Engineering Glossary
This Engineering Glossary is a guide to common terms one may encounter while serving aboard a starship.
Warp Drive
Warp Drive is a form of non-Newtonian propulsion that moves starships faster than the speed of light by manipulating subspace to bend space and reduce the apparent mass of the vessel in order to bypass the laws of Relativity.[1] Without warp drive, journeys between star systems would be impossible without sleeper or generation ships. Earlier versions of warp drive could not be operated close to large gravitational masses like planets[2], but this limitation has been removed by the start of the 25th century.[3]
Antimatter
Antimatter is a form of matter with mass but with the opposite charge and spin as standard matter. Matter and antimatter will annihilate each other when they come in contact. It is used in both antimatter reactors and antimatter weapons. Aboard Starfleet vessels, anti-deuterium is used for both of these purposes. It is stored in modules near to the antimatter reactant injectors. Because antimatter cannot come in contact with matter without exploding, it is stored within high-power magnetic forcefields that suspend it in a vacuum. In an emergency, antimatter pods can be ejected from a starship. Refined antimatter is created at facilities around the Federation, and this process is extremely energy intensive.[4] Some starships have onboard antimatter generators, but they are highly inefficient and provide antimatter at a ratio of 1 unit of antideuterium for every 10 units of deuterium provided.[5]
Bussard Collector
Bussard Collectors, also known as Bussard Ramscoops, use magnetic fields to attract interstellar hydrogen atoms and other free-floating gases for use as fuel aboard a starship. Most effective at warp speeds, this system is used to continually replace small amounts of fuel and to provide stop-gap fuel in the event of a shortage.[6] This system can also be used to collect and expel other gasses, for scientific or tactical purposes.[7][8][9]
Deuterium
Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen containing both a proton and a neutron. It is used to fuel starships' matter/antimatter reactors and fusion reactors. Deuterium is stored as slush in large tanks on every starship. A Galaxy-class starship has tanks large enough to support three years of warp travel without refueling.[10] Deuterium is preferred over protium (hydrogen without a neutron) because it contains twice the energetic potential.
Dilithium
Matter/Antimatter Reaction Assembly (M/ARA)
Known more commonly as the warp core, the Matter/Antimatter Reaction Assembly uses the controlled intermixing of deuterium and anti-deuterium to create energy in the form of plasma to power a starship's warp engines and other systems. At each end of the warp core, there is a reactant injector connected to either the ships deuterium tanks (the matter reactant injector or MRI) or anti-deuterium tanks (the antimatter reactant injector or ARI). These injectors control the rate of flow into the reaction assembly, and thus the amount of power being generated. The magnetic constrictor segments are the next major component of the M/ARA, connecting the reactant injectors to the reaction chamber. These segments use intense magnetic fields to channel the reactants at the right angle and pressure. The reaction chamber uses dilithium to mediate the matter/anti-matter reaction, and this is where the two substances annihilate one another to create plasma, which is channeled to the warp coils through the power transfer conduits.[11]
Warp Nacelle
Warp Coil
Warp Core
See Matter/Antimatter Reaction Assembly (M/ARA).
Warp Field
Electro-Plasma System (EPS) Grid
Computer Systems
Optical Data Network (ODN)
Isolinear Chip
Bioneural Gel Pack
Isolinear-Bioneural Chip
Structural Systems
Structural Integrity Field (SIF) Generator
Inertial Dampener
References
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.1: Warp Field Theory and Application. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (pp. 57–62). Pocket.
- ↑ Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- ↑ Star Trek: Picard, Season 3, Episode 1: "The Next Generation."
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.4: Antimatter Storage and Transfer. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (pp. 67–68). Pocket.
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.7: Onboard Antimatter Generation. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (pp. 71–72). Pocket.
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.6: Bussard Ramscoop Fuel Replenishment. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (p. 70). Pocket.
- ↑ Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 17: "Samaritan Snare."
- ↑ Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4, Episode 19: "Night Terrors."
- ↑ Star Trek: Insurrection
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.5: Warp Propulsion System Fuel Supply. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (p. 69). Pocket.
- ↑ Sternbach, R., & Okuda, M. (1993). Section 5.2: Matter/Antimatter Reaction Assembly. In Star Trek: The next generation technical manual (pp. 57–62). Pocket.