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In Star Trek, the impulse drive is the method of propulsion that starships and other spacecraft use when they are travelling below the speed of light. Typically powered by nuclear fusion reactions, impulse engines let ships travel intrastellar distances readily. For example, Starfleet Academy cadets use impulse engines flying to Saturn and back. Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series, 726 episodes and ten feature films in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the...
Propulsion method may refer to a number of different articles: For a list of space transport methods, see spacecraft propulsion. ...
This article is about the vehicle for interstellar travel. ...
An Ariane 5 expendable launch vehicle lifts off with the Rosetta spacecraft on March 2, 2004. ...
Cherenkov effect in a swimming pool nuclear reactor. ...
The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ...
The official logo of Starfleet Academy, circa 2370. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ...
There are three practical challenges surrounding impulse drive design: acceleration, time dilation and energy conservation. In the show, inertial dampeners compensate for acceleration. Time dilation would become noticeable at appreciable fractions of the speed of light. Regarding energy conservation, the television series and books offer two explanations: Acceleration is the time rate of change of velocity, and at any point on a v-t graph, it is given by the slope of the tangent to that point In physics, acceleration (symbol: a) is defined as the rate of change (or time derivative) of velocity. ...
This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
For the physical concepts, see conservation of energy and energy efficiency. ...
Inertial compensators, or inertial dampers (as they are more often called) are fictional devices aboard starships in some science fiction series, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. ...
- A less-common yet more plausible explanation calls for a gravitational distortion, a wave, through space, which the ship essentially rides. As such, "one half impulse" and "full impulse" measure speed and not acceleration.
Some Star Trek fans claim that impulse drives are actually ion propulsion drives. Impulse engines may also be a type of nuclear pulse system such as suggested for the real-life projects A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ...
The starship Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid-class starship. ...
The USS Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid class starship. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into gravity. ...
An ion engine test An ion thruster is a type of spacecraft propulsion that uses beams of ions for propulsion. ...
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual indicates that the Impulse engines are Nuclear Fusion engines whereas the plasma from the fusion reactor powers a massive magnetic coil to propel the ship. It is a form of Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster. This is used in conjunction with the ship's warp drive's alteration of the ships relativistic mass, to achieve mid to high sub-light speeds. Thrusters, on the other hand, are closer to the designs of a high efficiency reactant propellant (i.e. a sophisticated rocket engine) and are usually used for high precision maneuvers. Ion propulsion drives are explicitly detailed to be used in Star Trek by Dominion and Iconian Starships and facilities.
- Since a ship travelling at impulse velocities (slower than, but approaching, the speed of light) is still travelling in the normal space-time continuum, concerns of time dilation apply, so high relativistic speeds are avoided unless absolutely necessary; impulse power is therefore customarily limited to a maximum of 1/4 lightspeed. (Warp travel, on the other hand, does not involve time dilation effects.)
Ion propulsion engines use electricity to ionise fuel like mercury or xenon and propel it with a high electric field to generate a low but continuous thrust. Magneto-Plasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters are a form of electric Propulsion which use the Lorentz force (a force exerted on charged particles by magnetic and electrical fields in combination) to generate thrust. ...
Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series, 726 episodes and ten feature films in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the...
A Dominion is a wholly self-governing or virtually self-governing state of the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations, particularly one which reached that stage of constitutional development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. ...
In the fictional Star Trek Universe, the Iconians were a highly advanced ancient culture that was destroyed around 200,000 years ago by orbital bombardment that destroyed the surface of their planet, however some may have escaped through the gateway which is a dimensional transport that was used to travel...
This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, the warp drive is a form of faster-than-light (FTL) propulsion. ...
An artists conception of the NASA reference design for Project Orion This article is about Project Orion the spacecraft propulsion project. ...
The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ...
The British Interpainetary Society (BIS) founded in 133, is the oldest organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to savor and pluck astronautics and pace exploration. ...
An artists conception of the British Interplanetary Society design for Project Daedalus Project Daedalus was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible interstellar unmanned spacecraft. ...
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance of one atom in 6500 of hydrogen. ...
Helium-3 is a non-radioactive and light isotope of helium. ...
Lasers range in size from microscopic diode lasers (top) with numerous applications, to football field sized neodymium glass lasers (bottom) used for inertial confinement fusion, nuclear weapons research and other physics experiments. ...
Properties In physics, the neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass of 939. ...
Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ...
Ionisation can be: the process of creating an ion, see ionization a piece of music by Edgar Varèse; see Ionisation (Varèse) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 6, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 200. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number xenon, Xe, 54 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 5, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 131. ...
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