A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel.
The term is mostly found in science fiction, as humanity has not yet constructed such vehicles (while the Voyager and Pioneer probes have traveled into local interstellar space, they are not generally considered starships because they have not traveled to other stars and also because they are not vessels). However, exploratory engineering has been undertaken on several preliminary designs and feasibility studies for starships that could be built with modern technology or technology thought likely to be available in the near future.
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To travel between stars in a reasonable time using rocket-like technology requires very high effective exhaust velocity exhaust jet, and enormous energy to power this, such as might be provided by fusion power or antimatter.
There are very few scientific studies that investigate the issues in building a starship. Some examples of this include:
The Bussard ramjet is an idea to use nuclear fusion of interstellar gas to provide propulsion.
Other ideas involve going more slowly and building a generation ship.
Other concepts involve trying to exceed the speed of light in some way, such as creating and maintaining a wormhole.
Examined in an October 1973 issue of Analog, the Enzmann Starship proposed using a 12,000 ton ball of frozen deuterium to power thermonuclear powered pulse propulsion units.[1] Twice as long as the Empire State Building and assembled in-orbit, the spacecraft was part of a larger project preceded by interstellar probes and telescopic observation of target star systems.[1][2]
The NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program (1996–2002), was a professional scientific study examining advanced spacecraft propulsion systems.
A common literary device is to posit a faster-than-light propulsion system (such as warp drive) or travel through hyperspace, although some starships may be outfitted for centuries-long journeys of slower-than-light travel. Other designs posit a way to boost the ship to near-lightspeed, allowing relatively "quick" travel (i.e. decades, not centuries) to nearer stars. This results in a general categorization of the kinds of starships:
Certain common elements are found in most fiction that discusses starships.
Travel at velocities greater than the speed of light is impossible according to the known laws of physics, although apparent FTL is not excluded by general relativity. An example of a faster-than-light ship is the Enterprise from "Star Trek: The Original Series." In September 2011, however, CERN and OPERA announced that time of flight measurements made by their collaboration had indicated muon neutrinos traveling apparently at faster than lightspeed (see: Faster-than-light neutrino anomaly).
The following is a listing of some of the most widely known vessels in various science fiction franchises:
