impulse
drive
- Spacecraft propulsion system
using conventional impulse reactions to generate
thrust.
- Aboard most Federation starships,
impulse drive is powered by one or more fusion
reactors that employ deuterium fuel to yield
helium plasma and a lot of power.
- A ship under impulse drive
is limited to slower than light speeds. Normally,
full impulse speed is about half the speed
of light. Although this is adequate for most
interplanetary travel (within a single solar
system), it is inadequate for travel between
the stars. Faster than light velocities, necessary
for interstellar flight, require the use of
warp drive.
- An explosion of 97.835 megatons
will result if the impulse drive reactor of
a Constitution class starship is overloaded.
- Such an explosion, produced
in the destruction of the U.S.S. Constellation,
was used to destroy the extragalactic planet
killer in 2267.
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inertial
dampers
- Field manipulation devices
designed to compensate for the acceleration
forces generated when a space vehicle changes
speed.
- The Enterprise-D's inertial
dampers failed just before the ship experienced
a near collision with the U.S.S. Bozeman in
2368.
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intermix
formula
- A crucial concept in warp
drive, the intermix formula is a mathematical
expression determining the manner in which
matter and antimatter are brought together
to produce the energy required to warp space
and travel faster than light.
- science Officer Spock and
Chief engineer Montgomery Scott devised a
new intermix formula based on a theoretical
relationship between time and antimatter that
permitted an emergency restart of Enterprise's
warp engines in less than thirty minutes when
the vessel was trapped in a decaying orbit
above the planet Psi 2000 in 2266.
- An intermix imbalance can
propel a starship into an extremely dangerous,
artificially created wormhole.
- Kosinski's unsuccessful
warp drive upgrades in 2364 called for variations
in the intermix formula in an attempt to improve
engine performance.
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ion
propulsion
- The ship from the planet
Sigma Draconis VI that invaded the Enterprise
and stole Spock's brain in 2268 used ion propulsion.
The propulsion system left a faint but distinctive
ion trail of residual gas that permitted the
ship to be tracked.
- Highly efficient spacecraft
propulsion system that uses magnetic fields
to drive electrically charged gases.
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Lang
cycle fusion engines
- Picard knew of this technology,
and hoped an ancient Promellian battle cruiser
discovered near Orelious IX would still have
its Lang cycle engines intact.
- Ancient power plant used
aboard Promellian spacecraft a millennium
ago.
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light
speed breakaway factor
- Also known as the slingshot
effect, a warp speed maneuver used to propel
a starship through time.
- It was used to propel the
Enterprise back in time from 2268 to the year
1968 on a mission of historical research.
- This procedure involves
close passage to a massive gravitational source,
like a star, at a high warp velocity.
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magnetic
seals
- Component of the matter/antimatter
containment system aboard Federation starships.
- The seals help prevent the
highly volatile antimatter from coming into
contact with the structure of the ship.
- The magnetic seals of the
U.S.S. Yamato collapsed just prior to that
ship's explosion in 2365.
- An emergency system that
should have dumped the antimatter from the
ship in that situation evidently failed.
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maneuvering
thrusters
- Used in low speed docking
maneuvers and similar situations.
- Low power reaction control
jets used for fine positional and attitude
control by starships and other spacecraft.
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matter/antimatter
integrator
- The emergency bypass control
valve to the matter/antimatter integrator
was fused by Losira in 2268, causing the Enterprise
to travel at dangerously accelerated speeds
up to warp 14.1 before the problem was solved.
- Component of a Constitution
class starship's warp drive system.
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matter/antimatter
reaction chamber
- Component of the warp drive
system used aboard federation starships.
- The reaction chamber is
the vessel within which matter and antimatter
are allowed to intermix in a controlled fashion,
resulting in the massive release of energy
necessary to power the faster than light warp
drive.
- The matter/antimatter reaction
is regulated by a dilithium crystal, and the
entire volume is contained by a magnetic containment
field to prevent the volatile antimatter from
coming into Physical contact with the ship's
structure.
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mid-range
phase adjustor
- An innovative device developed
by Geordi La Forge for use in the Enterprise-D
warp drive system.
- When installed in the power
transfer conduits, it corrected the phase
of the energy plasma, compensating for inertial
distortion.
- La Forge offered to collaborate
with Dr. Leah Brahms on a scientific paper
describing the technology.
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nacelle
- In starship design, a large
outboard structure that houses a warp drive
engine.
- Nacelles generally incorporate
powerful subspace field generation coils and
sometimes have Bussard collectors to gather
interstellar hydrogen.
- Most Federation starship
designs feature two warp engine nacelles mounted
parallel to the axis of flight.
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nullifier
core
- The nullifier cores must
be maintained in precise alignment to avoid
magnetic disruptions that can be detected
when the ship is cloaked.
- Major component of the propulsion
system on a Romulan Warbird.
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particle
stream
- An energetic by-product
of the Enterprise-D warp drive.
- Geordi La Forge considered
using a particle stream to attempt to sweep
a holodeck clean when Dr. Katherine Pulaski
was trapped in an ongoing simulation program,
but the plan was abandoned when it was realized
that the energetic particles would also kill
Pulaski.
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plasma
- A starship's impulse engines
leave an exhaust of plasma, which can be detected,
even from a cloaked vessel.
- scientific term for very
hot, ionized gas.
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plasma
conversion sensor
- Starfleet instrument used
to measure the consumption of matter and antimatter
fuel during engine use.
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plasma
fire
- Combustion supported by
the intense heat from an externally supplied
ionized plasma gas source, such as those found
in a starship's internal power grid.
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plasma
injector
- Component of a warp drive
system.
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ramscoop
- Device that employs powerful
magnetic fields to collect interstellar hydrogen
for use as fuel for a space vehicle.
- O'Brien compared a ramscoop
to the arva nodes in Tosk's ship, which essentially
did the same thing.
- Also called a Bussard collector.
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space
normal
- Technical term describing
slower than light, i.e. non-warp speed, travel.
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sublight
- scientific term describing
space normal speeds, slower than c,
the speed of light.
- Sublight speeds do not require
warp drive, and are generally achieved using
impulse power. As a result, sublight travel
is subject to relativistic effects such as
time dilation and Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction.
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subspace
- Spatial continuum with significantly
different properties from our own, a fundamental
part of warp drive.
- Warp driven starships employ
a subspace generator to create the asymmetrical
spatial distortion necessary for the vessel
to travel faster than the speed of light.
Subspace is also used as a medium for subspace
radio transmissions.
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subspace
compression
- Phenomenon resulting from
differential field potential values in nearby
portions of the same warp field.
- Depending on relative field
symmetries, subspace compression can also
cause numerous other, often unpredictable,
side effects.
- Subspace compression can
cause different parts of an object to have
different inertial densities, resulting in
structural strain on the object. In severe
cases, subspace compression can tear an object
apart at the subatomic level.
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subspace
field distortions
- The Cytherian probe encountered
by the Enterprise-D in 2367 did not create
any detectable field distortions and its method
of propulsion remained a mystery.
- Phenomena that generally
indicate the presence of a warp propulsion
system.
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theta-matrix
compositor
- The device made dilithium
recrystallization ten times more efficient
than it was on Excelsior Class starships.
- A component of the Enterprise-D
warp drive.
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touch-and-go
downwarping
- The crew of the Enterprise-D
used this technique to transport an away team
to Gravesworld while en route to an emergency
rendezvous with the U.S.S. Constantinople.
- A maneuver in which a starship
drops briefly out of warp into normal space,
then quickly accelerates back to warp speed.
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transwarp
conduit
- Artificially created subspace
tunnel.
- In 2369, a previously unknown
type of Borg ship was traversing Federation
space using a series of transwarp conduits,
which they accessed by transmitting an encoded
high energy tachyon pulse.
- Inside the conduit, the
normal limitations of subspace travel did
not apply. Ships that were able to access
the transwarp state could travel at speeds
at least twenty times greater than the maximum
warp of Galaxy class starships.
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transwarp
drive
- Although initially showing
great promise, the transwarp development project
eventually proved unsuccessful and was abandoned
after extensive testing on the starship Excelsior.
- Experimental technology
for increasing the efficiency and speed of
starship propulsion systems.
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warp
field
- This technique was used
by Geordi La Forge in an unsuccessful attempt
to prevent the moon of the planet Bre'el IV
from crashing into the planet in 2366.
- The "bubble" of subspace
in which a starship travels when using warp
drive.
- O'Brien was able to use
a low level warp field to reduce the mass
of DS9 sufficiently for the station's maneuvering
thrusters to move the station to the Denerious
Belt following the discovery of the Bajoran
wormhole in 2369.
- A low level warp field can
have the effect of reducing the local gravitational
constant within the field itself. This is
because a subspace field resembles the time/space
distortion of a gravitational field. The effect
is that a low level warp field can be used
to temporarily reduce the apparent mass of
an object, with relationship to the outside
universe.
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warp
bubble
- An enclosed subspace field.
- A static warp bubble was
accidentally created by Wesley Crusher in
2367 during a warp drive experiment aboard
the Enterprise-D.
- A starship at warp speeds
exists within a warp bubble, essentially its
own universe.
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warp
drive
- Warp drive systems used
by Federation starships employ the controlled
annihilation of matter and antimatter, regulated
by dilithium crystals, to generate the tremendous
power required to warp space and travel faster
than light.
- Primary propulsion system
used by most faster than light interstellar
spacecraft.
- Warp drive was invented
in 2061 by noted scientist Zefram Cochrane
of Alpha Centauri.
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warp
field phase adjustment
- By adjusting the field phase
of the Ferengi ship Krayton, Commander Riker
was able to send a surreptitious signal to
the Enterprise-D when he was held captive
on that ship in 2366.
- A procedure used to suppress
the subspace interference generated by a starship's
warp engines.
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