# You're at Warp Factor 5 and your bubble collapses
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-at-warp-factor-5-and-your-bubble-collapses/1022652
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 1, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-at-warp-factor-5-and-your-bubble-collapses/1022652 "2025-09-01T13:52:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2025, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-at-warp-factor-5-and-your-bubble-collapses/1022652/21 "2025-09-05T07:02:49Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> A _Star Trek_ ship in ‘warp’ would be causally disconnected from the surrounding space (how they can see stars zipping around them, and especially to aft is an unanswered question) and accelerating within the ‘warp bubble’ doesn’t change the net momentum of the system unless the warp drive is somehow compensating for the change in momentum relative to the beginning and ending reference frames. (It is also unclear how ‘impulse engines’ work; despite the name they appear to be reactionless although also capable of emitting exhaust, so ???).
According to the not-quite-canon\* old Technical Manual impulse drives work by a combination of “mass lightening” and plain old thrust.
As for the stars zipping past in warp speed there’s a fan theory I like; that they aren’t actually stars but interstellar particles interacting with the warp field. Totally non-canon but at least it explains how you can see them thoguh a window at FTL.
- In that on one hand it’s not officially canon, but it _does_ seem to be followed on the show anyway. And it’s the best we’ve got, anyway. As much as I like it, in my opinion one of Trek’s flaws is that the writers never seem to have been willing to write down a “bible” for the setting and mostly just winged it.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2025, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-at-warp-factor-5-and-your-bubble-collapses/1022652/22 "2025-09-05T08:09:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> You’re now stranded several light years away from any planet with a impulse drive that only produce sub-light speed travel. You’re decades away from the closest world. Your ship doesn’t have the supplies to keep you alive that long.
you disable the TDC (time dilation compensator). Your journey may take 10 years real time, but you only experience 3 weeks shipboard time.
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