Subspace (Star Trek)

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Subspace is a term used in many different science fiction media to explain many different concepts. Most often, subspace is used as a means to justify faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace is loosely associated at times with certain ideas expressed in string theory, which state that the Universe is not limited to four dimensions; there may be upwards of ten which we do not readily perceive but affect us summarily. By exploiting these higher dimensions, thus circumventing the limitations of the four we are most accustomed to, FTL speeds are imitated (or potentially achieved). Subspace is also comparable to hyperspace; the two ideas are often interchangeable and applied in similar fashion.

In most Star Trek series, subspace communications are a means to (usually) establish instantaneous contact with people and places that are light-years away. The physics of Star Trek describe infinite speed (expressed as Warp 10) as an impossibility; as such even subspace communications which putatively travel at speeds over Warp 9.9 may take hours or weeks to reach certain destinations and are limited to regions of space previously mapped for subspace channels. Once the connection is made, however, communication between the two points often becomes instantaneous. This is never really explained away except to appease notions of storytelling.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Schisms, life forms which reside in deep levels of subspace are discovered. They soon reveal themselves to be brutally curious about humanoid life.

[edit] External link

Subspace article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.