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Warp factor

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AR Enterprise viewscreen


Warp field dynamics monitor


"They say gossip travels faster than warp speed."

- The Doctor in 2375

Warp factor (or time warp factor) was the primary means of measuring warp speed. The term was often shortened to warp when followed by its value so that saying "warp six" is the same as saying "warp factor six." Faster-than-light travel began after warp one, whereas lower fractional values were sometimes used to measure sublight speeds. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Star Trek; ENT: "First Flight" display graphic) Spacecraft ordinarily traveled at a higher integer warp factor. By the mid-24th century, infinite velocity was designated as warp factor ten. It was considered to be unattainable by conventional means. (VOY: "Threshold") Because of this, extremely high warp factors were indicated with fractional values between nine and ten, such as warp 9.975. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"; VOY: "Caretaker")

According to Star Trek Maps, the alternative term "time warp factor" used in TOS: "The Cage" is so called due to the time dilation effects that occur during warp travel.

Warp factor vs. average speed

1 1 exact velocity depicted in warp factor chart ENT: "First Flight"
2 8 exact velocity depicted in warp factor chart ENT: "First Flight"
3 27 exact velocity depicted in warp factor chart ENT: "First Flight"
3 487 4 light years 3 days ENT: "Damage"
4 64 exact velocity depicted in warp factor chart ENT: "First Flight"
4.4 100 30,000,000 km 1 second ENT: "Broken Bow"
5 125 exact velocity depicted in warp factor chart ENT: "First Flight"
9.9 21,473 about 4 billion miles (0.0007 light years) 1 second VOY: "The 37's"
10 0 VOY: "Threshold"
n/a [1] 8,300 2.5 million light years (to Andromeda Galaxy) 300 years TOS: "By Any Other Name"

Warp ten and above

Multiwarp speeds

Orion scout ship, remastered

An Orion scout ship at warp 10


According to the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (page 180) and Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise (page 14), after the refit of the Template:ShipClass USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the maximum speed of the ship was warp factor 12.
Karla fives vessel-pos

Karla Five's vessel capable of warp 36


Infinite velocity

USS Enterprise going to warp in full profile

USS Enterprise-D accelerated to incredible warp speeds by the Traveler

Cochrane, transwarp

Shuttlecraft Cochrane accelerating to warp 10

In 24th century warp theory, warp factor 10 had been redesignated to correspond with infinite velocity. A vessel traveling at warp 10 occupied all points in the universe simultaneously. Warp 10 was also known as the transwarp threshold. (VOY: "Threshold") Warp 10 had also become a slang term referring to anything extremely fast. Kathryn Janeway made the observation in 2376 that on USS Voyager rumors traveled fast. Chakotay agreed with Janeway, quipping at "warp 10." (VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy")


Alternate timelines

USS Enterprise-D, anti-time future

An alternative future USS Enterprise-D refitted for warp 13


In the October 1995 issue of OMNI, science advisor Andre Bormanis stated the idea of warp factors beyond 10 in the alternative future was in a recalibration of the warp scale, as ships had gotten faster. Maybe warp 15 was set to be the transwarp threshold instead, according to Bormanis, and warp 13 in that scale would have been the equivalent of warp 9.95 of the previous scale.


Related topics

Background information

Although formulas to calculate speeds from warp factors existed in the writer's guides, these were not always used consistently in the episodes and films. To explain the apparent discontinuity of the canonical warp factor speeds, background sources have given several explanations. Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual states the actual speed values of a warp factor are dependent upon interstellar conditions, for example gas density, electric and magnetic fields in different regions of the galaxy, and fluctuations of the subspace domain. Also quantum drag forces and motive power oscillation cause energy penalties to a ship using warp drive. (pg.55)


Many examples of these variations exist. For example, in "By Any Other Name", the Kelvans modified the USS Enterprise to accelerate to a speed of warp 11 in order to safely cross the galactic barrier. If this was also meant to represent the velocity of travel to the Andromeda Galaxy, a travel time of 300 years would indicate a far greater speed than can be derived from the cubic scale. Warp 8.4 was stated to be much faster in "That Which Survives" than warp 9.9 in "The 37's". In TNG: "Allegiance", warp 7 was stated to be about 55 times faster than warp factor 2, again confirming that some fluctuation in the relative speeds exist that is not covered by the basic formula.

In the shooting script of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, USS Enterprise was slated to be traveling past Saturn as Kirk is making his log entry, stating 2.7 hours have passed since their launch from Earth. A distance of 8 AUs traveled in that time would have made warp .5 equal to approximately a speed of 0.411 c.

Star Trek: The Original Series


The original warp scale was described in the writer's guide, The Star Trek Guide, third revision, dated April 17. 1967 (pg. 8) [2] and first appeared in widespread print in 1968 in The Making of Star Trek (pg. 191). The book also states a shift in relative time occurs while traveling at warp, an hour might equal to three hours experienced outside the ship. (pg. 198) In 1975, the warp scale given a more technical gloss in Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual, now extended to include warp factors below 1. In 1977 Roddenberry again adopted the scale for the abortive Star Trek: Phase II series, but abandoned it for The Next Generation series. It was not until the the 2003 episode "First Flight" of Star Trek: Enterprise, that the warp factor scale made an official on screen debut. Warp factors from 1 to 5 were depicted with their corresponding relative speed values on a large computer graphic.


  • v being the speed of the signal or starship
  • wf being the resulting warp factor



At warp 1, a starship would reach c; at warp 6, it would reach 216 c. This is a much slower speed as initially proposed by Roddenberry.

Using this scale:

0.5 0.125 0.0003 34.64 years
1 1 0.003 4.33 years
2 8 0.022 197.69 days
3 27 0.074 58.57 days
4 64 0.175 24.71 days
5 125 0.342 12.65 days
6 216 0.591 7.32 days
7 343 0.939 4.61 days
8 512 1.402 3.09 days
9 729 1.996 52.07 hours
10 1000 2.738 37.96 hours
11 1331 3.644 28.52 hours

Star Trek: The Next Generation




For warp factors up to 9, the revised formula became:

  • v being the speed of the signal or starship
  • wf being the resulting warp factor



In this case, warp 1 is equivalent to c (as it was in the 23rd century scale), but above warp 9 the exponent was increased exponentially, approaching infinity as the warp factor approaches 10.

Using this scale:

0.5 0.099 0.0003 43.64 years
1 1 0.003 4.33 years
2 10.079 0.028 156.91 days
3 38.941 0.107 40.61 days
4 101.594 0.278 15.57 days
5 213.747 0.585 7.4 days
6 392.498 1.075 4.03 days
7 656.135 1.796 2.41 days
8 1024 2.804 37.07 hours
9 1516.381 4.152 25.03 hours
10 0

Star Trek: Voyager

In the pilot episode of the series, VOY: "Caretaker", it is established that "at maximum speeds" it would take 75 years for Voyager to reach Earth, that was at that time approximated to be 70,000 light years away. In Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual it is stated that this calculation is based on a non-stop direct journey at the speed of warp 9.6. This indicates warp 9.6 equals to approximately 933 times the speed of light.

In the episode VOY: "Flashback", Captain Kathryn Janeway states that the current Starfleet starships are twice as fast to what the USS Enterprise-A and the USS Excelsior were in the 2290s. The maximum warps of the Enterprise-A and the Excelsior were established to be warp 9 in the script of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. [3] This would suggest that the maximum speed of the Voyager, warp 9.975, is twice as fast as warp 9. This would be consistent with how fast warp 9 was established to be in TNG: "Bloodlines" and how fast the Voyager was established to be in VOY: "Friendship One" at maximum warp.

Star Trek: Enterprise



There are however instances in "Broken Bow" that are not compatible with any of the basic scales. Zefram Cochrane notes in his recorded speech that the warp five engine would allow a ship to travel a hundred times faster than what they could in 2119. Warp 2 is established to be the maximum warp of ships in the early-22nd century in ENT: "First Flight". Warp 5 however is only 16 or 21 times faster than warp 2 in the scales. The journey from Earth to Qo'noS in four days is another. In either scale the Enterprise wouldn't even reach the closest star to Earth in four days. Qo'noS has not been given an exact canonical distance from Earth. But based on The Explored Galaxy star chart, the Klingon border is clearly not in the immediate stellar neighborhood with stars like Alpha Centauri and Vulcan, and beyond Organia, it would seem to be at least some 50 light years away.


Alternate reality

USS Enterprise (alternate reality) at warp

The alternate USS Enterprise at warp in Star Trek

In the alternate reality, seen in Star Trek, USS Enterprise traveled to Vulcan at maximum warp. According to background sources [4] this corresponds to warp factor 8. Directly after the ship had accelerated to and attained maximum warp, Captain Christopher Pike ordered Pavel Chekov to give an announcement of the mission to the crew. At the end of the broadcast, Chekov stated that the ship would arrive within 3 minutes. According to ENT: "Daedalus" Vulcan is located slightly over 16 light years away from Earth. However, there was an unknown amount of time the ship spent accelerating to maximum velocity, so there is no accurate way to ascertain the total voyage time of the Enterprise from Earth to Vulcan, beyond the obvious implication that it was not an especially lengthy trip.

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