How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show?

How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show? - White and Red Mini Cooper Countryman

I am trying to get my head around this as it doesn't make sense to me at the moment.

We are in 2256 and the Discovery is currently experimenting with a spore drive. During the show it is saying how it can travel vast distances pretty much instantaneously. However, in other series a lot of speed is mentioned as a particular warp speed.

I am struggling to compare the differences. This spore drive seems to indicate that it is the fastest available ever.

In Enterprise, the titular ship Enterprise NX-01 could go at a maximum warp speed of 5.06.

In The Original Series, set after the Discovery timeline, USS Enterprise NCC-1701, could run at a maximum speed of warp 8.

So between this time, during the Discover timeline we have a spore drive which can go at X, beating any current warp speed (around 5), but then this seems to be over when it comes to warp 8.

I am assuming the series will go into this detail later on, maybe the spore drive dies or cannot be used so they go back to warp engines, but for now I can't work out how to compare these speeds that the ships are all going at. I am a rather new Star Trek viewer, I was only old enough when Stargate was showing so that was my original entry into sci-fi!



Best Answer

There is no comparison.

The spore drive is, for all intents and purposes, instantaneous travel to any part of the galaxy.

I think there is a reference to 1.3 seconds to the Beta Quadrant but this might include power-up time but, apparently, distance is not factor and if that is the case then there is no velocity equation that can be used to compare.

The Discovery it would appear (since we are only early in the series at the time of writing) has "normal" warp engines to get where it's going but has the experimental spore drive in development in the hopes of a significant miltary advantage.

Akiva Goldsman (EP) had this to say..

We are not the Kelvin timeline…which is a reboot of the original timeline…We are not part of that timeline, we are the original timeline with the TV shows and the movies that fit into that. We are ten years before The Original Series…Where Constitution Class ships are in comparison to where this Discovery prototype – well one of two prototypes, well now one of one prototypes – are technologically is obviously a variant. We are wildly aware of everything that appears to be a deviation from canon. We will will close out each of those issues before we arrive at the 10 year period and hit TOS.

Source




Pictures about "How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show?"

How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show? - Black Coupe on Black Surface
How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show? - Black Convertible Coupe
How fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show? - Cars Parked Outside on Concrete Road



Why did Star Trek stop using spore drive?

But, after the Glenn's malfunction killed all crew on board instantly, and Discovery was officially destroyed in battle when the spore drive exploded killing a total of almost 300 crew between both ships, the technology was written off as too dangerous a gamble and scrubbed from the records.

How fast are the different warp speeds in Star Trek?

Star Trek: The Original SeriesWarp factorCalculated speed (c)Travel time from Earth to Alpha Centauri0.50.12534.64 years114.33 years28197.69 days32758.57 days8 more rows

How fast is warp drive on Star Trek?

In the sci-fi universe of "Star Trek," spaceships with warp drives can zoom past the normally impenetrable limit of light speed, or about 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second) in a vacuum.



INSANE Warp Speeds Compared (Transwarp, Slipstream, Spore Drive, etc)




More answers regarding how fast is the spore drive compared to other ships in the show?

Answer 2

Episode 2 of Season 2 has the answer.
A distance of ~51 000 light years would take 150 years using warp drive, while spore drive is instant like in a blink of an eye.

Answer 3

Spore drive doesn't traverse space in the classical Newtonian sense. Spore drive displaces matter into a fibrous network which permeates a dimension allowing swifter transit. Since time is meaningless in the mycelial network.... However the USS Glenn achieved moving 90 lightyears in 1.3 seconds Captain Pike authorized the use of the drive to travel 51,000+light years to the planet Terralysium but time spent was not illustrated. the jump appears instantaneous or least few seconds time delay. Its not a matter of speed but calculating destination.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Maria Geller, Pixabay, Mike B, Rangga Aditya Armien