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
Bussard Collector
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.[4] 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.[5]
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 5.5: 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.