Warp core
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A warp core is a fictional form of reactor used in the Star Trek universe. It supplies power via a matter-antimatter reaction, which gives sufficiant energy to power a warp drive and allows a ship to travel faster than light.
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History in Star Trek
Alledgedly based on Einstein's Theory of relativity (E = mc²), the inventor of the warp core, Zefram Cochrane, used the immense power given off in a matter-antimatter reaction to give energy (E), which he could use to move a mass (M) at faster than the speed of light (c), facilitating interstellar travel.
Early variations of the warp engine, or Warp Drive could only move at just faster than light, but eventually by the time of Star Trek: Enterprise the engine could travel at warp factor 5 (one hundred twenty-five times the speed of light).
By the mid-24th century the Enterprise D could travel at warp 9.8 at extreme risk, while normal maximum operating speed was warp 9.6 and maximum rated cruise was warp 9.2. The Intrepid-class starship Voyager could manage warp 9.975. Warp 10, which is at the top of the TNG era warp scale, represents infinity. This "Warp 10 Barrier" is actually infinite speed and is considered unattainable, except in a single episode of Voyager where a shuttle managed to go infinite speed.
The alternate future depicted in the Next Generation episode All Good Things... shows Federation vessels capable of going warp 13 when Captain Riker, commanding what looks like the Enterprise D with a third warp nacelle, uses this extra turn of speed to rescue the crew of the USS Pasteur. However, this episode ignores the fact that the Enterprise D was destroyed in Star Trek: Generations, so the two universes may diverge further than previously expected, and warp 13 may not be possible in the "real" Star Trek universe.
Mechanics
Warp cores utilize a matter-antimatter reaction that is regulated by dilithium crystals. When matter and antimatter are exposed, they annihilate each other upon contact. This annihilation releases colossal amounts of energy. Dilithium crystals are used to regulate the reaction because they are nonreactive to anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. The matter used in the reaction is usually deuterium, a form of hydrogen, and the antimatter is usually antideuterium, the corresponding antimatter to deuterium. The matter and anti-matter reaction inside the dilithium matrix is usually referred to as the matter-antimatter reaction assembly (MARA). The MARA is surrounded by a magnetic field to prevent the highly reactive anti-matter from escaping the assembly. The energy is then transferred into a highly energetic form of plasma called warp plasma.
This warp plasma then travels to the warp nacelles via magnetic conduits. The warp coils are exposed to the warp plasma by plasma injectors, which carefully release the plasma into the coils. When exposed to such energetic plasma, the coils create an energy field called a warp bubble. The warp bubble expands space behind the vessel and contracts space in front of the vessel, and the warp bubble forms the barrier between these distortions. The bubble is accelerated while the space inside the bubble does not technically move, so the vessel does not experience time dilation, and time passes inside the bubble at the same rate as time in the other parts of the galaxy.
Warp cores can use other sources of energy besides a MARA, such as an artificial wormhole. On starships, warp cores are often the main source of energy for primary systems in addition to propulsion.
Use
The warp core is essential for lightspeed travel. In the Star Trek series the development of a warp core by an alien civilization signifies that it is deemed ready for first contact, and in case the ship needs to be destroyed the warp core can become a powerful bomb.
Notable Star Trek events involving warp cores
In Star Trek chronological order;
- Star Trek: First Contact - Earth's first warp core and warp drive is tested aboard the Phoenix. A Vulcan ship, detecting the new warp signature, initiates first contact.
- Also in this film the warp core on the Enterprise E is used to destroy the Borg queen when Data ruptures the warp core's coolant conduits next to her.
- Encounter at Farpoint - The first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation shows a new type of warp core capable of producing sufficient energy to cruise at warp 9. This is implied as the standard on all new Federation ships.
- Caretaker - a new warp core allows Voyager to travel at warp 9.95. It is also equipped with variable geometry warp drive to prevent damage to subspace (suggesting the warpcore's warp signature can be varied)
- Star Trek: Insurrection - The Enterprise E, being pursued by a deadly enemy using subspace weapons, detonates its warp core to close a quickly expanding spacial rift.
Trivia
- When Stephen Hawking guest starred on the Star Trek:The Next Generation episode "Descent" he was taken on a guided tour of the set. Pausing in front of the Warpcore he remarked "I'm working on that"
See also
- Warp drive
- Gravitational interaction of antimatter
- Pre-Federation History of Warp drive
- Faster than light
- Alcubierre Drive
- E=MC²
- Exotic matter
External links
- Template:Memoryalpha article
- Warp core article at Memory Alpha
- Warp core schematic at LCARS.net