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In the Star Trek: Voyager episode Equinox: Part 1, Captain Ransom states that the Equinox traveled

over 10,000 light years in 2 weeks

using the alien substance to boost their propulsion system.

Considering that Voyager will take 75 years to travel 75,000 light years at 9.975, what warp factor were they traveling at?

Valorum
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NicholasJohn16
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  • Using the remains of extra dimensional beings as nitrous for a warp drive was probably the dumbest idea Voyager writers ever used. – Revenant Aug 30 '18 at 02:04
  • The relationship between warp factor and speed (e.g. multiple of the speed of light) was not always consistent in Star Trek. – Blackwood Aug 30 '18 at 02:17
  • Due to the latest Starfleet labor laws, they couldn't travel on the weekends. – RDFozz Aug 30 '18 at 02:51

2 Answers2

10

This is actually a pretty simple one to calculate. The Equinox traveled (approx) 10,000 light years in two weeks which means they traveled at an (approx) average speed of 260,000 times the speed of light.

Using at the warpspeed calculator on Memory Alpha (which in turn references the Warp Speed Diagram shown in the TNG Technical Manual), we can determine that the Equinox traveled at a sustained cruising speed of (approx) warp 9.99992, several orders of magnitude above Voyager's top speed of warp 9.975.

It might interest you to learn that since the nominal top speed of the Equinox was Warp 8, and since each entity only gave the engines a ....

point zero three percent [boost] for one month

... in order to reach the sort of high warp speeds they've been using, they would have had to kill (approx) 66 of these creatures per month for 24 months, nearly (approx) 1600 in total.

Valorum
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  • Was the boost relative to the speed, or to the Warp Factor? – bukwyrm Aug 30 '18 at 06:58
  • @bukwyrm - That's a very good question indeed. Since if it was relative to the speed it'd require the murder of millions of these beasties, I'm assuming it's a boost to the warp factor. – Valorum Aug 30 '18 at 09:10
  • Thanks! I tried figuring it out, but the warp factor I came up with was >10 so I knew it wasn't right. – NicholasJohn16 Aug 30 '18 at 15:41
  • If you use the calculator and type in 9.999(etc) it'll calculate the speed for you. If you type in the distance vs. Speed it calculates it as 10.0 – Valorum Aug 30 '18 at 15:43
-1

since warp 10 is "infinite speed" (damn it now I have to think about threshold) and since I am fairly certain no one ever mentioned a warp factor in the episodes in question warp 9. an arbitrary amount of 9s is the only real way to answer this question.

Revenant
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