Starfleet Jedi

Another list, this one is average impulse velocities when they are intending to go fast, not just some orbit velocity etc... but when they really want to get somewhere.


DS9: "Blaze of Glory": 248c to 8.27c

Star Trek: The Motion Picture: 0.3c to 0.5c

VOY: "Dragon's Teeth": 1.3c to 1.4c

VOY: "Timeless": 0.17c

TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds Part II": 2.9c

TNG: "Chain of Command Part II": 0.7c

VOY: "Fair Haven" <0.67c

This list is probably missing some values, any others are welcome.

I did not calculate acceleration due to the unknown duration of acceleration.

Again, same issue here I have with the warp speed list, no way to check your numbers since no quotes or distances and such are provided here.
-Mike

Here are the quotes and calculation for the above values:

DS9: "Blaze of Glory":

Sisko: "We both do. They're getting closer. One AU away. Point nine AU. You said you wanted to be blown to bits by the Jem'Hadar? Well, it looks like you're going to get your wish." (time: 00:22:16)
...
Sisko: "I don't think so. Point seven AU." (time: 00:23:34)
...
Sisko: "Half an AU and closing. If you do have a plan, I guarantee I'll learn to love it."
...
Sisko: "You mean shut down the engines? They'd be on us in a second."

1 AU ≈ 149,597,870,691 m

The Jem'Hadar ship is said to close from 0.5 AU in one second if the runabout stops, so 74,797,935,350 m/s or 249.5023 c for the speed of the warships.
149597870691/2 ≈ 74798935350 m

The warship was stated to be closing on the runabout at a rate of 0.2 AU every 78 seconds for a difference in speed of 383,584,283.8 m/s. So the speed of the runabout is the speed of the Jem'Hadar minus the closing speed, or 74,415,351,070 m/s or 248 c for the speed of the runabout.
(0.2*149597870691)/78 = 383584283.8 m/s

74798935350-383584283.8 ≈ 74415351070

Now "in a second" is a vague expression, so 248c is the maximum speed. The minimum would be more around 8.27c, if the time to intercept the stopped runabout were 1 minute which is not quite "in a second".


Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

Kirk: "Captain's log, stardate 7412.6. one point eight hours from launch. In order to intercept the intruder at the earliest possible time, we must now risk engaging warp drive while still within the solar system."

This is as we see them pass Jupiter. The distance to Jupiter from Earth varies between 588 million km and 968 million km.


VOY: "Dragon's Teeth":

Seven: "There's a planet eight million kilometres ahead, uninhabited but the atmosphere is charged with radiogenic particles."

Voyager was under attack at the time by one and later three ships, the minimum time is 20 seconds (real screen time), given the rate they were stated to be loosing shields the transit time should not be more than one minute.


VOY: "Timeless":

Paris: "I'm reading a planet nine million kilometres ahead. It's class L."
...
EMH: "I have it. Her cybernetic systems were terminated on Stardate 52164.3. Borg time index: 9.43852. You're encoding the transmitter for time index 9.40? That's less than four minutes before Voyager was destroyed! Cutting it a little close, aren't we?"

Seven receives transmission:00:34:22
Voyager seen to arrive at planet: 00:34:54
Voyager impacts surface and bounces off (presumably time of death): 00:36:10

We know that seven recieved the transmission 4 minutes before the point of impact, and they arrive at the planet at least 88 seconds before impact (the descent may not be real-time). So the travel time is 172 seconds.
35:50-34:22 = 1:28
4:00-1:28 = 2:22
1:28 = 88 seconds
2:22 = 172 seconds

We also know the travel distance is 9 billion meters, so the speed is 52,325,581 m/s or 0.1745c.
9000000000/172 ≈ 52325581


TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds Part II":

Riker: Slow to impulse. Time to intercept?
Wesley: Twenty-three minutes, fourteen seconds, sir.

When Wesley says this they have just passed Saturn, the Enterprise reaches the Borg cube over earth.

The minimum distance from Saturn to Earth is 8 au or 1,196,782,966,000 m, this gives a speed of 858,524,365 m/s or 2.8637c
1196782966000/1394 = 858524365


TNG: "Chain of Command Part II":

Jellico: "Then you must've done Titan's Turn."
LaForge: "Oh, yeah. You set a course directly for Titan, hold it until you're just brushing the atmosphere, throw the helm hard over and whip around the moon at point seven c."
Jellico: And pray like hell nobody saw you."

The gravitational effect of a moon or even a planet are not enough to noticeably effect you speed on the scale of 0.7c, so the shuttle must have reached that speed under its own power.


VOY: "Fair Haven":

Seven: "I believe it was formed by the collision of two neutron stars. The wavefront is travelling at a velocity of two hundred thousand kilometres per second, and it extends for three point six light years."
...
Torres: "We're already feeling its effects. The neutron radiation is disrupting plasma flow. We can't jump to warp."
Paris: "Impulse power won't be enough to outrun that thing."

This implies that it is on the order of what impulse can do, but it is definitely to fast for impulse.

359 wrote:Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

Kirk: "Captain's log, stardate 7412.6. one point eight hours from launch. In order to intercept the intruder at the earliest possible time, we must now risk engaging warp drive while still within the solar system."

This is as we see them pass Jupiter. The distance to Jupiter from Earth varies between 588 million km and 968 million km.

A bit of context here, that dialog occurs some time after they have passed Jupiter with a clear scene jump cut between the view screen shot and Kirk in his chair giving the log entry. Therefore anything you derive would be a minimum number. But taking the average of those two distance numbers numbers, 778 million km, then dividing that by 108 minutes, then by 60 = 120,061.7 km per second, then divide that by 299,274 (the speed of light) = .401c. And that's the lower limit.

Robert Scott Anderson (aka 2046 and Darkstar) calculated a higher value:

"However, compared to Star Trek vessels, this is quite poor acceleration indeed. Compare this to, for instance, the refit Enterprise in ST:TMP, which went from Earth to Jupiter in 1.8 hours. The distance from Earth to Jupiter is quite variable over their respective orbits, but I decided to try narrowing it down a bit. According to the excellent space simulation program Celestia, the example date of July 4, 2271 gives us a distance of 4.773 AU from Earth to Jupiter, or over 714,000,000 kilometers (about .66 light-hours). That's an average speed of 110,191,481.5m/s. Assuming a constant acceleration over those 1.8 hours (and thus the lowest possible acceleration value), the ship would have had to reach a final speed of 220,382,963 m/s (0.73512c), assuming a start from zero. That would be, then, a constant acceleration of just over 34,000 m/s², or over 3,460g. That is 161 times the Falcon's demonstrated plasma-flinging "afterburn" acceleration."

He assumes constant acceleration and derives an upper final value of .735c.

Another issue to consider, being too literal about the speeds. In BoBW, it may not be that the E-D is travelling FTL on impulse power, but is travelling at high relativistic velocities and therefore is actually under time dilation effects, which would mean that the E-D's velocity is in the neighborhood of between .93 and .96c.
-Mike