In “Star Trek: Discovery,” the titular spaceship uses a special drive that enables jumps across the galaxy. This is how the spore drive works!
Star Trek Discovery: The USS Discovery (Source: TMDb.org / ViacomCBS)
- Introduced to the Star Trek universe in the 23rd century, Discovery’s spore drive is still unique in the 32nd century.
- The technical marvel was created by Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who also serves as the system’s navigator.
- Ethical concerns about the way it is used mean that the drive is not used in other ships.
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“Star Trek: Discovery” launched in 2017 and introduced a first-of-its-kind spaceship drive. We’re talking about the spore drive that the USS Discovery uses to jump from one place to another in milliseconds. Except for Discovery, no other spacecraft uses this drive. This is due to an ethical problem that we will explain below.
The fact that Discovery can cover long distances simply by making quick jumps is achieved thanks to an organic mycelium network. The spore drive was developed by Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and his colleague Straal (Saad Siddiqui), who has already died.
How does the spore drive work?
The spore drive is based on the assumption that there is no longer any difference between biology and physics in the universe at the quantum level. A network of fungi spreading throughout the galaxy is what Stamets describes as the veins and muscles that hold the universe together.
The name Paul Stamets and the idea of the mycelium network go back to the actual American mycologist Paul Stamets.
It is similar to mushrooms on Earth, which are connected to each other underground by microfibers. An example here is “The Last of Us”. In the series, the mushroom zombies are immediately alerted if even one is touched because they are all connected. In Star Trek, this microfiber network stretches throughout the galaxy.
The mushrooms are thus connected to each other and allow travelers a quick connection to almost any location in the galaxy, even in parallel universes!
Therefore the spore drive is ethically objectionable Star Trek: Discovery – Stamets (Anthony Rapp) (Source: TMDB.org)
Since the mycelium network connects the entire galaxy, but it is very difficult to navigate between the individual mushrooms, a tardigrade is used in the first version. This is a tardigrade that can communicate with the fungi (spores) and thus find safe routes through the network.
However, it soon becomes apparent that using the spore drive causes pain to the tardigrade. In order not to torture the animal, Stamets himself decides to implant the tardigrade’s DNA and connect it to the spore drive. The drive also causes him pain.
In the 32nd century, the spore drive could be updated to some extent. Nevertheless, it should not be expanded any further and should be decommissioned due to these problems with the Discovery.
New episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 5 appear every Thursday at 9 a.m. on Paramount+. We list all new “Star Trek” releases for you!
| Rate Star Trek: Discovery | |
| genre | Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
| First broadcast | 09/24/2017 |
| First broadcast in Germany | 09/24/2017 |
| Homepage | cbs.com |
| Other sources | |
| network | CBS All Access |
production | Paramount Television, CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, Bad Robot, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout |
| Squadrons |
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