Sub-Space, Gravity, and the Warp Drive

[Lucky]

WORF: Captain, I am picking up subspace distortion. 

PICARD: Mister Data? 

DATA: This disturbance is the result of a highly charged graviton field emanating from our warp nacelles. It is creating a severe bias in the subspace continuum. 

PICARD: Mister Barclay, are you responsible for this graviton field disturbance? 

BARCLAY [OC]: Yes, sir, I'm altering subspace in a way that's never been conceived of before. I'm fairly certain it will allow us to travel half-way across the galaxy in a matter of only 

PICARD: Mister Barclay, I want you to stop this experiment for now. 

BARCLAY [OC]: Captain, if you'd only allow me to show 

PICARD: Mister Barclay, this is a direct order. Discontinue whatever it is you're doing. 

BARCLAY [OC]: I really would rather not, sir. I'm positive that you'll be pleased with the result once I've finished showing 

WORF: Audio is disconnected. We may speak freely. 

RIKER: How soon before the ODN process is in place? 

DATA: I have been monitoring Geordi's progress. It will be operational in seventeen minutes. 

TROI: Captain, let me go to the holodeck and try and talk to him. 

WORF: Sir, the subspace distortion continues to increase.

TUCKER: The gravimetric field displacement manifold, commonly known as the warp reactor. Just think of it as a great big engine but instead of using electricity or chemical fuel it runs on antimatter. See this swirling light? When matter and antimatter collide it creates a whole lot of energy. We channel that energy through those conduits over there. They lead to the two large glowing cylinders you may have seen on the outside of the ship. 

SONSORRA: The nacelles. 

TUCKER: That's right. 

SONSORRA: Which contain warp coils that create the subspace displacement field. 

TUCKER: I see you already know a thing or two about starship engines. 

SONSORRA: I'm a warp field theorist. 

TUCKER: Oh. Well, I guess that covers the basics. Any questions? 

ALIEN: How do you regulate positron flow in your dilithium matrix? 

TUCKER: Good one. I'll bring up the schematic of the reactor assembly and you can see for yourself. If you'll just come with me. We use a series of magnetic constrictors to align the positron stream. 

(one of the point-chinned aliens breaks away from the group) 

TUCKER: If any stray particles escape backups automatically kick in. During one of our training tests we momentarily lost the primaries and the backups. 

(the alien's arm becomes very flexible as he reaches into part of the engine and pulls connections before rejoining the group) 

TUCKER: About a billion positrons cut through the plating on three decks. Nearly caused a hull breach. We spent a month redesigning the system. It hasn't given us a single problem since.

RIKER: But this is not the time for change. I need you all where you are, where Captain Picard always relied on you. I have been, reluctantly, forced to conclude that Commander Shelby, our expert on the Borg, is an ideal choice at this time for first officer. Based on our latest communication, we can assume that the Borg survived the fleet's attack. Your thoughts on our next encounter? 

SHELBY: What about the heavy graviton beam we were talking about?

LAFORGE: I've gone over it four times. The local field distortion just wouldn't be strong enough to incapacitate them.

WORF: If the Jem'Hadar could be forced to drop out of warp for only ten minutes, they would not have time to catch up with us before we rendezvous with the Defiant. 

MARTOK: A fine theory, but how do we execute it? 

WORF: We could disrupt their warp fields with an inverse graviton burst. It would force them to drop to impulse until the gravitons dissipated. 

KOLANA: We would need to generate a massive burst to disrupt the warp fields of a fleet that size. 

WORF: A single bird of prey could do it by diverting warp power to the main deflector. 

MARTOK: How long would that delay them? 

KOLANA: They could reinitialise their warp cores in less than two minutes. 

WORF: If I could engage them in battle while they're still at impulse, that would delay them even longer. I know I could do it. 

MARTOK: What do you mean, you could do it? 

WORF: The Orantho's Captain and First Officer are dead, and the Slivin's deflector is damaged. It cannot generate a graviton burst. And the Ning'tao's Captain is too young and inexperienced. I am the logical choice. 

MARTOK: But Worf, this means that you'd be sacrificing the entire crew of the Ning'tao. 

WORF: I have thought about that. We could beam most of the crew over before I take command. I would only need six volunteers. 

MARTOK: Signal the Ning'tao. Tell them to prepare for a change in command.

The Warp Drive works by distorting or warping space-time with gravity.

Impulse Drives are not dependent on warp fields or seemingly gravity to work.

This seems to put a hole in the mass lowering theory for Star Trek drives?

[Mith]

The Warp Drive works by distorting or warping space-time with gravity.

Impulse Drives are not dependent on warp fields or seemingly gravity to work.

This seems to put a hole in the mass lowering theory for Star Trek drives?

1) First, you didn't exactly address the problem posed by Deja Q, where they use the warp engines to reduce the mass of a falling asteroid moon.

2) I'm not actually sure where you're going with any of these quotes.

There's also some descriptions from the Tech Manual that you might appreciate. I generally prefer it for most of my technical question needs. It's sadly, often more coherent than the show is at times, even if it isn't always accurate in the information provided.

[Lucky]

1) First, you didn't exactly address the problem posed by Deja Q, where they use the warp engines to reduce the mass of a falling asteroid moon.

You're confusied

LAFORGE: You know, this might work. We can't change the gravitational constant of the universe, but if we wrap a low level warp field around that moon, we could reduce its gravitational constant. Make it lighter so we can push it.

What they are doing in Deja Q is:

WESLEY: I've been experimenting with Kosinski's warp field equations, trying to improve engine efficiency. 

PICARD: I've read your reports. 

LAFORGE: We did a test run while we were still at the starbase. Here's what the computer recorded. 

WESLEY: This is the static warp field we created inside the warp drive. The experiment was designed to see if we could keep a bubble like this intact. 

LAFORGE: As you'll see in a moment, we couldn't. 

LAFORGE: There was a momentary flash of light. It was all over the spectrum. 

CRUSHER: I remember that. 

PICARD: Are you suggesting that a bubble could have made Doctor Quaice disappear? 

WESLEY: If he were caught in it, yes, sir, it would seem to us like he'd disappeared. 

CRUSHER: Where would he go? 

LAFORGE: Who knows. He could even end up outside of our space time continuum. 

PICARD: Was Doctor Quaice in Engineering during your experiment? 

LAFORGE: No, sir. 

PICARD: And the bubble never expanded beyond Engineering? 

WESLEY: No, sir. 

PICARD: Then how could it have trapped Doctor Quaice or the others? 

LAFORGE: There are others missing? 

CRUSHER: Yes, and they weren't anywhere near Engineering. 

WESLEY: It doesn't make sense. 

PICARD: I doubt the warp bubble could alter computer records, or erase memories. Keep at it, Ensign, Mister La Forge. It's our only working theory for now.

CRUSHER: Starbase one three three, this is the Enterprise. Starbase one three three, this is the

Enterprise. Please acknowledge. Viewscreen on. 

(no stars, just blue) 

CRUSHER: It's not just people. Everything is disappearing! Computer, what is that mist I'm seeing? 

COMPUTER: Sensors indicate it to be a mass energy field seven hundred and five metres in diameter. 

CRUSHER: It surrounds the ship? 

COMPUTER: Affirmative. 

CRUSHER: If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe. Computer, what is beyond the mass energy field? 

COMPUTER: Sensors cannot penetrate the field. 

CRUSHER: Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. What is the nature of the universe? 

COMPUTER: The universe is a spheroid region seven hundred and five metres in diameter.

TRAVELLER: Your species have very narrow perceptions of time and space and thought. When Beverly Crusher was caught in the static warp bubble, she created her own reality. Her thoughts at the precise moment she was trapped determined its shape and form.

SEVEN: I'm receiving telemetry from the probe. It appears to have entered a stable core within the anomaly. The gravimetric forces are negligible. 

TUVOK: The eye of the storm. 

SEVEN: An apt metaphor. 

TUVOK: Computer, run a multispectral analysis of the anomaly's core. 

COMPUTER: Analysis in progress. 

SEVEN: The Borg developed shields to get through the gravimetric currents. They intended to dissipate the anomaly from within. Perhaps we should continue their efforts. 

TUVOK: It would be short-sighted to destroy it. We should study the phenomenon. 

SEVEN: I didn't realise you shared this crew's penchant for exploration. 

TUVOK: I am a Starfleet officer. 

SEVEN: When the risks outweigh the potential gain, exploration is illogical. 

TUVOK: We can't predict what we might find here, Seven. One must allow for the unexpected discovery. 

COMPUTER: Core analysis complete. 

SEVEN: There are more that two point eight billion compounds in the core. 

TUVOK: Fascinating.

SEVEN: The computer has isolated several synthetic compounds native to sector zero zero one. 

TUVOK: Titanium and polymer composites. These materials date back to the twenty first century. They were used in the construction of Earth's early spacecraft. 

SEVEN: Commander Chakotay mentioned a space capsule that was consumed by a graviton ellipse. 

TUVOK: These alloys are consistent with the hull of that capsule. An unexpected discovery indeed.

warping space-time with gravity to such a degree that they create a pocket universe of sorts where they controlled the laws of physics.

2) I'm not actually sure where you're going with any of these quotes.

LAFORGE: Good question. The emissions are coming from a tertiary subspace domain, but subspace has an infinite number of domains. It's like a huge honeycomb with an endless number of cells. We need to isolate the exact cell that these emissions are coming from.

JANEWAY: Tom. I want to send a probe into that anomaly. Can you hold position close enough for us to get accurate telemetry? 

PARIS: I can try. 

CHAKOTAY: Be ready to move away quickly if it starts moving towards us. 

PARIS: Sorry about that. Just trying to find a way to ride the graviton waves it's throwing off. There, that's a little better. We're in as good a position as we're going to be. 

JANEWAY: Tuvok? 

TUVOK: Probe has been launched. 

PARIS: Actually, this is kind of fun. 

TORRES: Speak for yourself. 

KIM: I'm starting to receive telemetry. Captain, this is one weird disturbance. I'm reading a temperature gradient of nine million kelvins, massive discharges of plasmatic energy, and there's a perfectly calm eye at the centre. 

TUVOK: Apparently some of the matter inside it is being exchanged between space and subspace. 

CHAKOTAY: What about the plasma? Is there anyway we can transfer some of it to Voyager? 

TORRES: I don't see how. We can't transport with this kind of turbulence. 

JANEWAY: Maybe we can try a 

PARIS: We lost it. 

CHAKOTAY: Where's the probe? 

KIM: It's disappeared. It's still transmitting, but there's a lot of interference. 

TORRES: I'm detecting some kind of unstable interfold layer, not in space or subspace. It could be where the eddies originate, and where the probe is now. 

CHAKOTAY: We've got another particle wake. Since we can't get plasma directly from the eddies, maybe we can collect some from their wakes. 

TUVOK: The Bussard collectors could be modified to gather plasma particles. 

TORRES: We could do that, but Voyager's energy emissions are so high they'd corrupt the particles. I'm not sure the plasma would be much use to us. 

PARIS: What if I took a shuttle out? The energy emissions would be a lot lower. 

JANEWAY: That sounds like it's worth a try. 

TORRES: You'd be exposing yourself to radiation poisoning. 

JANEWAY: Check with the Doctor. Maybe he can give you some kind of protection. 

PARIS: Yes, ma'am. I'll head to the shuttle bay as soon as I'm done.

This quote describes what Subspace is. Subspace is a physical place(s).

Gravity manipulation is what the nacelles are for. They warp space-time in order to let the ship travel faster then light. There is no subspace magic to a Trek Warp drive. It is simply a matter of gravity manipulation. Any subspace wonkynesss is a side effect of the gravitons warping the space-time because subspace is part of the space-time continuum.

There's also some descriptions from the Tech Manual that you might appreciate. I generally prefer it for most of my technical question needs. It's sadly, often more coherent than the show is at times, even if it isn't always accurate in the information provided.

The tech-manuals describe a lot of stuff, but directly contradict the series so much there is no point in reading them. I might as well use my Phase World/Three Galaxies sources books for how Trek Tech works.

[2046]

There is no subspace magic to a Trek Warp drive. It is simply a matter of gravity manipulation. Any subspace wonkynesss is a side effect of the gravitons warping the space-time because subspace is part of the space-time continuum.

You have been coming out with the strangest, most off-the-wall Trek tech ideas lately. From "Booby Trap" to "The Omega Directive", everyone is clear on the relationship between warp and subspace.

Tell me this is devil's advocate stuff.

[Lucky]

There is no subspace magic to a Trek Warp drive. It is simply a matter of gravity manipulation. Any subspace wonkynesss is a side effect of the gravitons warping the space-time because subspace is part of the space-time continuum.

You have been coming out with the strangest, most off-the-wall Trek tech ideas lately. From "Booby Trap" to "The Omega Directive", everyone is clear on the relationship between warp and subspace.

Tell me this is devil's advocate stuff.

Could you provide the relevant quotes from "Booby Trap" and "The Omega Directive", and explain in more detail please?

While I admit I haven't been sleeping well, I'm not sure what you mean by off the wall ideas? The quote from Nth Degree seems rather straight forward.

WORF: Captain, I am picking up subspace distortion. 


PICARD: Mister Data? 


DATA: This disturbance is the result of a highly charged graviton field emanating from our warp nacelles. It is creating a severe bias in the subspace continuum. 


PICARD: Mister Barclay, are you responsible for this graviton field disturbance? 


BARCLAY [OC]: Yes, sir, I'm altering subspace in a way that's never been conceived of before. I'm fairly certain it will allow us to travel half-way across the galaxy in a matter of only 


The seeming purpose of the warp nacelles is to generate gravitational fields, and those gravitational fields can be used to manipulate/warp the universe which subspace is part of.

In Scorpian part 2 we have The Borg use Voyager's navigational deflector to generate a wormhole to fluidic space with green graviton beam.

In "Time And Again", you have a mini-wormhole generator that uses a green beam to tunnel through subspace. Wormholes are basically blackholes, and that means everything with a gravitational field effects subspace, and has subspace fields.

I'm going to try to get some sleep now.