Slipstream, Warp, and Transwarp

[Joel_Kirk]

So, could someone explain to me the difference between these three means of space travel? (This sort of popped in my head while playing Star Trek Online when I should be asleep...lol)

My thoughts were:

Warp - Faster than light travel.

Transwarp - Even Memory Alpha isn't clear on what it is...

Slipstream -

I understand that Voyager had 'Quantum Warp' which, by the context of what 'quantum mechanics' is, I take it the ship is able to transcend time and space...kind of like a fold operation in Macross or Robotech?

 

[Taelon]

Transwarp simply means faster than conventional warp speed. I think the quantumn slipstream drive was a mechanism for achieving transwarp speeds. There are probably other methods of transwarp propulsion, of which quantum slipstream is just one.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Warp = regular, speed-of-plot* travel

Anything else = something terrifyingly faster, but very vaguely defined, and still 100% dependant on the plot.

*And here's a chart I made earlier, showing just how insanely the speed-of-plot varies:

 

[C.E. Evans]

Transwarp simply means faster than conventional warp speed. I think the quantumn slipstream drive was a mechanism for achieving transwarp speeds. There are probably other methods of transwarp propulsion, of which quantum slipstream is just one.

Basically this.

 

[Shawnster]

Well, at least DS9 and VOY are consistent with the time to cross the galaxy.

 

[FormerLurker]

Once again a reference to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" states the Enterprise went all the way through the barrier, and out into deep space beyond the galactic perimeter, even though they never said that in the episode. Isn't it possible they ricocheted off and were thrown back into the galaxy, close to Delta Vega? Most of those who say they went through also maintain that Delta Vega is outside the barrier. If it were, how could they get back through without entertaining the possibility of another Gary Mitchell rising from among the rest of the crew? Wouldn't that make the story of WNMHGB the first installment of a redundant storyline? And therefore pointless?

 

[CorporalClegg]

When I was kid, I though the difference was a ship had to accelerate to warp speed--as demonstrated by Sulu's gear shifter--and transwarp instantaneously reached the desired speed, which seemed to be the idea presented in TSFS.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Once again a reference to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" states the Enterprise went all the way through the barrier, and out into deep space beyond the galactic perimeter, even though they never said that in the episode. Isn't it possible they ricocheted off and were thrown back into the galaxy, close to Delta Vega? Most of those who say they went through also maintain that Delta Vega is outside the barrier.

Both onscreen dialogue and images indicate that the Enterprise failed to penetrate the Galactic Barrier and that Delta Vega was the nearest planet she could reach on impulse after Kirk gave the order to get out of there.

If it were, how could they get back through without entertaining the possibility of another Gary Mitchell rising from among the rest of the crew? Wouldn't that make the story of WNMHGB the first installment of a redundant storyline? And therefore pointless?

Nope, because it didn't happen that way. But mere contact with the barrier did result in another Gary Mitchell rising from the rest of the crew though (in the later form of Dr. Elizabeth Dehner).

By the time of "By Any Other Name" a couple of years later, the Kelvans presumably modified the Enterprise to be able to withstand the Barrier and make it through.

 

[FormerLurker]

What you have said has always been my understanding of what happened in-universe. My point, such as it is, is that many people, including posters here on this forum, seem to have the idea that the Enterprise made it through, and Delta Vega is on the other side. My brother and I even argued about it when we we younger. He was convinced they made it through, and I didn't agree with him.

As far as Dr. Dehner, well, I've seen the episode enough times to remember her. My point there was that one, she arose from the same exposure as Mitchell, and two, if they made it through, there would probably be yet a third, or even fourth rising up from exposure to the barrier coming back through to the inside.

"By Any Other Name" explains itself rather nicely to me.

 

[Timo]

We may consider the other references to the Barrier phenomenon, too. The old Valiant was swept to the wrong side by forces beyond their understanding ("magnetic storm"), and got into trouble on the way back. The Kelvans in "By Any Other Name" also got into trouble when trying to get in, whereas going out presented no problems whatsoever in the episode (although we have to assume our heroes also got back somehow). And the misadventure in "Is There In Truth" flung the ship into some sort of interdimensional limbo or whatever where she may have sidestepped the Barrier effects altogether.

So, possibly a semipermeable Barrier, only affecting inward espers (while wreaking havoc with ships' systems in both directions, but much worse on the inward leg)?

Since "transwarp" is used in many contexts in Trek, I agree the best interpretation is that it's how Starfleet refers to all attempts at faster-than-current-warp. The specific names ("coaxial warp") are more or less frivolous, just like the fancy names for the ways people in Trek govern themselves (Cardassian "Union" and Ferengi "Alliance" make especially little sense, considering how monobloc these cultures are), and probably all fall under the category of transwarp.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C.E. Evans]

As far as Dr. Dehner, well, I've seen the episode enough times to remember her. My point there was that one, she arose from the same exposure as Mitchell, and two, if they made it through, there would probably be yet a third, or even fourth rising up from exposure to the barrier coming back through to the inside.

There actually may could have been as many as eleven, but only Mitchell and Dehner survived (there were nine others with ESP ability or potential, but they all died upon their exposure to the Barrier).

 

[T'Girl]

The old Valiant was swept to the wrong side by forces beyond their understanding ("magnetic storm"), and got into trouble on the way back.

Perhaps the magnetic storm protected the Valiant the first time through, coming back they had no such protection.

 

[C.E. Evans]

The old Valiant was swept to the wrong side by forces beyond their understanding ("magnetic storm"), and got into trouble on the way back.

Perhaps the magnetic storm protected the Valiant the first time through, coming back they had no such protection.

You quoted the wrong person there.

 

[FormerLurker]

As far as Dr. Dehner, well, I've seen the episode enough times to remember her. My point there was that one, she arose from the same exposure as Mitchell, and two, if they made it through, there would probably be yet a third, or even fourth rising up from exposure to the barrier coming back through to the inside.

There actually may could have been as many as eleven, but only Mitchell and Dehner survived (there were nine others with ESP ability or potential, but they all died upon their exposure to the Barrier).

True enough. We'll never know if exposure to the barrier enhances ones ESPer abilities, as they never discussed it. If it does, who knows what could have happened?

And I think T'Girl quoted who she intended to quote. She responded to the information accurately. Interesting theory, by the way.

 

[SicOne]

Quantum slipstream drive, which is most directly discussed in the recent Voyager novels, appears to be more based upon a combination of special benamite crystals in the warp chamber (instead of dilithium) creating some special warp field in the nacelles, and deflector dish technology that enhances the effect and creates some kind of quantum tunneling effect. The writers have been careful not to establish any kind of maximum speed precedent, but there was a little blip in one of the Voyager books to the effect that a ship equipped with this drive traveled some 3,000 light-years in eight minutes, IIRC.

If you want a better explanation of Q-drive, ask over at the Trek Lit forum and one of the authors might even jump in there as well.

 

[C.E. Evans]

As far as Dr. Dehner, well, I've seen the episode enough times to remember her. My point there was that one, she arose from the same exposure as Mitchell, and two, if they made it through, there would probably be yet a third, or even fourth rising up from exposure to the barrier coming back through to the inside.

There actually may could have been as many as eleven, but only Mitchell and Dehner survived (there were nine others with ESP ability or potential, but they all died upon their exposure to the Barrier).

True enough. We'll never know if exposure to the barrier enhances ones ESPer abilities, as they never discussed it.

Actually, they did discuss that it only effected people with ESP ability or potential. Mitchell and Dehner were the only ones of the eleven whose brains weren't fried, but they also had very high ESP quotients. It's not a stretch at all that the Barrier enhances the ESPer abilities of such people, especially given that the same thing happened aboard the Valiant some 200 years earlier (several crewmembers died after it encountered the Barrier, except for one who survived with enhanced ESP ability).

If it does, who knows what could have happened?

On the Valiant, it became a bad enough situation for the captain to order his ship to self-destruct.

And I think T'Girl quoted who she intended to quote. She responded to the information accurately.

No, because she quoted Timo, but put my name there in her post. I didn't write that. She quoted the wrong person as I said.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Was it ever specifically stated that the Galactic Barrier surrounds the galaxy like a ring? I thought the Barrier completely enclosed the galaxy, making travel in and out of the galaxy next to impossible everywhere. Therefore, the Barrier must be shaped like an egg or a CD case. The Enterprise's location in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" could have been one of the points on the egg shape that was closer to the Federation than other points.

 

[uniderth]

I concur with the directional theory concerning the barrier. It is only after the Enterprise turns around that Mitchell and Dehner get zapped. It is also after the Valiant passes through the barrier towards the galaxy that the crew gets zapped. Going out, however, only destroyed equipment.

I like to imagine the barrier was an artificial construct. Who could have built it? Who or what were they trying to keep out?

 

[Enterprise1701]

I like to imagine the barrier was an artificial construct. Who could have built it? Who or what were they trying to keep out?

In the non-canon 1998 TNG novel trilogy The Q Continuum,

Spoiler: plot point of The Q Continuum

Q reveals that the Q created the Galactic Barrier to keep out 0, an extremely powerful and evil incorporeal being who was the ringleader of an evil gang consisting of himself, Gorgan (TOS - "And the Children Shall Lead"), * (TOS - "Day of the Dove"), and the One (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier).

 

[C.E. Evans]

I concur with the directional theory concerning the barrier. It is only after the Enterprise turns around that Mitchell and Dehner get zapped. It is also after the Valiant passes through the barrier towards the galaxy that the crew gets zapped. Going out, however, only destroyed equipment.

Perhaps not. Kirk gave the order for the Enterprise to turn back when things became too rough at the Barrier, but Dehner and Mitchell were zapped before that actually happened, forcing ultimately Spock to turn the ship around. It might have just taken a bit of time for the enhanced ESP abilities to kick in for that crewmember on the Valiant after it left the Barrier as it did for both Mitchell and Dehner on the Enterprise.