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How long would a shuttle from Earth to Vulcan take? (startrek.website)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So last week for my birthday, I went to Universal Studios for Fan Fest Nights. You can read all about it here.

I had a question that I wonder if it could be answered: how long would a trip from Earth to Vulcan be? The walking attraction Red Alert starts off at Spaceport Los Angeles which advertises shuttles to various places, one of them being Vulcan. According to NASA, Vulcan is 16.5 light years away. Can the length of this trip be calculated? I couldn’t find much information on Type 14 shuttlecraft featured in Picard season 3. Memory Alpha simply says they can go high warp speed.

I found this website that does warp speed calculations but I don’t know if it is accurate.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

According to most calculators I can see online, we're looking at about a month at warp 5, or around 15 days at warp 6. I think a traditional "shuttle" wouldn't be up to the task - you'd want a vessel with bunks and space to walk around, at the very least.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Yeah, if you go back and watch the video I posted on YouTube, the welcome message that plays when you’re in line specifically says shuttle. It would’ve made more sense if they were runabouts but there’s no evidence that runabouts are even used during the period of Picard season 3.

Based on what I can remember from DS9, runabouts are faster and generally used for longer trips.

EDIT: Is the Federation even adhering to the warp five speed limit anymore? I know it doesn’t get addressed after “Force of Nature”, but is there anything suggesting that the speed limit has been dropped completely by the 25th century?

EDIT 2: The site I linked says 28.19 days.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Voyager's "variable geometry pylons" were designed to allow greater than warp 5 travel without the damage to subspace. It's also entirely possible that Starfleet adapted the borg technology from the Delta Flyer to increase the travel speed of shuttles. The warp scale is logarithmic so even a fraction of a point increase can shave significant portions of time off a trip.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I think the word "shuttle" could plausibly be applied to long-range, low-capacity transports - maybe even something as large as the USS Raven.

Is the Federation even adhering to the warp five speed limit anymore?

I just assume they've fixed that issue.