( Robert Duncan McNeill ) inStar Trek : Voyagerseason 2 , episode 15 , " Threshold " . The Cochrane , a Class 2 birdie fit out with an experimental warping drive using a new type of dilithium found in the Delta Quadrant , did accomplish unnumberable speed , butthe experiment had the troubling side effect of mutate humans into amphibians . This was enough to put off the project , despite the potential it control for hark back the USS Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant sooner .

5Borg Transwarp Drive

The Borg Use Transwarp Conduits Through Subspace

The Borg Collective , The Delta Flyer , USS Voyager

200,000 to 400,000 x the speed of luminosity

Transwarp conduits can be generated anywhere

voyager-threshold-tom-paris-6

distort core break without Borg transwarp scroll , gravimetric shear ( for heavy vessels )

The Borg Collective had a better handle on transwarp technology than Starfleet did , having assimilated the technological disparateness of several civilizations into their own in their seeking for perfection . To achieve velocity beyond deflection 10,the Borg utilise a system of transwarp conduit within subspace , which converge at a cardinal transwarp conduit hub . novel transwarp conduits can be generated by vessels with a deflector dish modified to breathe tachyon bursts at the resonant transwarp frequency within a subspace battlefield .

Borg transwarp conduits are characterized by a green color inStar Trek : Voyagerseason 5 , episodes 15 & 16 " Dark Frontier " , but become gamey byStar Trek : Voyagerseason 7 , episodes 25 & 26 , " Endgame " , due to the Borg assimilating quantum airstream engineering science .

Voyager in the Quantum Slipstream in “Timeless”

Any vessel outfit with Borg transwarp coils can use Borg transwarp conduit . While dumbfound that technology is usually prohibitively hard , Captain Kathryn Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) successfully scavenges a perfectly functioning transwarp coil from a damaged Borg shipinStar Trek : Voyagerseason 5 , episodes 15 & 16 " Dark Frontier " . The transwarp coil is later installed on the USS Voyager after tests on the Delta Flyer supply validation of concept , but Voyager is n’t able to corroborate the helix ’s surgical process .

The Borg were the pestilent opposition to face Starfleet and the Federation in a century , but many Star Trek champion have overcome them to keep the world

4Quantum Slipstream Drive

Star Trek: Voyager’s Flawed Fast Track Home

USS Dauntless , USS Voyager

87,600,000 x the speed of visible radiation

class Unknown , Species 116 ; by 2384 , Starfleet

Star Trek Voyager Poster

hybridize the quadrant in less than 1 day

want meticulous calibration , useable in dash only

Unlike a traditional warp drive or transwarp drive , the quantum slipstream campaign requires no anti - issue to accomplish actuation . interchangeable to Borg transwarp technology , the quantum backwash driving redirects energy through the main deflector to fathom the quantum roadblock and open a wash , which carries the vas through subspace like a stream . Navigating through a quantum slipstream is unmanageable , and need constant accommodation to match the race ’s phase variance , much like navigating a raging river .

Headshot Of Kate Mulgrew

InStar Trek : Prodigy , a new USS Dauntless commanded by Admiral Kathryn Janeway is outfitted with a quantum airstream crusade subject of being used for brief amounts of time .

The USS Voyager crew learns about the existence of the quantum slipstream drive inStar Trek : Voyagerseason 4 , episode 26 , " Hope & Fear " , when Starfleet seems to station the USS Dauntless to the Delta Quadrant , outfitted with a quantum slipstream driveway . While this Dauntless is a Trojan horse , Lt . B’Elanna Torres spearheads the development of aquantum slipstream drive installed on the USS VoyagerinStar Trek : Voyagerseason 5 , episode 6 , " Timeless" . This quantum race private road takes the USS Voyager only 300 lightheaded - yearsbefore a warning from the future prevents Voyager ’s death .

3Proto-Drive

Powering Starfleet’s Delta Quadrant Return in Star Trek: Prodigy

USS Protostar , Protostar - class starships

4,000 abstemious - years in"a matter of minutes "

2380s , designed by B’Elanna Torres

Cast Placeholder Image

Proto - jumps report huge distance

demand monolithic amount of energy , 2 start per charge

Starfleet ’s 2380s getting even to the Delta Quadrant requires the developing of a fresh variety of firm - than - light change of location . Enter the proto - drive , a propulsion scheme power by a protostar within a containment field . When activated , the proto - drive engages in " proto - jumps " that traverse several thousand light - years in bare minutes , making locomotion between quadrants relatively wanton . The proto - private road is designed for abbreviated jumps only , with the expectation that only one jump at a time is required to bear out a deputation on the diametrical side of the Galax urceolata , with another jump ply the return slip . To that end , received warping cause is still the primary propulsion system of rules on starships with a proto - movement .

Star Trek Prodigy TV series poster

The USS Protostar , Starfleet ’s experimental spaceship equip with a proto - drive , is lose in fourth dimension during its first missionary work back to the Delta Quadrant , which is dominate by Captain Chakotay ( Robert Beltran ) . InStar Trek : Prodigyseason 1 , the Protostar itself is convalesce in the present tense by a chemical group of Delta Quadrant adolescents who habituate the proto - drive to search out the Federation in the Alpha Quadrant , but Chakotay and the original Protostar crew remain stranded in the future . The proto - campaign ’s success , however , prompts the construction of Starfleet ’s Protostar - class starships , each outfitted with a proto - drive .

2Spore Drive

The Displacement-Activated Spore Hub Drive in Star Trek: Discovery

USS Discovery , USS Glenn

Instantaneous

2244 , by Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ) & Straal ( Saad Siddiqui )

Headshot Of Brett Gray

Fastest FTL travel inStar Trek

Highly specialized navigators are in curt supplying

With its instant travel , Star Trek : Discovery ’s spore drive is the clear winner as the fastest warp drive alternative inStar Trek . The USS Discovery was one of two Starfleet vessels outfitted with an data-based spore movement , design by Commander Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ) and Straal ( Saad Siddiqui ) . Unlike standard warp driving , which distort space around the starship , Star Trek : Discovery ’s spore drivephysically displaces the USS Discovery into the mycelial woodworking plane , where it can jump in a flash to any stage in space along the sprawling mycelial internet . After the wipeout of the USS Glenn , the USS Discovery stay on the only Starfleet ship to have a spore effort .

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Spore drive presents an obvious tactical reward in that it allows the USS Discovery to go where starship unremarkably would not be able to go , and provides the constituent of surprise in both its comer and leaving . The spore drive is useless , however , without a sentient navigator who has a connection to the mycelial web . Stamets attain this by put in himself with tardigrade DNA , and Cleveland Booker ’s ( David Ajala ) Kwejian empathy also answer , but these are unsustainable stopgap solutions to a longsighted - condition problem .

1Pathway Drive

Star Trek: Discovery’s Post-Burn Warp Alternative

USS Voyager - J , 32nd century Starfleet

3190 , Starfleet

As Starfleet ’s newest fast - than - light source engine inStar Trek : Discovery ’s 32nd century , the Pathway Drive was designed to operate without the use of dilithium crystalsto arbitrate the matter / anti - matter chemical reaction that powers distort effort . The 31st 100 Burn rendered most of the extragalactic nebula ’s dilithium inert , make travel by standard warp drive difficult and inconvenient . A new reservoir of dynamic dilithium was found at the end ofStar Trek : Discoveryseason 3 , but dilithium remain a rare , non - renewable resource , necessitating the development of an alternative degraded - than - light engine for Starfleet vessel .

headshot Of Sonequa Martin-Green

Commander Stamets ' spore private road was one such option , but the spore thrust ’s reliance on a sentient navigator made it unsustainable as a long - term solution for Starfleet ’s warp drive choice . Instead , Starfleet leaned into uprise the Pathway Drive asStar Trek : Discovery ’s spore parkway replacement , which was successfully installed on the USS Voyager - J.Besides its independence from dilithium , not much is hump about howStar Trek ’s Pathway driving force operate . The Pathway Drive represent a new earned run average forStar Trek , with a shrink beetleweed that new shape of FTL travel and warp drive option will no doubt provide access to , asStar Trekboldly goes into its own hereafter .

Star Trek : The Next Generation , Star Trek : Voyager , and Star Trek : Discovery are streaming on Paramount+ .

Star Trek : Prodigy is streaming on Netflix .

The USS Voyager-J firing green phasers

Star Trek III : The Search for Spock and Star Trek : First Contact are swarm on Max .

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Voyager