Star Trek Xi Trans Warp Travel.

[Nova]

So following last Saturdays Podcast, I raised the possibility that because of events originating with the destruction of the USS Kelvin that the USS Enterprise and various ships within the Fleet now have Transwarp Capability.

Here is some of my reasoning as well as a mathematical explanation that leads me to believe that Transwarp is the type of Travel being used in the new movie.

Also please keep this within the context of the story being told and do not offer opinions such "well JJ just wanted them to get there faster" that does not offer any valuable insight into the Trek universe nor is it the purpose of this discussion.

At  any rate....

I believe that during the initial conflict between the USS Kelvin and the Nurata (spelling?) that the Kelvins sensors where able to get detailed scans of the ship as well as offer Federation Scientist the ability to reverse engineer this technology. Now for those of you who did not read countdown. The Nurata was actually a romulan mining ship that had experimental borg/romulan technology applied to it, so within the context that those up grades allowed for Transwarp travel (of which we know that the borg are capable of both standard warp as well Transwarp) then any sensor scans of the nuratas engines would have offered very likely enough information to put Federation Scientist down the right path to ultimately having a complete engine.

Now there where a couple instances within the movie that I thought was facinating.

1. They mention in dialog the theory of "Transwarp Transporting"
2. We never see the Enterprise or any other ships Engineering room or Warp Engine.
3. When they eject the core from the Enterprise...multiple pods are released and yet again no sight of the "Core"

now obviously the absence of something and a few passing comments do not pass for confirmation of its existence, So I decided to sit down and apply some mathematics to this mystery and heres what I have come up with.


Reposted from Lotus Fleet forums.

Alright so I have been racking my brain trying to figure out the Warp Speed Calculations that explain how the enterprise could travel from Earth to Vulcan in a matter of minutes and following within the context of Original Series and TNG Warp Speed Calculations, ultimately theres no way...or maybe there is....read below

some preliminary information I have to get started was this

Warp Factor 1


1570.575 days to travel 4.3 Light Years (Alpha Centauri)

3141.15 days to travel 8.6 Light Years (Twice the Distance of Alpha Centauri)

4711.725 days to travel 12.9 (3 Times the Distance of Alpha Centauri)

5917.05 days (197.235 Months) to travel 16.2 = Destination Vulcan from Earth

(17.2 Light years is 4 times the Distance of Alpha Centauri)

As a result even traveling at Warp 6 it would still take 8 days of Travel to get to Vulcan.

Now here is a theory They where not traveling under Traditional Warp Speeds (TOS or TNG Scales)

In reality they where traveling at Transwarp Speeds.....now I know I know we all know that in the 23rd Century at least in the Prime Universe Transwarp isnt possible in the 23rd Century however this is a Alternate Universe also the reason I say Transwarp is because of the Scene in Spock, Kirk, and Scotty are all talking about beaming technology and they said at least a half o'dozen times the term Trans warp Beaming...seeing the movie that struck me as being weird why that beyond all the rest of the technology in the movie received such focus and was even given a title. Then what locked it in for me as a possibility was when Scotty stated that he never thought to think of Space as the object that was moving.

Well the short of it is Space isnt moving under traditional Warp Speeds.

In the Original Series Ships actually where traveling through space at faster then light speeds

then in the next generation and beyond (within the context of 1987 understanding of space travel) Ships actually generated a Warp Field which then dropped the ship into various layers of Subspace depending on the set speed in the ship was traveling for Example

TNG:

Warp 1 = Subspace Layer 1

Warp 2 = Subspace Layer 2

Etc etc

TOS: Warp 1 = 1 IAU

TOS: Warp 2 = 2 IAU

Etc etc

So in Conclusion some how this new universe seems to use Transwarp as a means of travel rather then traditional warp speed, which of course accounts for why the ships depart the way they do and why when viewed from the outside the area around the ship looks the way it does and not like what we see in TNG.

Now the question that I will have going into the next movie is to explain this and how the Federation managed to accomplish this technological feat!


At anyrate let me know what you all think!


Nova

[Jatal Khyron]

Well to tell the truth I never really gave it THAT much thought (kudos on the fact wagon btw =)) but truth be told I'm betting it was just a plot device and they didn't pay that much attention to the details, just that they had to make it fit. I know that's probably not the popular take on it, but there it is.

 I did read Countdown, and I can see from your point of view how that would work. However, the thing that sticks in my craw is that why wouldn't the ship design be radically different? The WARP nacelle configuration on the Enterprise was the same, although I will give you that the style was slightly different, I think that was just for design aesthetics tho.

It would be cool if your opinion were correct. I would love to see how that would work in this 'alternate' universe, back during Kirk's time.

[Cleopatra]

I am very impressed. One, I am horrible at math. Two, most Fleet sites lack posts like this. You guys must have a great site. Three, the idea that space is moving is interesting.