please can someone explain to me slipstream?

[Christopher]

I'll accept that there is the possibility of multiple speeds of slipstream, but isn't it therefore theoretically possible, with a fast-enough computer, to travel at *shudders* transwarp-salamander speed without actually turning into salamanders?

No, because that was infinite velocity. By definition, infinite speed is as far beyond slipstream's capability as it is beyond warp's capability. Increase your speed by a billion times and you're still exactly as far from infinite speed as you were before. (One of the many reasons why "Threshold" doesn't make sense.)

Besides, "Threshold" has been decanonized by its own writer. It officially never happened.

What was the drive in the TNG show they tested but could not get to work?

The soliton wave. A soliton is a self-sustaining wave, one that's constrained in a way that it doesn't dissipate, like a ripple in a canal or Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The idea in "New Ground" was to create a self-sustaining spacewarp that could carry a ship along with it at high speed.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I'll accept that there is the possibility of multiple speeds of slipstream, but isn't it therefore theoretically possible, with a fast-enough computer, to travel at *shudders* transwarp-salamander speed without actually turning into salamanders?

No, because that was infinite velocity. By definition, infinite speed is as far beyond slipstream's capability as it is beyond warp's capability. Increase your speed by a billion times and you're still exactly as far from infinite speed as you were before. (One of the many reasons why "Threshold" doesn't make sense.)

Besides, "Threshold" has been decanonized by its own writer. It officially never happened.

All right.

What was the drive in the TNG show they tested but could not get to work?

The soliton wave. A soliton is a self-sustaining wave, one that's constrained in a way that it doesn't dissipate, like a ripple in a canal or Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The idea in "New Ground" was to create a self-sustaining spacewarp that could carry a ship along with it at high speed.

Is a soliton wave or any kind of space warp like that actually/theoretically possible or is it just plain nonsense?

 

[JarodRussell]

*edit*
Nevermind.

 

[Christopher]

What was the drive in the TNG show they tested but could not get to work?

The soliton wave. A soliton is a self-sustaining wave, one that's constrained in a way that it doesn't dissipate, like a ripple in a canal or Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The idea in "New Ground" was to create a self-sustaining spacewarp that could carry a ship along with it at high speed.

Is a soliton wave or any kind of space warp like that actually/theoretically possible or is it just plain nonsense?

As I said, the basic concept of a soliton wave is very real and occurs in many contexts. The light pulses in a fiber-optic cable are solitons, and whales and dolphins use acoustic soliton waves to communicate through the deep sound channel in the ocean (a phenomenon I made use of in Over a Torrent Sea). So there's nothing intrinsically nonsensical about the soliton concept. Keep in mind that this was from 5th-season TNG, and that was a time when Trek was actually relatively well-grounded in real science, before they got lazy and just started making up random gibberish.

I always used to be skeptical of the idea of a soliton wave for warp travel, though, since normally a soliton needs something to confine it so its energy doesn't dissipate. A canal wave needs the canal walls, a fiber-optic pulse needs the fiber surface, the deep sound channel needs the water-density differentials, the Great Red Spot needs the wind currents surrounding it, etc. So I had trouble seeing how a spacetime distortion wave in open space, without a means of confinement, could function as a soliton. But I gather that some solitons are self-confining, and esoteric physics things such as cosmic strings are solitons, so maybe there's a way it could work.

However, the visual effect used to represent the soliton wave in "New Ground" was thoroughly ridiculous. It wouldn't look like a glowing lasagna noodle.

 

[BrotherBenny]

^Would a soliton sled work just as a physical means of confining the wave? Or am I so pathetically versed in astrophysics, quantum mechanics and the rest (which I probably am) that the idea of a sled is meaningless?

 

[Lindley]

It should be noted that in the Hidden Frontier timeline, Starfleet is experimenting with using an Omega-based power source as a means of making slipstream practical. Unfortunately, failed Omega tests tend to tear apart subspace to the point of making warp travel impossible, and it appears that Section 31 has decided to start using this fact as a weapon.

Sadly, Hidden Frontier has been notably distinct from Pocket continuity since its inception, although there are some fun parallels such as Kira's appearance in a Starfleet uniform and the fact that both have now inflicted disasters on Risa.

 

[Deks]

The Soliton wave is an intriguing idea in theory ... though during TNG, ships in question would need stationary objects like starbases from one point to the other to dissolve the wave.
Not really practical in the early days I suppose, but after years of working on the technology, I don't see why ships wouldn't be able to create/dissolve their own Soliton waves.

As for QS ...
As it was already mentioned, Arturis's ship and a faked SF transmission indicate a velocity of 60 000 Ly's in 3 months.
When Voyager re-created the QS V2 ... with benemite crystals, that drive was able to carry the ship 10 000 Ly's in what seemed like 1 minute.
Taking into consideration that the phase variance was mentioned to appear after 17 seconds of flight, 1 minute seems all the ship was able to really get out of the drive before the problem in question would result in the death of the crew.

Regarding TrekLit ... the QS there seems to be a middle ground of Arturis and Voyager v2 drive.
Seems reasonable enough to me.

As for Benemite crystals ... well, we do know the Voyager crew used them and that it would take years to create more through artificial means ... though it was never mentioned if they are naturally occurring or not (possibly they are, although most likely rare).
I think it's possible the crystals in question allowed 10 000 Ly's in 1 minute because of precision focusing or they generate more power required for the QS drive.

Variable speeds of QS have been seen, and given the fact how it was documented in 'Hope and Fear' that the speeds can be altered, I fail to see the point in claiming there's only 1 speed for QS.

Although ... it was mentioned in 'Hope and Fear' by Paris that the energy from the quantum drive has been rerouted to the deflector array and that that's what's likely creating the slipstream.
Obviously, Voyager had to make some modifications to the warp core in order to create a quantum warp field.

I don't think SF has been fiddling too much in the quantum area as far as FTL drives go ... which is one of the reasons they are stuck at Warp for most of the time.

 

[Christopher]

^Unworthy depicts benamite crystals as a mined resource, not a manufactured substance.

 

[BrotherBenny]

^Unworthy depicts benamite crystals as a mined resource, not a manufactured substance.

Is there any answer as to how rare benamite crystals are and whether they can be synthesised?

Dilithium can't be synthesised can it?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

^Unworthy depicts benamite crystals as a mined resource, not a manufactured substance.

Is there any answer as to how rare benamite crystals are and whether they can be synthesised?

Dilithium can't be synthesised can it?

Actually it was mentioned in one of the A Time to.. novels that starfleet uses synthetic dilithium, so I think it can be.

 

[Christopher]

Is there any answer as to how rare benamite crystals are and whether they can be synthesised?

According to Unworthy,

Spoiler: Unworthy

benamite crystals are so rare that one character is surprised they could scrounge up enough for the 9-ship fleet. But they detect a non-crystalline form of benamite in the first planetary system they visit in the Delta Quadrant -- which, though it isn't stated as such in the book, seems to suggest that the non-crystalline form is reasonably common. And B'Elanna devises a benamite recrystallization matrix that allows the raw benamite to be made into crystalline form.