TechMemo:Warp Drive
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Star Fleet Engineering
Bureau of Starship and Starcraft Technology
Star Fleet Engineering
Technical Memorandum
Stardate: 90314 (14 March 1997)
Editted: 170405 (5 April 2005)
RE: Warp Drive
Energized plasma passing through special coils produces a gravitational field. These "subspace" or "warp" fields do exactly what their name implies, they produce a warping of the space-time continuum (STC). Mass also warps the STC, this 4 dimensional effect is what we call gravity. A particle would travel in a straight line when passing through the distortional field according to any observer outside the 'universe', or any observer able to fully observe the 4 dimensions. However, to 3.5 dimensional beings like ourselves, we do not see any distortions only their effects, which would be the attraction of one mass to another, that is gravity.
A ship travelling at warp folds space in much the way that a child might fold a piece of paper into a fan. The ship can then travel from one position in space to another which is now adjacent because of the folding of space. From the perspective of the starship, the vessel has not exceeded the speed of light, but from an observer not on the ship, the effective velocity observed can be faster than light (FTL).
There are several factos to consider when using a warp drive system. First, the bending or folding of space back on itself leaves risidual traces. These are the subspace distortions which allow sensors to detect that a ship has recently travelled through a certain region of space. These distortions normally fade in time. The time constant for full relaxation varries depending on the region of space.
Second, though much of known space has a uniform elastic modulus, that is it resists the warping of space with the same force, it is not uniform in all regions of space. Thus, there are certain regions of space through which maximum FTL transit speed is limited.
Third, some regions of space are suceptable to the STC analog of mechanical repetitive strain fatigue. After repeated use of warp drives in these regions of space, tears in the STC become possible.
Lastly, the effect of any warp field interacting with any significant gravitational field would be unpredictable, and probably catastrophic. The warp field would 'interfere' with the gravitational field either constructivly, or destructivly. Constructive interference would cause a massive gravitational attraction between the ship and the star/planet/moon.
If the interference is destructive, you would have a very unstable warp field, the field closer to the planet/star/moon would be less that the field on the other side. This is the same differental gravitational effect as causes planetary tides. Either the ship would be spun around or one of the warp nacelles would overload trying to compensate.
Thus, when using warp drive, a large distance must be maintained from stars, planets, and moons. In the case of a dwarf star like the G5V star of the Sol system (Earth's system), the safe distance from the star for engaging warp drive is some 4.5 billion km (about 30 AU) from the star, that is somewhere in the neighborhood of the distance of the orbit of Neptune. Many more massive stars have a much larger safe margin. This safe margin is known as the warp limit.
Note: Excepts from correspondence with Paul Gilbertson were used in the writing of this memorandum.
