lowest impulse possible to warp speed??

[tavor]

what was the lowest /minimum impulse (or how slow was it capable of going/ before engaging warp)
or did it have to attain a certain impulse speed before it could go to warp ,
for some reason i am thinking it could go to warp speed from thruster power only?
hope this makes sense as i am having hard time trying to put this question in the right words
p.s. question is aimed at nx-01 era but any input is welcome

 

[Tenacity]

I've wondered if a ship could go to warp essentually from a complete standstill (yes, everything in the universe is moving).

Activate the warp drive and immediately transistion into subspace, I think this is how the Enterprise got out of the Tholian web.

So to answer the OP, zero speed.

 

[Santaman]

^^ They did that in TNG testing the Enterprise, it went from standstill to Warp 9 in only a few seconds IIRC.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

In TVH, the Bounty jumped instantly to warp while flying in Earth's atmosphere.

 

[David cgc]

There's some evidence that ships need to reach "critical velocity" (relative to what?) before they can go to warp, specifically TMP and First Contact, but given how often we've seen ships go to warp directly out of orbit, I think it probably belongs with "no warp within a star system" as a "best practice" that's frequently ignored.

 

[Ithekro]

Both TMP and First Contact could be written off as engine testing, and the first time those drives were used.

 

[ash's boomstick]

As bad as it was the E-A went from standing still to Warp in ST5, just dodging a torpedo. AS pointed out a BoP can do it in atmosphere the Stargazer did it during 'The Battle' as well.

So it does seem that no movement is needed at all.

 

[C.E. Evans]

A case could probably be made that a ship doesn't move at all while at warp, but its subspace or warp field does.

 

[Tenacity]

Isn't that like saying you don't move while driving a car, the car does?

 

[Ithekro]

More like driving your car onto a ship that is going someplace you can't normally.

 

[Silanda]

Another vote for the evidence suggesting that warp speed is possible from a standstill. In my mind, and based on the way warp speed has been stated to work, there doesn't seem to be a good reason why a ship would have to transition from real velocity to warp velocity.

TMP was probably the example the muddied the water the most. In that they clearly stated that they were accelerating to Warp 1, and Sulu read out partial Warp factors.

 

[B.J.]

^ I've always seen TMP as running up the engines slowly, just to make sure they're working properly.