YE CANNA CHANGE THE LAWS O' PHYSICS
or
HOW THE GALAXY CLASS WARP DRIVE REALLY WORKS
By
Colin Taylor
In the last few issues of the Intrepid Reporter there has been a great deal of discussion about how Warp drive works. After analyzing the videos of the drive in action, I think I can state with a fair degree of certainty how it works.
There has been talk of loops in space-time, wormholes and some convoluted theories about bending space in on itself so that the ship only has to travel a short distance.
The Truth, as always, is much simpler.
Before going further into the mechanics of the system, it would probably be useful to re-cap the basic details of the ship's construction.
As is already known, the majority of the ship is made from various complex alloys.
What is not widely known is that the rear section of the secondary hull, to which the Warp Pylons are attached, is made of a complex polymer: 1,3, Elastomeric Lanthanum Sulphide Titanium Carbide. The formula for this is (LaS2Ti5C4)n
This material was found to possess incredible strength whilst retaining a high modulus of elasticity.
Perhaps more importantly, this elasticity can be finely controlled (1).
The Warp pylons contain a large quantity of Moulded Ceramic Construction Modules (2) providing the drive system with the large moment of inertia that is required.
The actual mechanism is quite simple:
When the order 'Engage' is given, the helmsman dials up the velocity required. The flight computer then calculates the required modulus of elasticity, the amount of stretch or 'warp' that the material undergoes and adjusts the material accordingly (3).
The impulse engines then fire, pushing the primary hull and the forward section of the secondary hull forwards. The rear section, owing to the enormous inertia of the warp nacelles, remains where it is.
As the two halves of the ship move further apart, the potential energy stored within the polymer increases.
Finally, the stored potential energy overcomes the inertia and the rear section 'snaps' back toward the front.
Since Impulse drive is unable to propel an object faster than light, the warp nacelles, now moving at several times this speed, overtake the front part of the ship. (4)
Since the rear section is now in front of the primary hull, it pulls the front section after it. (5)
Once the whole ship has reached the same velocity, the Impulse drive is engaged so that the primary hull accelerates until it is once more at the front of the ship.
To stop, Reverse impulse thrust is applied until the Primary hull is stationary. The Warp nacelles, owing to their momentum, continue in a straight line past it. As the rear section extends, it absorbs the kinetic energy of the nacelles. Once the elastic limit is reached, the impulse drive is fired to push the Primary hull towards the Rear of the ship. The two halves of the ship start to approach each other once more, sharing the overall momentum between them and cancelling out the overall forward momentum of the ship
I hope this brief article clears up any confusion.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) The controllability of this material is evidenced by the famous (and now banned*) Goliath dial-a-yield slingshot; a precision instrument so controllable that it could be used for anything from bringing down a lone fly in a china shop to the total devastation of an entire continent, all with a single shot.
* Since it contravened most Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties
(2) O.K. Then, House Bricks
(3) Hence: 'Warp Factor'
(4) Which is why they are lower, so they can pass under the primary hull without damaging it.
(5) The first vessel to use this system, the U.S.S. Oozolum had warp nacelles that were level with the primary hull - to cut a long story short, it disappeared up its own Shuttlecraft bay.