Warp limit

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Star Fleet Engineering
Bureau of Starship and Starcraft Technology

Warp limit

The use of a conventional warp drive within a star system is exceptionally dangerous. A warp drive uses a gravitational field to bend normal space into a "subspace envelope" around a ship. This effect can easily be imbalanced and disrupted by the presence of a large gravitational field. To safely engage warp engines in the Sol system, for instance, a starship should be outside the orbit of Neptune.

Spectral class Notes Warp limit
(light-minutes)
W 236
O 167
B 79
A 35
F 31
G Sol 25
K 21
M 14
E Brown Dwarf 6
J Jupiter 0.8

Warp drive cannot be enaged safely near terrestrial planets inside the warp limit of the star, which is the location of most of these worlds. A world of comparable mass to Earth which is outside of the warp limit tend to have warp limits of approximately 0.4 light-minutes.

D-warp limit

While conventional warp drives are very dangerous to use inside systems because of high particle densities, it can be fatal to use hyperspace drive inside a system. Stars and other massive objects create gravitational singularities in hyperspace. It is fatal to attempt to enter or leave hyperspace inside these singularities.

Spectral class Notes Hyperspace limit
(light-minutes)
W 2370
O 1930
B 910
A 407
F 3582
G Sol 288
K 241
M 158
E Brown Dwarf 70
J Jupiter 9.1

Smaller planetary bodies do have d-warp limits, but are virtually always with in the warp limit of the star itself. A planet of comparable mass to earth which is outside the hyperperspace limit of its star would have a hyperspace limit of approximately 0.5 light-minutes.