In order to seek out new life and new civilizations, Star Trek starships generally use warp drive to achieve faster-than-light (FTL) travel, because sub-light impulse engines would not have reached any alien civilizations within a human lifespan. Zefram Cochrane’s (James Cromwell) 2063 flight of the Phoenix, Earth’s first warp-capable vessel, in Star Trek: First Contact attracts the attention of the Vulcans, who initiate First Contact with Earth after witnessing the achievement. In Star Trek‘s 24th century, warp drive is common on spacefaring vessels, with the USS Enterprise-D able to maintain a cruising speed of Warp 9.2 in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Warp drive became the reliable means of propulsion used in the majority of Starfleet vessels, as well as the metric by which civilizations are deemed mature enough to be brought into the galactic neighborhood, according to General Order One, Starfleet’s Prime Directive of non-interference with developing societies. As Starfleet explores further into the galaxy, more efficient warp engines can achieve higher warp factors to reach longer distances in shorter amounts of time. Like many other technologies, Star Trek‘s warp drive continues to evolve, and newer propulsion systems that are variations on standard warp drive can take Star Trek starships further — and faster — than before.

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Standard Warp Drive

The Standard Faster-Than-Light Engine Throughout Star Trek

Standard warp drive covers a range of propulsion technology in Star Trek that operates on essentially the same principle of warping space to achieve FTL travel. In Starfleet vessels, warp drive operates by combining matter and anti-matter in the warp core reactor, where the output is mitigated by dilithium crystals and becomes plasma. Warp plasma powers all systems aboard a starship, in addition to being routed to the warp nacelles to generate the warp field that propels the starship. Warp is also achievable via other means, such as Romulan warp technology being powered by an artificial quantum singularity.

Standard warp drive can refer to the warp capabilities utilized by Starfleet’s vessels, the starships operated by United Federation of Planets member worlds, and starships belonging to non-Federation species. While warp drive was invented on Earth by Zefram Cochrane in the 21st century, other Star Trek species invented warp drive much earlier than Earth did. Vulcans and Klingons, for example, had their own versions of warp drive centuries before Earth did. Starfleet continued to improve upon standard warp drive, reaching higher warp factors in far less time than their warp-capable predecessors did, and even began studies into transwarp technology.

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Starfleet Transwarp Drive

Star Trek III’s Failed Experimental Transwarp Drive

Transwarp drive is an umbrella term for any advanced warp drive that exceeds the normal cap of Warp 10. Starfleet has conducted two notable experiments with transwarp drives, both of which were unsuccessful. The first was in 2285, when the USS Excelsior was outfitted with an experimental Starfleet transwarp drive in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The experiment failed due to dilithium becoming unstable at speeds above warp 10, and the Excelsior was refitted with a standard warp drive after 2 years.

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The Warp 10 Threshold Experiment

Star Trek: Voyager’s Infinite Velocity in Infinite Mutations

Starfleet’s second attempt to achieve transwarp was an independent project conducted by Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) in Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 15, “Threshold”. The Cochrane, a Class 2 shuttle outfitted with an experimental warp drive using a new type of dilithium found in the Delta Quadrant, did achieve infinite velocity, but the experiment had the troubling side effect of mutating humans into amphibians. This was enough to shelve the project, despite the potential it held for returning the USS Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant sooner.

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Borg Transwarp Drive

The Borg Use Transwarp Conduits Through Subspace

The Borg Collective had a better handle on transwarp technology than Starfleet did, having assimilated the technological distinctiveness of several civilizations into their own in their quest for perfection. To achieve velocity beyond warp 10, the Borg utilize a system of transwarp conduits within subspace, which converge at a central transwarp conduit hub. New transwarp conduits can be generated by vessels with a deflector dish modified to emit tachyon bursts at the resonant transwarp frequency within a subspace field.

Any vessel equipped with Borg transwarp coils can use Borg transwarp conduits. While getting that technology is usually prohibitively difficult, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) successfully scavenges a perfectly functioning transwarp coil from a damaged Borg ship in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episodes 15 & 16 “Dark Frontier”. The transwarp coil is later installed on the USS Voyager after tests on the Delta Flyer provide proof of concept, but Voyager isn’t able to sustain the coil’s operation.

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Quantum Slipstream Drive

Star Trek: Voyager’s Flawed Fast Track Home

Unlike a traditional warp drive or transwarp drive, the quantum slipstream drive requires no anti-matter to achieve propulsion. Similar to Borg transwarp technology, the quantum slipstream drive redirects energy through the main deflector to penetrate the quantum barrier and open a slipstream, which carries the vessel through subspace like a current. Navigating through a quantum slipstream is difficult, and requires constant adjustment to match the slipstream’s phase variance, much like navigating a raging river.

The USS Voyager crew learns about the existence of the quantum slipstream drive in Star Trek: Voyager season 4, episode 26, “Hope & Fear”, when Starfleet seems to send the USS Dauntless to the Delta Quadrant, outfitted with a quantum slipstream drive. While this Dauntless is a Trojan horse, Lt. B’Elanna Torres spearheads the development of a quantum slipstream drive installed on the USS Voyager in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 6, “Timeless”. This quantum slipstream drive takes the USS Voyager only 300 light-years before a warning from the future prevents Voyager’s destruction.

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Proto-Drive

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

Starfleet’s 2380s return to the Delta Quadrant requires the development of a new kind of faster-than-light travel. Enter the proto-drive, a propulsion system powered by a protostar within a containment field. When activated, the proto-drive engages in “proto-jumps” that traverse several thousand light-years in mere minutes, making travel between quadrants relatively easy. The proto-drive is designed for brief jumps only, with the expectation that only one jump at a time is required to carry out a mission on the opposite side of the galaxy, with another jump providing the return trip. To that end, standard warp drive is still the primary propulsion system on starships with a proto-drive.

The USS Protostar, Starfleet’s experimental starship equipped with a proto-drive, is lost in time during its first mission back to the Delta Quadrant, which is commanded by Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran). In Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, the Protostar itself is recovered in the present by a group of Delta Quadrant adolescents who use the proto-drive to seek out the Federation in the Alpha Quadrant, but Chakotay and the original Protostar crew remain stranded in the future. The proto-drive’s success, however, prompts the construction of Starfleet’s Protostar-class starships, each outfitted with a proto-drive.

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Spore Drive

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

With its instantaneous travel, Star Trek: Discovery‘s spore drive is the clear winner as the fastest warp drive alternative in Star Trek. The USS Discovery was one of two Starfleet vessels outfitted with an experimental spore drive, designed by Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Straal (Saad Siddiqui). Unlike standard warp drive, which warps space around the starship, Star Trek: Discovery‘s spore drive physically displaces the USS Discovery into the mycelial plane, where it can jump instantaneously to any point in space along the sprawling mycelial network. After the destruction of the USS Glenn, the USS Discovery remained the only Starfleet ship to have a spore drive.

Spore drive presents an obvious tactical advantage in that it allows the USS Discovery to go where starships normally would not be able to go, and provides the element of surprise in both its arrival and departure. The spore drive is useless, however, without a sentient navigator who has a connection to the mycelial network. Stamets achieved this by injecting himself with tardigrade DNA, and Cleveland Booker’s (David Ajala) Kwejian empathy also suffices, but these are unsustainable stopgap solutions to a long-term problem.

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Pathway Drive

Star Trek: Discovery’s Post-Burn Warp Alternative

As Starfleet’s newest faster-than-light engine in Star Trek: Discovery‘s 32nd century, the Pathway Drive was designed to operate without the use of dilithium crystals to mediate the matter/anti-matter reaction that powers warp drive. The 31st century Burn rendered most of the galaxy’s dilithium inert, making travel by standard warp drive difficult and inconvenient. A new source of active dilithium was found at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 3, but dilithium remained a rare, non-renewable resource, necessitating the development of an alternative faster-than-light engine for Starfleet vessels.

Commander Stamets’ spore drive was one such option, but the spore drive’s reliance on a sentient navigator made it unsustainable as a long-term solution for Starfleet’s warp drive alternative. Instead, Starfleet leaned into developing the Pathway Drive as Star Trek: Discovery‘s spore drive replacement, which was successfully installed on the USS Voyager-J. Besides its independence from dilithium, not much is known about how Star Trek‘s Pathway drive operates. The Pathway Drive represents a new era for Star Trek, with a shrinking galaxy that new forms of FTL travel and warp drive alternatives will no doubt provide access to, as Star Trek boldly goes into its own future.

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

Star Trek: Prodigy is streaming on Netflix.

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