technology in star trek

10 'Star Trek' Technologies That Actually Came True

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"Beam us up." It's one of the most iconic lines in television history. It's something often heard in the hit science fiction television series "Star Trek" and all of the television shows and movies that followed.

The transporter essentially dematerialized a human body at one point only to rematerialize it in the transporter bay on the ship. Somehow, it broke down atoms and molecules within the body -- scattered them through the vacuum of space without losing a single one from point A to point B, then voila, that person re-emerged out of thin air. Sounds pretty cool, though impossible, right? But what if there was such a device?

The truth is, you can forget about a transporter. No one has been able to realize such a concept. But that doesn't mean some of the ideas that seemed far-fetched when the show debuted in 1966 haven't become a reality. In this article, we feature the top 10 technologies from Star Trek that actually did come to fruition, listed in no particular order. Some of them may surprise you.

Transparent Aluminum (Armor)
Communicators
Tractor Beams
Universal Translator
Geordi's VISOR
Torpedo Coffins
Telepresence

10: Transparent Aluminum (Armor)

The fourth installment of the original "Star Trek" movies is perhaps the most endearing to fans. The crew returns to modern-day Earth. Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang ditch a Klingon Bird of Prey spacecraft in the San Francisco Bay after narrowly missing the Golden Gate Bridge while flying blind in a storm. You may remember the scene -- but how many of you remember Scotty introducing transparent aluminum for the first time?

In the flick, Scotty traded the formula matrix for transparent aluminum -- a huge engineering advancement -- for sheets of plexiglass in order to build a tank to transport the two humpback whales (George and Gracie) to the Earth of their time. The claim was that you'd be able to replace six-inch (14-centimeter) thick Plexiglas with one-inch (2.5-centimeter) thick see-through aluminum.

It may sound impossible, but there is such a thing as transparent aluminum armor or aluminum oxynitride (ALON) as it's more commonly known. ALON is a ceramic material that starts out as a powder before heat and pressure turn it into a crystalline form similar to glass. Once in the crystalline form, the material is strong enough to withstand bullets. Polishing the molded ALON strengthens the material even more. The Air Force has tested the material in hopes of replacing windows and canopies in its aircraft. Transparent aluminum armor is lighter and stronger than bulletproof glass . Less weight, stronger material -- what's not to like?

9: Communicators

Whenever Captain Kirk left the safe confines of the Enterprise, he did so knowing it could be the last time he saw his ship. Danger was never far away. And when in distress and in need of help in a pinch, he could always count on Bones to come up with a miracle cure, Scotty to beam him up or Spock to give him some vital scientific information. He'd just whip out his communicator and place a call.

Fast-forward 30 years and wouldn't you know it, it seems like everyone carries a communicator. We just know them as cell phones . Actually, the communicators in "Star Trek" were more like the push-to-talk, person-to-person devices first made popular by Nextel in the mid to late '90s. The "Star Trek" communicator had a flip antenna that when opened, activated the device. The original flip cell phones are perhaps distant cousins. Whatever the case, the creators of "Star Trek" were on to something because you'd be hard-pressed to find many people without a cell phone these days.

In later incarnations of the "Star Trek" franchise, the communicators evolved to being housed in the Starfleet logo on the crewman's chest. With the tap of a finger, communication between crewmembers became even easier. Vocera Communications has a similar product that can link people on the same network inside a designated area like an office or a building by using the included software over a wireless LAN. The B2000 communication badge weighs less than two ounces and can be worn on the lapel of a coat or shirt and allows clear two-way communication. It's even designed to inhibit the growth of bacteria so it's suitable for doctors [source: Vocera ].

8: Hypospray

The creative team behind "Star Trek" found spiffy ways to spice up some activities we endure on a day-to-day basis. Take medical treatment, for example: Not many people enjoy getting a flu shot, and in "Star Trek," inoculating patients was one of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy's primary duties. It seemed not an episode went by that Bones wasn't giving someone a shot of some sort of space vaccine . But what was more fascinating was the contraption he used.

Hypospray is a form of hypodermic injection of medication. A hypospray injection is forced under the skin (a subcutaneous injection) with high air pressure. The air pressure shoots the liquid vaccine deep enough into the skin that no needle is required. The real-world application is known as a jet injector .

Jet injectors have been in use for many years. In fact, the technology predates "Star Trek." Jet injectors were originally designed to be used in mass vaccinations. Jet injecting is safer (no needles to pass along infectious disease) and faster in administering vaccines. Similar in appearance to an automotive paint gun, jet injection systems can use a larger container for the vaccine, thus allowing medical personnel to inoculate more people quicker.

7: Tractor Beams

When NASA needs to make repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts have to be specially trained to get out of the Space Shuttle for extravehicular activity. They also have to learn how to work within the confines of their space suits, with thick gloves on. Wouldn't it be nice to just bring the telescope inside, where repairs wouldn't be so challenging and dangerous?

In science fiction, space ships including the Starship Enterprise snatch each other up using tractor beams. In some cases, large vessels have a tractor beam strong enough to prevent smaller vessels from escaping the gravitational force. So is this science even plausible?

Yes and no. Optical tweezers are as close as you're going to get to a legitimate tractor beam on current-day Earth. Scientists have harnessed small lasers into beams capable of manipulating molecules and moving them with precision. Optical tweezers use a focused laser to trap and suspend microscopic particles in an optical trap. Scientists can use optical tweezers to trap and remove bacteria and sort cells. Optical tweezers are used primarily in studying the physical properties of DNA. While the beams used in optical tweezers aren't strong enough to dock the space shuttle to the International Space Station, it's a start in that direction.

"Set phasers to stun" -- another oft-heard command given to the Enterprise crew. The crew often relied on the stun setting of their fictitious weapon of choice known as a phaser. Armed with a phaser, Kirk and his colleagues had the ability to kill or more desirably, stun their adversaries and render them incapacitated.

Actually, stun guns have been around for some time. In fact, electricity has been used for punishment and to control livestock as far back as the 1880s. But it wasn't until 1969 when a guy named Jack Cover invented the first Taser that the stun gun was most realized. The Taser fails to kill like the phaser did, yet, it packs enough of an electrical punch to render its victim disorientated, if not completely incapacitated.

Unlike the phaser, the Taser and other stun guns must come in physical contact with the target in order to have any effect. Tasers take care of this by projecting two electrodes, connected by wires, which attach to the target's skin. Once in contact, the handheld unit transfers electricity to the target, thus having the stun effect. Stun guns with stationary electrical contact probes are somewhat less effective because while they have a similar effect on the target, you have to be much closer (within arm's length) in order to zap your target.

Something more along the lines of the phaser may be in development. Applied Energetic has developed Laser Guided Energy and Laser Induced Plasma Energy technologies that are said to transmit high-voltage bursts of energy to a target [source: Applied Energetics ]. In other words, these pulses of energy would stun the target and limit collateral damage. So a true phaser may soon be a reality.

5: Universal Translator

Imagine if no matter what country you visited, no matter what the culture, you could understand everything the indigenous people were saying. It sure would make traveling easier. Take that thought to another level like say, if you were planet hopping like the crew onboard the Enterprise. Fortunately for Captain Kirk and his peers, they had a universal translator .

The characters in "Star Trek" relied on a small device that when spoken into, would translate the words into English. Guess what? The technology exists for us in the real world. There are devices that let you speak phrases in English and it will spit back to you the same rhetoric in a specified language. The only problem is, these devices only work for certain predetermined languages.

A true universal translator like the one on the show may not be a reality, but the technology is available. Voice recognition has advanced considerably since its inception. But computers have yet to be able to learn languages. Computers would be able to theoretically gather the information much faster than a human brain, but a software program is dependent on actual data. Someone has to take the time and expense to put it together and make it available, which is probably why these systems focus on more popular languages.

4: Geordi's VISOR

When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" thrust the love of everything "Star Trek" back into popular culture, the quirky Mr. Spock and crass Bones McCoy and others were supplanted by a new cast. One of the most popular characters on the new show was engineer Geordi LaForge.

What made Geordi unique, perhaps even mysterious, was his funky eyewear. Geordi was blind, but after a surgical operation and aided through the use of a device called VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement), Geordi could see throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Though it may sound far-fetched, in reality, similar technology exists that may someday bring sight back to the blind.

In 2005, a team of scientists from Stanford University successfully implanted a small chip behind the retina of blind rats that enabled them to pass a vision recognition test. The science behind the implants, or bionic eyes as they're commonly referred to, works much the way Geordi's VISOR did. The patient receives the implants behind the retina, then wears a pair of glasses fitted with a video camera. Light enters the camera and is processed through a small wireless computer, which then broadcasts it as infrared LED images on the inside of the glasses. Those images are reflected back into the retina chips to stimulate photodiodes. The photodiodes replicate the lost retinal cells then change light into electrical signals which in turn send nerve pulses to the brain.

What it all means is that in theory, a person with 20/400 sight (blind), due to the loss of retinal cells from retinitis pigmentosa, can obtain 20/80 sight. It's not good enough to pass the driving test (normal vision is considered 20/20) but it's good enough to read billboards and go about your day without the aid of a seeing-eye dog.

3: Torpedo Coffins

In the second installment of the "Star Trek" movie franchise, the beloved Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, died after saving the Starship Enterprise from certain disaster. The movie culminated with the crew firing Spock's corpse out of the torpedo bay in a coffin shaped like one of the ship's weapons, the photon torpedo .

Believe it or not, you too could be laid to eternal rest in your own Federation-approved photon torpedo casket. OK, it may not technically be Federation-approved since there is no such thing as the United Federation of Planets (UFP) but the coffins are, in fact, very real.

Designed by Eternal Image, the "Star Trek" coffin was slated to be available early 2009, but is still not for sale as of this writing. The price is yet to be determined. If the fan would prefer to be cremated , the company also plans to offer a "Star Trek" urn as well.

2: Telepresence

In 1966, the idea of interacting with each other while separated by the void of space seemed as far fetched as, well the idea of being in space. That's precisely what the idea of telepresence is.

Telepresence is more than just video conferencing . The visual aspect is important and immersion is vital. In other words, the more convincing the illusion of telepresence, the more you feel like you're there.

In 2008, AT&T teamed up with Cisco in delivering the industry's first in-depth telepresence experience. The key to Cisco's TelePresence is the combination of audio, video and ambient lighting working together. These telepresence kits are designed to mirror surroundings and mimic sounds so that users on each side of the video conference will feel as though the images on the screen are in the same room with them. For instance, the people in boardroom A will see the people on the screen in boardroom B as though they are sitting across the table from them. The ambient lighting and room features are constructed to mirror each other. Sure, these telepresence kits are much more advanced than anything drummed up on "Star Trek," but perhaps that's because the show sparked our imagination so many years ago.

1: Tricorders

How many of you remember that instrument Mr. Spock used to always carry over his shoulder, especially when the crew (usually consisting of only Spock and Captain Kirk) first surveyed a new planet? That was a tricorder.

One of the more useful instruments available to "Star Trek" personnel, variations of the tricorder (medical, engineering or scientific) were used to measure everything from oxygen levels to detecting diseases. Often times the tricorder gave an initial analysis of the new environment. So, what's the real-world tie-in? NASA employs a handheld device called LOCAD, which measures for unwanted microorganisms such as E. coli, fungi and salmonella onboard the International Space Station [source: Coulter ]. Beyond that, two handheld medical devices may soon help doctors examine blood flow and check for cancer, diabetes or bacterial infection.

Scientists at Loughborough University in England use photoplethysmography technology in a handheld device that can monitor the functions of the heart. Meanwhile, researchers at Harvard Medical School have developed a small device that utilizes similar technology found in MRI machines that non-invasively inspect the body. Using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, this device would be sensitive enough to measure samples of as few as 10 possible infectious bacteria. This kind of sensitivity (800 times more sensitive than sensing equipment currently used in medical labs) could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose disease [source: Mick ].

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6 ‘Star Trek’ Technologies That Exist Today

By Mary Beth Griggs

Posted on Jul 21, 2016 11:29 PM EDT

4 minute read

The world seen in Star Trek movies and shows is meant to take place hundreds of years in the future. And while we’re still waiting on warp drives and transporters some of the technology portrayed in the shows as wildly futuristic is available now. Here are some examples of technology that’ve taken the fiction out of science fiction in the 50 years that Star Trek has been around.

Cell Phones

One of the most remarkable technologies seen in the 1966 original series was the communicator. Carried by crew members on away missions, all a Starfleet officer had to do was flip open the gold lid and speak into the device to instantly connect with distant crew members, either in different places on the planet or onboard the orbiting ship. At the time, when phones were still tethered to walls with wires, it was a cool, futuristic idea.

Get Smart , a spy TV show that aired around the same time as The Original Series , was also experimenting with phones hidden in various places in clothing, from shoes to glasses. Luckily for us, it was the communicator-like cell phones that won out. Talking into a shoe? No, thanks. Even though we’ve moved on from the flip phones toward even smarter, sleeker phones, and moved from talking to texting, the principle of communicating over long distances with small wireless devices endures.

Paper was so passé on Star Trek . Instead of using dead trees, almost all information was relayed and recorded digitally, much like we do today. Their version of tablets were PADD’s, tablet-like devices that were used to read reports, books, and a variety of other information including floor plans and diagnostics. Unlike our tablets, they didn’t seem to hold much information (in several episodes, characters can be seen carrying multiple PADDs for a single meeting or assignment) and seemed to be mostly one-purpose items — think Kindle, not iPad.

Smart Watches

Almost everything about Star Trek: The Motion Picture was terrible. The pacing, the plot, and for the love of Kahless, what was happening with those costumes?! One of the few bright spots was the apparent introduction of wearables in the form of an Apple Watch lookalike that appeared on the characters’ wrists as a part of their uniform.

Just like the communicator, Star Trek wasn’t the first show to come up with the idea. Dick Tracy had a remarkable smart watch back in 1946 , but at least in the world of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , smart watches were a standard part of life, not just reserved for police detectives.

Bluetooth Earpieces

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, the original communications officer, seemed to be constantly attached to her earpiece, through which she received all kinds of information across various frequencies. Though set in the future, the inspiration for the device likely came from the past. Telephone switchboard operators had been using hands-free headsets for decades when Star Trek debuted in 1966.

What was novel about Uhura’s device was that it was completely wireless, transmitting sound into her ear just like Bluetooth devices do today.

Virtual Assistants

At the time that the first Star Trek episode came out, computers were massive machines that couldn’t really do that much (at least, not by our standards). The crew of the Enterprise being able to simply talk to the air, ask a question of the computer, and swiftly get an answer was remarkable. Today, many people have that capability on their phones with Apple’s Siri, or in their homes with Amazon’s Alexa. Neither of them are quite at the same level of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s computer, but they’re getting eerily close.

Video Calls

Putting an incoming call onscreen happened amazingly frequently in Star Trek . Captains could see adversaries and allies face to face, even while standing on different starships or planets. By using video calls, Star Trek was building on a technology that had been dreamed about for years, and had actually made some progress in the real world. The first commercial ‘Picturephone I’ debuted in 1964 but failed to take off. Today, video calls are no longer novelties, but a part of life.

From Skype, to Facetime, to more professional video call software, it’s no longer unusual to get video messages, or have video calls in real time. While video services haven’t replaced phone calls or the typed word as a way of communication, it’s still pretty common to see the tech being used in classrooms, government conferences, and even just to keep in contact with distant friends or relatives.

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This is the supercategory for all technology . Those items not listed here will belong to one of this page's subcategories.

All items (288)

Category:Memory Alpha images (technology)
Organic technology

Acoustic inverter

Category:Analyses

Anodyne capacitor
Antigraviton emitter

Astro-helmet

Balter detonator

Beta-matrix compositor

Category:Borg technology
Bridge control monitor
Bridge simulator

Bug (defect)

Bypass displacer

Centrifugal governor

Chroniton generator
Cigarette machine

Category:Classifications

Commissioning
Category:Communications technology
Category:Computer technology

Containment chamber

Cybernetics conference
Cymatic transmutation
Decommissioning

Diatonal amplifier
Diffraction relay

Display compass

Electromagnetic collector
Electronic pulse actuator
Electronics

Emission aperture
Emitter matrix
Category:Energy technology

Engineering notebook

Equipment bag

Fabrication device
Faraday cage
Fiberoptic cable
Category:Fictional technology
Field diverter
Filter bracket
Flux generator
Fuel synthesizer
Category:Furniture
Future tech
Gamma pulse ignition device

Genesis II Device

Gravity neutralizer
Holographic-containment wall

Iconic display console
Impulse response filter
Impulse system control panel
Induction grid
Induction unit
Industrial replicator
Inertial damping system

Ion exchange matrix
Ion modulator
Isodyne relay
Isolinear interface

Kinetic transfer system

Laser detonator
Laser fusion initiator
Life creation technology
Category:Life support technology

Lightning rod

Luvetric pulse

Maintenance replicator
Malfunction
Mark III bridge simulator

Mark X bridge simulator
Master subsurface pump
Matter synthesizer

Microfusion initiator

Microwave pulse detonator
Microwave pulse ignition device
Category:Military technology

Molecular scanner

Nadion emitter

Navigation beacon
Negaton hydrocoil

Neuro-depolarizing device
Nieser cage
Optronic emitter

Paralithium cell

Particle injector

Phase conditioner

Phase modulator
Phaser torch

Photonic amplifier
Plasma inverter

Portable pattern buffer
Positronic conductor
Power regulator

Preventive maintenance

12 Star Trek Gadgets That Now Exist

(From left to right) Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, and Michael Dorn in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

For geeks growing up in the 1960s, '80s and '90s, a vision of the future has been provided by one very successful television franchise: Star Trek. And the future, it turns out, is coming sooner than even Trek 's writers could have imagined. Here are 12 gizmos used on the Star Trek television shows that are now becoming real.

1. Food Replicator

Captain Jean-Luc Picard used to say "Tea, Earl Grey, hot!" and it would be replicated instantly. Today's 3D printers don't tackle tea, but there are machines that actually can print food. And other printers, like the MakerBot Replicator 2 are quite adept at making small objects—just as they were shown to do on later episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

2. Universal Translator

In several episodes, we marveled at the universal translator, which decoded what aliens said in real-time—and in the later shows, it was integrated into the communication badges (which explains why basically everyone, regardless of home planet, spoke English). Now, there's an app for that. Voice Translator by TalirApps understands 71 languages (no Klingon yet, though). You speak in your native tongue and the app translates your phrase into another language.

3. Tablet Computers

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge—you know, the guy from Reading Rainbow —used a tablet computer (what they called Personal Access Data Devices, or PADDs) to punch in coordinates for the next star system. Other Starfleet personnel used them to watch videos and listen to music—just the things we use tablets for today.

4. Tricorder

In the TV show, a tricorder is a handheld device that scans for geological, biological, and meteorological anomalies. Handy! In 2012, Peter Jansen from McMaster University in Ontario built a working prototype that scans for magnetic fields and other interference. And there are lots of other real-world tricorders , too.

5. Holodeck

On Star Trek: The Next Generation , you could walk into a chamber on the Enterprise and visit your home planet for a quick barbecue, or even have an affair with a hologram . Leave it to a bunch of University of Southern California students to make virtual reality a little more down-to-Earth— Project Holodeck used virtual reality goggles to create a fictional world. (Though no encounters with Minuet were reported.)

6. Communicator Badge

On the original series, Kirk and crew carried handheld communicators . But in Star Trek: The Next Generation , Starfleet personnel wore communicator badges on the left breasts of their uniforms. A California start-up called Vocera has created a similar device you pin to your shirt. They're used mostly in hospitals to avoid having constant overhead pages.

7. Tractor Beam

Pulling a ship with an invisible tractor beam seems impossible, but two New York University professors are making it so . Their experiment, which uses a light beam to control tiny microscopic particles, is not going to be deployed on the next NASA mission, but shows we’re making progress.

8. Natural Language Queries

In the Star Trek universe, you can talk to a computer (voiced by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, Trek creator Gene's wife) in casual conversation. These days, we've got Siri and Alexa, and while they aren't fully developed systems yet, they are baby steps toward a service like Star Trek 's computer, which has a complex understanding of context. Google even codenamed their voice-based service "Majel," in honor of Barrett-Roddenberry.

9. Warp Drive

No one in Star Trek ever sits down and explains how a warp drive works in detail, but we know it has something to do with bending space and traveling faster than the speed of light. Doesn’t seem possible, but NASA is working on it.

Captain Kirk was pretty handy with a phaser, and he didn’t always set his to stun. Ironically, we’ve been using something similar since the first Iraq War. Known as a dazzler, the directed-energy weapon sends a pulse of electromagnetic radiation to stop someone cold in their tracks.

11. Teleportation

To get from place to place, Captain Kirk and company didn't need an airplane—they didn't even need a space elevator. Instead, they teleported using the U.S.S. Enterprise 's transporter (a scenario we all dream about while standing in line at airport security). We've already done some teleportation—specifically, of photons and atoms . These particles don't disappear and reappear, though. According to Forbes, "the information contained in the photon’s quantum state is transmitted from one photon to another through quantum entanglement – without actually travelling the intervening distance." An exact copy appears on the other side, while the original photon is destroyed. According to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, we consist of 15 trillion cells, so we'll need to wait a few centuries before we're teleporting like Kirk. And we'll still have to destroy the original.

12. Hypospray

In the world of Star Trek , there's no need for needles (and thus no trypanophobia )—Bones administered medicine through the skin using painless jet-injected hypospray. Recently, MIT created a similar device that, according to Geek.com , "delivers a drug through the skin at speeds of up to 340 meters per second and in under a millisecond. The amount of drug can be varied, as can how deep it is injected. And as far as the patient is concerned, they shouldn’t feel anything other than the tip of the injector against their skin. That’s because the jet is as thin as a mosquito’s proboscis." It's not the first, but it does have more control than other hyposprays, which means it could actually be a replacement for needles—and that would make visits to the doctor's office with your kids much easier.

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Series & Movies

Published Jan 19, 2014

TREK CLASS: Future Vision - The Tech of Trek

One of the best things about teaching Trek Class is hearing from students about how Star Trek has influenced or inspired them. Many times these are stories of technology and exploration, but often Star Trek fans are equally inspired by the very human aspects that come along with its famous future technologies.

Star Trek technologies often seem very real to us because they are more than exciting gadgets used to dress up the futuristic scenery. For Gene Roddenberry and the writers of Star Trek , the technology of the 23rd and 24th Centuries offered another, subtle way to show us the possibilities of human achievement and how technology can be used to improve our quality of life. The VISOR, for example. gives LaForge not only sight, but the ability to see a spectrum his normal-sighted shipmates cannot. Perhaps to the credit of Levar Burton’s performance, as well as the writing, we can truly believe that this wearable device isn’t far off in our own future.

But the early 21st Century is a great time to be a Star Trek fan — our world is suddenly starting to look just a little bit like the Final Frontier! I almost envy the students who are experiencing the shows for the first time in my class this semester. They are able to look around and see the earliest steps toward Star Trek ’s once-astonishing concepts in the form of real-life products and breakthroughs, many of which have been directly inspired by the series.

For example, that tricorder — Star Trek ’s ubiquitous scanning device — has long been the dream of scientists and engineers, and pretty much anyone else who has ever had to measure or collect information about something. Today, the tricorder is a very real (albeit very basic) device called the Scandu Scout that can read a person’s vital signs in seconds and send them instantly to a mobile phone. Similarly, sensors are showing up everywhere — in our mobile phones (there are at least five different types of sensors in an iPhone) and other consumer electronics. These devices, along with wristbands, “smart watches" and other trackers, are part of the “quantified self” trend that has some people already monitoring their own biometric data - from . like activity to nutrition and even sleep quality — as if they had access to the sick bay computers.

Those who have been following Trek Class also know about our discussion of the replicator, which is slowly becoming a reality through 3D Printers. These machines can form objects on-demand (from plastic, not molecules) and are quickly becoming one of the hottest new areas in the tech industry. They have already been used to print prosthetic ears and hands, toys, machine parts and even (unfortunately) weapons. And if the replicator seems like an impossible dream starting to come true, what about the holodeck? You might be enjoying a very early holo-novel soon enough as technologies like the Oculus Rift virtual reality device continue to evolve.

In a recent experiment, I taught a class while wearing Google Glass — the VISOR-like device that projects information onto a tiny screen in front of your eye. With the help of a special app, I was able to receive messages from my class Twitter feed while I was teaching. It was a little distracting at first (ok, very distracting), but after a few minutes I found it very helpful to see the students reactions to my lecture in real-time. Happily, the experiment led us to many new ideas about how a technology like this could be used to enhance our everyday lives, including how we learn at school, which will guide the next steps of this project.

We have a long, long way to go before we reach the technical capabilities of the VISOR, or just about any gadget on the U.S.S Enterprise. These few examples are just a small sample of the rapidly emerging technologies that are bringing us ever closer to that day. As I think of the student who was inspired by Geordi and his VISOR, and then the engineers at Google and around the world who are just now taking the first steps toward making that a reality, I am reminded of the important role Star Trek has played in the process by inspiring curiosity around technology and science of all kinds. Star Trek continues to have this effect on viewers today, including those seeing it for first time in my class.

______________

Anthony Rotolo is a professor at Syracuse University, where he teaches “Trek Class.” He is also the founder and “Captain” of the “Starship NEXIS,” a lab that explores new and emerging technologies.

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Science and Technology

'Star Trek:' History & effect on space technology

Original Starship Enterprise Model at Air and Space Museum

Since viewers first heard the tagline, "… to boldly go where no man has gone before," "Star Trek" has represented the hope of what space — "the final frontier" — can mean for humanity in a few centuries. First airing in 1966, the show became a phenomenon, spawning spinoff TV series, movies, books and games, and influencing culture and technology.

The franchise mostly follows the adventures of crews on the USS Enterprise, although some iterations took detours on space stations or other ships. Humanity is just one of a vast number of alien species participating in a quasi-military organization called Starfleet, whose main goal is to explore the universe for scientific reasons. Starfleet is an arm of the United Federation of Planets, which has a strict rule about interfering with the development of more primitive species. This "prime directive" sounds similar to NASA's planetary protection protocols for worlds that may host microbial life.

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General franchise history and overview

"Star Trek" was created by Gene Roddenberry, a WWII veteran pilot who began writing freelance scripts while working as a police officer in Los Angeles, according to "Star Trek" fan site Memory Alpha . Famously, NBC executives did not like the first pilot. They reportedly said the show had too little action and was "too cerebral" for viewers; however, they offered the chance for a second pilot. Except for Spock (Leonard Nimoy), an alien from the planet Vulcan, the cast was completely switched out for a different crew, led by Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

"Star Trek" first aired in 1966. The series followed the adventures of the USS Enterprise on a five-year mission to "explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." Many of the episodes were allegories about issues embroiling society in the 1960s, such as race, war and peace, and the generation gap. However, the show was cancelled after only three years into the mission due to ratings concerns, according to Memory Alpha . Syndicated reruns of the series began soon after, though, and kept the series alive in the minds of fans. In fact, thousands of fans attended the first "Star Trek" convention in 1972.

The series was briefly revived as an animated series in 1973-74, and Roddenberry began developing a new series, "Star Trek: Phase II," in 1975. Those plans were changed after the success of "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Instead, the plan was expanded and became "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Overall, the original series (or "TOS") spawned six motion pictures between 1979 and 1991 (plus a partial appearance by some members of the original crew in a 1994 film).

The franchise's newfound success eventually led to the creation of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994), which was set many years after the original series, with a new USS Enterprise helmed by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). This generation of "Star Trek" tackled issues such as racism, gender and torture, according to Memory Alpha , and remains one of the most popularly cited series to this day. "TNG" also eventually moved into theaters, with four films between 1994 and 2002.

Roddenberry died in 1991. While "TNG" was still on the air, a different series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-1999), premiered. The show followed the exploits of a crew on a space station, rather than the traditional starship. In recent years, the show has been hailed for its then-innovative approach to cable television ; the plots of individual episodes were closely linked to each other, making it ideal for today's binge-viewing generations.

Other series followed and continue to this day. "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995-2001) followed the exploits of a crew that was stranded light-years from home, led by the franchise's first main female captain, Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). "Enterprise" (2001-2005) was a prequel to the events of The Original Series, with Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) helming the first warp-drive-capable Enterprise. Then in 2017, "Star Trek Discovery" debuted on CBS All Access, garnering mostly positive attention for its alternate universe plots, its use of swear words and its approach to same-sex relationships. The series was renewed for a second season, which will drop in 2019. CBS is also considering making as many as four new "Star Trek" series for limited or extended runs, multiple reports said in mid-2018 .

And "Star Trek" continues on the big screen, too, courtesy of Paramount. The Original Series came back to Hollywood with a reboot of the original characters of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and the rest of the original crew. The 2009 film ("Star Trek") was a hit and has so far spawned three other films — "Star Trek: Into Darkness" (2013), "Star Trek Beyond" (2016) and an untitled film in the works for 2019.

"Star Trek" also has generated a diverse fan base, some of whom create limited episode productions for themselves. Conventions continue to attract thousands of fans who are eager to rub elbows with actors, writers and other people who worked on the various series and movies. The franchise celebrated its 50 th anniversary in 2016 and continues to live long and prosper.

Franchise impact on real-life space exploration

Perhaps the most famous example of the series' influence on real life took place in the 1970s. The United States was preparing to run test flights of the space shuttle program using a prototype vehicle called Constitution. In response, thousands of "Star Trek" fans staged a write-in campaign to the White House and NASA asking for the prototype shuttle to be named Enterprise. When Enterprise was indeed unveiled in 1976, most of the main cast of TOS was on hand. Enterprise was not designed to fly in space, however.

Decades later, space tourism company Virgin Galactic named one of its planned spacecraft VSS Enterprise, after the television show. The spacecraft, built in 2004, did several in-atmosphere tests in preparation for eventually bringing it and other prototypes into space. VSS Enterprise, however, was destroyed in 2014 during a crash that killed one pilot and severely injured another . The National Transport Safety Board later determined a unique "feathering" system — intended to slow down the spacecraft as it was in the upper atmosphere — deployed early and was the leading cause of the crash.

A few astronauts have appeared on "Star Trek" over the years, according to fan site Memory Alpha. Mae Jemison , the first African-American woman to fly in space, was on the 1993 sixth season episode of TNG's "Second Chances." She was visited on the set by Nichelle Nichols. While in space during STS-47, Jemison reportedly began shifts with Mission Control by quoting Uhura's famous line: "Hailing frequencies are open." Astronauts Mike Fincke and Terry Virts appeared on the series finale of "Enterprise" in 2005 . They portrayed 22nd-century engineers who performed maintenance in the Enterprise's engine room.

While no "Star Trek" regular actor has flown in space (yet), several of them have recorded supportive messages for NASA, such as Nichols and Wil Wheaton (TNG's Wesley Crusher). Nichols not only did a video message, but also f lew on NASA's SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) aircraft in 2015.

"Star Trek" actors have also bantered with real astronauts on Twitter, most notably early in Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's International Space Station mission in 2012-13 when he spoke with Shatner, Nimoy, Wheaton and George Takei . (Shatner asked: "Are you tweeting from space?" to which Hadfield replied, "Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life from the surface.")

After Nimoy died in February 2015, NASA sent out a tweet honoring the actor: "RIP Leonard Nimoy. So many of us at NASA were inspired by Star Trek. Boldly go …" Virts took a picture of the Vulcan hand sign in orbit ; the picture he beamed back to Earth coincidentally showed his hand over Boston, Nimoy's birthplace. But Virts said he didn't mean to do it, as when he heard the news about Nimoy's death he had only a few minutes to execute his idea before going to a pressing task on station.

Star Trek tech

Several early "Star Trek" technologies have also made their way into our everyday lives. "Communicators" are now cell phones, which connect to each other via satellite. Tricorders, which were used to gather medical information, are now available as MRIs — some of which are being developed for space. (In 2017, a medical "tricorder" received $2.6 million in prize money from the X Prize Foundation .) Crewmembers can also be seen using tablet computers on TNG, many years before they became available commercially.

However, human teleportation still eludes us, as does faster-than-light warp drive. In 2015, NASA downplayed several media reports that a "faster-than-light" propulsion system they were developing was on the verge of a breakthrough. "NASA is not working on 'warp drive' technology," officials said, adding that the research was "a small effort that has not yet shown any tangible results." Teleportation, meanwhile, has only been achieved on the quantum scale across a few miles.

List of film and TV appearances

Numerous fan-made productions and series spinoffs (such as books and comic books) have been produced; however, this list represents the "official" films and television series that have been released, according to memory Alpha. There are plans to release a fourth in the "rebooted" series of "Star Trek" films in 2019.

Television series

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
Enterprise (2001-2005)
Star Trek Discovery (2017-)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Untitled Star Trek film (2019)

Additional resources

NASA: The Science of Star Trek
Memory Alpha: Star Trek Reference Website

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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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We're ahead of schedule to turn Star Trek tech into reality

Most of the sci-fi franchise takes place centuries in the future, but some of the technology from the universe of Kirk and Picard could be a reality sooner than you think.

Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Most Star Trek stories from the vaunted franchise turning 50 this week take place in a distant future we're not likely to see. Unless, that is, Gene Roddenberry and his successors underestimated the pace of technological progress across Earth and the rest of the galaxy.

Turns out we're actually ahead of schedule when it comes to building many of the key components of that "classic" space-faring society from the 23rd and 24th centuries.

One of the key moments in the Trek universe comes in 2063 with the first demonstration of a human-built warp drive. The Vulcans are nearby enough to witness a new species gaining warp capability and initiating first contact with Earth, and we're off to the races with the fundamental premise for the franchise.

A not-quite-so-distant future?

You might think the notion that humans will come up with the tech for faster-than-light travel in the next 47 years is preposterous. After all, it's been 47 years since we landed on the moon, and we still have yet to send a traveler any farther into space.

But there is at least some work happening now on this technology, and it could be on the verge of actually being taken somewhat seriously by the science and engineering community. Last year we learned that a NASA lab has been working on a controversial project called the EM drive . It's controversial because it would seem to violate the laws of physics, but if it actually works in space, it could drastically reduce the length of a trip to the moon, Mars or beyond.

It's not a warp drive, but it could be a stepping stone to developing faster-than-light transport. The concept has actually been around for years without starting any revolutions in space travel, but that might soon change. Late last month, Jose Rodal posted on the NASASpaceFlight forum that a research paper on the EM drive has actually passed peer review and could soon be published.

A 23rd-century tourist guide to the galaxy

What's more, a community of EM drive enthusiasts is springing up and researchers affiliated with various governments, universities, small companies and even a few garage tinkerers are now working on their own version of the impossible technology, with at least a few aiming to test the drive in space to finally prove that it actually works.

So could we demonstrate actual warp capability by 2063 to keep pace with the Star Trek universe? The conventional wisdom is still that it's technically impossible, but stay tuned for a possible shift in that thinking if many EM drive demonstrations turn out to be successful (and that's a huge "if").

But that pesky warp drive is just one of the Trek tech challenges when it comes to converting the sci-fi franchise into science fact. Many of the gadgets and staples from the series, like the phaser, are already in development. The below video clip from the Smithsonian Channel's "Building Star Trek," which premiered online Tuesday, shows how a high-energy laser similar to the phaser is being developed in a Lockheed Martin lab. Not only could it be used to stun enemies, it can even track and destroy rockets.

Much of the other 23rd-century technology from Roddenberry's imagination is also quickly becoming real. Those nifty communicators are more than possible when you combine contemporary staples of technology like Bluetooth and cellular/satellite/mesh networks. And who needs a Holodeck when today's virtual-reality headsets are more portable?

Click for full coverage.

We've also made respectable progress in the last half-century toward developing a Tricorder , a universal translator and even a limited food replicator .

But when you think about it, that's the easy stuff. Those devices reflect the needs and concerns of the mid-20th-century era from which Star Trek originally sprang. They address problems that we were already developing solutions for, so it's not entirely surprising those efforts have already started to come to fruition.

But what about some of the more far-out, imaginative and physics-bending innovations from the show, like cloaking, force fields and tractor beams?

In this clip from Smithsonian Channel's "Building Star Trek," a few University of Rochester scientists explain how they're working on a real-world cloaking device:

According to some Trekkers , this puts us a couple of centuries ahead of humans in the Trek universe in terms of starting to harness potential cloaking capabilities.

But it isn't just cloaking that's slowly being pulled out of imagined worlds of science fiction fantasy into the realm of the real -- we've also reported on efforts to create tractor beams (in water) and force fields that are no joke. They might not be able to act upon a huge object like a starship just yet, but the proof of concept is there. We could spend several decades working to scale up these innovations and still outperform the Star Trek timeline.

Proxima b, the closest Earth-like exoplanet, is real (pictures)

Star Trek: What Is Subspace?

In the world of "Star Trek," just about every technology that makes Starfleet's explorations possible hinges on the existence of one discovery: subspace physics. An amorphous fictional construct dreamed up for the "Star Trek" universe that frequently gets thrown around in bridge crew and engineering technobabble, subspace is one of the most important concepts in the franchise. And even if it's not entirely clear how subspace works, it seems to function as a space between realities. Functionally speaking, subspace serves as a way to cheat spacetime physics and get around FTL limitations by exceeding warp speed — something that is explicitly noted in the 1967 third revision of the official Writers/Directors Guide for "Star Trek: The Original Series." According to the writers' guide, "We use the term 'subspace' since it is necessary that communications from the Enterprise to its bases are a 'space warp' effect which travels at speeds far exceeding even that of the Enterprise."

"The Original Series" contains quite a few references to subspace as it relates to communications. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) regularly reports on her monitoring of subspace frequencies, and references to subspace chatter and messages come up from time to time among the bridge crew. The concept of subspace marriage — a 23rd-century take on mail-order brides — even plays a central role in the plot of "Mudd's Women." Through "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and later series, the concept of subspace gets expanded upon, evolving into a much more complex plane of existence with a lore all its own.

Subspace is more than a frequency

Moving forward to "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the franchise paints subspace as a strange variant of reality that's not quite space and not quite another plane of existence. In "Schisms," Geordi La Forge (Levar Burton) emphasizes that subspace has "an infinite number of domains," describing it as "a huge honeycomb with an endless number of cells." And the iconic episode "Remember Me" sees the ship's doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) trapped in a subspace bubble where her thoughts create a rapidly collapsing universe.

Echoing the idea that reality and thought are somehow entwined in subspace in the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Cold Fire," an Ocampan named Tanis (Gary Graham) tells Kes of a subspace layer of "pure thought, pure energy." It's from this realm of subspace that the Caretaker and other members of the Nacene race originate. And they're not the only beings that hail from subspace. The "TNG" episode "Schisms" sees members of the Enterprise-D crew clandestinely abducted and experimented on — in one case fatally — by subspace-dwelling aliens with physiology based on solanogen, a compound that is only stable in subspace.

Tetryons, a type of dangerous subatomic particle that cannot be tracked by ship sensors, also originate in subspace. When these particles end up in normal space, they become highly unstable and create tetryon radiation that can potentially be weaponized, as seen in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episodes "Blood Oath" and "Necessary Evil."

Starfleet runs on subspace technology

Whether or not subspace makes complete sense, it seems to be the oil that keeps the Federation running. According to "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual," a book developed with help from "Star Trek" writers," subspace technology is integral to Starfleet operations — particularly warp drive and interstellar communications. As outlined in the "TNG" writer's bible, by tapping into subspace and communicating via subspace radio waves, ships can connect almost instantly as long as both parties are within a "few dozen light years." Further transmissions can still be received within a matter of days in most cases.

The existence of subspace was also essential to Zefram Cochrane's early warp theory breakthroughs. According to the "TNG" technical manual, Cochrane's design works by creating and exerting force on nested warp field layers, a process that forces radiated energy into subspace and "facilitates the slippage of the spacecraft through the sequencing layers of warp field energy" (p. 54). The units of measurement used to calculate subspace field distortion and stress are millicochranes and cochranes.

Many — if not most — of the essential technologies aboard a Federation starship rely on subspace physics to operate. The ship's navigational deflector system uses subspace field distortion amplifiers and subspace field coils, and tractor beams rely on a subspace graviton force amplifier to impose spatial stress that locks onto their target. Torpedoes, tricorders, near-warp transport, sensor arrays — even Starfleet officers' comm badges and personal phasers work by tapping into subspace with their subspace transceiver assembly (STA) circuits.

10 Futuristic Technologies 'Star Trek' Fans Would Love to See

To boldly go.

Though the TV show first debuted in the 1960s, "Star Trek" has sometimes seemed ahead of its time, particularly when it comes to the technologies featured on screen. From crewmembers toting communicators long before cell phones were ubiquitous to the automatic sliding doors aboard the Starship Enterprise, the show's innovation has delighted its fans for decades. This year, "Star Trek celebrates its 50th anniversary, and though some of the technologies from the show now have real-life counterparts, there are some aspects of the show that are still squarely in the realm of science fiction.

From the tech that lets the Starship Enterprise explore the universe to the devices that enable crewmembers to rapidly send information and people across great distances, here are 10 futuristic technologies Trekkies would love to have.

FIRST UP: Going faster than light ...

In "Star Trek," when the crew of the Enterprise wanted to set out for another star, they were able to use warp drive to zip across great cosmic distances (something that's particularly helpful if you need to rescue a Starfleet crew that's fighting off Romulans).

Unfortunately, the physics of warp drive doesn't quite add up, though faster-than-light travel does have a basis in real science. Part of the problem has to do with Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Simply speaking, as a spacecraft approaches the speed of light, the ship also becomes infinitely massive, which ultimately prevents it from breaking the barrier. Until scientists find a way of getting around that cosmic speed limit, we'll have to putter around closer to home. [ Warped Physics: 10 Effects of Faster-Than-Light Travel ]

NEXT UP: Beam me up

Transporters

Ah, to be able to commute from Los Angeles to New York City in the blink of an eye. Transporters were a device commonly used in "Star Trek" to beam people (and objects) between the Starship Enterprise and the surface of a planet or moon (and in some cases, between two spaceships).

Real-life teleportation for people is far from a reality, but in the bizarre world of quantum teleportation, there have been some advancements. Quantum teleportation is governed by the nature of quantum physics, which says the fundamental building blocks of the universe can exist in two or more places at the same time. Quantum teleportation involves capturing the so-called quantum states of an object and transmitting that information instantaneously to another location, recreating the exact object someplace else. In 2015, scientists teleported photons (packets of light) across a spool of fiber optics 63 miles (102 kilometers) long. This quadrupled the previous record, and also opens the possibility that such technology could help improve encryption, the researchers said.

NEXT UP: "Printing" food ...

Replicators

"Tea, Earl Grey, hot" is perhaps the best-ever example of product placement in a space-based TV show. Whenever Captain Jean-Luc Picard, from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," was back in his quarters, he often sought a way to relax in between the stressful duties of leading the crew of a starship. On the show, replicators were machines that functioned as molecular assemblers, essentially rearranging subatomic particles into molecules to create virtually anything out of thin air. Crewmembers aboard the Enterprise most commonly used replicators to make food or water.

The closest real-life version of a replicator is a 3D printer , which uses a computer's digital instructions to print plastic, ceramic or metal objects right before your eyes. We're still a long way from being able to make real food in space, but simple tools are now available on the International Space Station , thanks to Made In Space's 3D printer. Over time, Made In Space plans to open final-frontier printing to private clients, and even university students.

NEXT UP: Going back in time

Time travel

Time travel is a very common device in the "Star Trek" world, especially as a way to make commentary on how backward human societies were in the 1960s or 1980s. In the 1986 film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," time travel was used as a device to poke fun at LSD, destroying the environment and even punks on buses with boom boxes.

While time travel devices are common in science fiction, scientists haven't figured out yet how to do it — that is, except in a very special, small way. We do know that people moving closer to the speed of light age slower than people back on Earth. On a smaller scale, even astronauts who have lived aboard the International Space Station and travel at 17,150 miles per hour (27,600 km/h) age ever so slightly slower than they would have on Earth. But unlike true time travel, these differences are mere moments. [ The 7 Silliest Time Travel Concepts in Science Fiction ]

UP NEXT: Virtual reality

The holodeck was one of the great inventions of the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In the holodeck aboard the USS Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard could explore simulated environments or perform virtual and interactive exercises and training simulations without having to leave the ship. But what makes this technology challenging in real life is that scientists don't yet know how to create three-dimensional figures that you can interact with in real time. Light is tricky that way, after all.

The closest thing to a holodeck that exists right now is a virtual reality device that you can strap on your head. While you're not in a physical space that simulates reality, the smaller device can let you do things such as fly in space or visit your favorite archaeological site. VR devices are even being used on roller coasters to let people fight epic alien battles while experiencing real-life G-forces.

UP NEXT: Futuristic medicine

If a character on "Star Trek" got sick or injured on another planet, tricorders were devices that could temporarily patch them up. A crewmember could wave the device over a person's body and get an instant diagnosis. In some cases, the device could cauterize simple wounds or do other basic medical work, too.

A competition called the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE , launched in 2014, aims to create devices that can at least diagnose some conditions in the field. It is expected that these devices will be of great help in isolated areas on Earth, such as in the far north or in rural areas that are far from medical access.

UP NEXT: Now you see me ...

Cloaking devices

One of the most menacing forms of Klingon combat comes when their "Bird of Prey" ships hide in wait for enemy ships to pass by. These ships sit there, immune to radar or other forms of detection and then uncloak just when they're swooping in for the kill.

In the real world, scientists have created cloaking devices with metamaterials — arrays of small electronic devices — that work together to change the reflection and refraction of light that we are used to. But NASA 's David Allen Batchelor recently wrote that this technology can only go so far. "New varieties of metamaterials undoubtedly will produce new, strange effects, but they don't seem capable of providing complete invisibility," he wrote in a NASA blog post about the science of "Star Trek."

UP NEXT: How do you say ...

Universal translators

In the 2016 film "Star Trek: Beyond," Captain James T. Kirk was approached for help by someone who didn't speak English. She eventually stood in a small chamber that automatically translated her words into something Kirk and his superiors could understand.

You could argue that we're already making progress towards a reality where languages can be translated on the fly, although current technologies are mostly catered to written speech instead of spoken speech. Google Translate and Bing Translate both allow for instant translation on the web, and Bing even provides Klingon translations for Trekkies. Google Goggles, a mobile app developed by Google with image recognition capabilities, is an emerging technology that aims to translate street signs and other text seen in the real world.

UP NEXT: Hailing on all frequencies

Subspace communications

How often have you seen Uhura (or your favorite "Star Trek" communications officer) hailing distant planets or Starfleet bases using a so-called "subspace communications" system? This tech lets the Enterprise crew talk with people on the other side of a galaxy as though they were sitting in the same room, without any time delays.

To date, the only real-world example of this is in the microscopic world, particularly the phenomenon sometimes known as " spooky action at a distance ." This happens at the quantum level when an effect on one particle appears to instantaneously affect a paired particle, enabling the entangled particles to instantly communicate. Scientists are still trying to figure out why this happens, and what this means for our understanding of time. But practically? We can't send communications this way, as far as scientists can tell.

UP NEXT: Androids

While many people own android phones, these are mobile devices that are nowhere near as capable as the robotic android Data was in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Data could not only process information quickly (as a computer does), but his systems were capable of hosting an emotion chip. Data gladly accepted the challenge of living with fear or anger because he wanted to be more human.

While robots aren't quite as sophisticated as Data was, we have seen examples of talkative bots in space. In 2013, a talkative Japanese robot named Kirobo embarked on an 18-month mission to the International Space Station. The bot, designed to help researchers study human-robot interactions, chatted with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata; at the time, its designers speculated it could be used to help lonely seniors who can't leave the house much.

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All The Technology Star Trek Predicted Accurately

Since its debut in 1966, the "Star Trek" series has captivated audiences worldwide with its vision of the future. Its innovative and forward-thinking concepts have not only entertained but also inspired many people to pursue their interests in science and technology. The show's futuristic devices and technologies have been a source of inspiration for countless scientists and engineers who have subsequently developed real-world applications based on the show's fictional ideas.

For instance, the handheld communicators used by the characters in the show have served as a model for today's smartphones, while 3D printing technology was partly inspired by the show's replicator technology. The medical technologies featured in "Star Trek" have also had a significant impact on real-world healthcare, inspiring researchers to develop similar technologies for use in medical settings.

The influence of "Star Trek" on modern technology has been vast and far-reaching, inspiring generations of innovators to dream big and push the boundaries of what is possible. This has led to numerous technological advancements that have changed our lives for the better. Overall, the series' impact on popular culture and technology continues to be felt to this day — nearly six decades after its debut.

Communicators

The idea of handheld communication devices was first introduced in the original "Star Trek" series in the late 1960s, and it was a revolutionary concept at the time. Before then, long-distance communication required bulky and expensive equipment that was only available to the military or government agencies. However, "Star Trek" imagined a future where everyone could carry a small, portable device that could connect them with anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Today, we can see that vision has become a reality with the ubiquitous presence of smartphones. They are essentially advanced versions of the communicators featured in "Star Trek," with the added bonus of being able to access the internet, take photos, and provide GPS navigation. The versatility of smartphones has made them an essential tool in our daily lives, as we rely on them to stay in touch with family and friends, conduct business, and even entertain ourselves.

Perhaps the most significant impact of smartphones has been their ability to democratize communication. No longer is it just the wealthy or powerful who can afford to stay connected. Smartphones are now affordable and accessible to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, making it possible for anyone to stay in touch with loved ones, access important information, or even start a business.

Overall, the concept of handheld communication devices first introduced in "Star Trek" has had a profound impact on our society, and the continued evolution of technology promises to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

The introduction of PADDs in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was a forward-thinking concept that predicted the development of modern-day tablets . PADDs were essentially handheld computers that allowed the crew to access information, communicate with each other, and perform a variety of tasks, all from a single device. They were small and lightweight, making them easy to carry around and use in any situation.

Today, we have tablets that are similar in design and function to PADDs. Tablets are thin, lightweight devices with large screens that can display high-quality graphics and video. They are ideal for reading books, browsing the internet, and watching movies or TV shows. They also come with a range of apps and features that allow users to perform a variety of tasks, from taking notes to playing games and even creating digital art.

The most significant benefit of tablets is their portability. They are smaller and lighter than laptops, making them easy to carry around in a bag or even your pocket. This makes them an excellent choice for people who need to access information on the go, whether for work or personal use. They also have a longer battery life than most laptops, meaning you can use them for longer periods without needing to recharge.

Overall, the concept of PADDs in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was a visionary technology that predicted the development of modern-day tablets. Tablets have become an essential tool for many people, allowing them to access information and stay connected with the world around them, no matter where they are. With ongoing technological advancements, it's exciting to imagine what the future of portable computing might look like.

Voice-activated computers

The LCARS system featured in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was a cutting-edge technology that allowed users to interact with the ship's computer using natural language commands. This was a revolutionary concept at the time, as most computer systems required users to input commands using a keyboard or mouse. LCARS made it possible to access information and control ship's systems quickly and efficiently, simply by speaking.

Today, we have virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa that operate on similar principles to LCARS. These virtual assistants can understand natural language commands and respond to user requests in a conversational manner. They can be used to access information, control smart home devices , and even make phone calls or send messages, all with simple voice commands.

Virtual assistants shine in their ease of use. These tools eliminate the need to type or click, which can be especially helpful for people with disabilities or those with difficulty using traditional computer interfaces. Additionally, they can be used hands-free, which makes them ideal for multitasking or when your hands are occupied.

Virtual assistants have become an essential tool for many people, both in personal and professional settings. They have made it easier to access information, automate tasks, and communicate with others. As technology continues to evolve, it's exciting to think about the possibilities of what virtual assistants might be able to do in the future. Perhaps they'll even be able to replicate the conversational abilities of the LCARS system from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" one day.

Medical tricorders

The tricorder was one of the most iconic pieces of technology featured in "Star Trek." It was a handheld device that could diagnose and treat injuries and illnesses by scanning a person's body and analyzing their health data. The device could provide detailed information about a person's vital signs, blood tests, and even DNA analysis, making it an essential tool for medical personnel in the "Star Trek" universe.

Today, medical technology has made significant advancements, and we have devices that operate similarly to the tricorder. MRI machines and CT scanners are used to scan and diagnose medical conditions, providing detailed images of the inside of the body. These machines are invaluable tools for diagnosing a range of medical conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders.

We also have handheld devices that can monitor vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. These devices are portable and can be used in a variety of settings, from hospitals to homes. They can provide a preliminary diagnosis for certain conditions, making them a helpful tool for medical professionals and patients alike.

The development of medical technology has significantly improved the quality of healthcare and has revolutionized the way medical professionals diagnose and treat illnesses. While we may not yet have a tricorder that can provide a complete medical analysis with a single scan, the advancements in medical technology have made it possible to obtain vital health information quickly and accurately, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.

3D printing — Replicators

In "Star Trek: Voyager," the replicator was a fascinating technology that allowed the crew to create food, clothing, and other objects on demand. With a simple command, the replicator would use digital designs to create physical objects, making it an essential tool for the crew as they explored the vast expanse of space. The best example of this was seen in "Extreme Risk," where Lt. Paris and Chief Engineer Torres used the replicator system to create parts for the Delta Flyer shuttle craft they were designing.

Today, we have 3D printing technology, which operates similarly to the replicator in "Star Trek" by using digital designs to create physical objects. This allows manufacturers, engineers, and even medical professionals to produce complex shapes and structures that were previously impossible to make with traditional manufacturing methods.

One of the most exciting applications of 3D printing technology is in the field of medicine. Medical professionals can use 3D printers to create replacement parts, such as bones or joints, or even to produce human organs. This has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry and save countless lives.

This technology has a wide range of applications, from creating prototypes and replacement parts to manufacturing consumer products and even food. With the ability to create custom designs quickly and inexpensively, 3D printing technology has the potential to transform various industries and improve the way we live our lives.

While we may not yet be able to create a full meal with a replicator, the 3D printing technology available today is a remarkable achievement that can potentially change the world as we know it.

Virtual reality has come a long way since "Star Trek" first introduced the concept of the holodeck in "Star Trek: The Animated Series." With the advancements in technology, we now have access to head-mounted displays, hand controllers, and even full-body tracking systems that allow us to fully immerse ourselves in virtual environments. These technologies work together to create a truly immersive experience that engages all our senses.

The most popular application of virtual reality technology is in gaming. VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive allow gamers to step into a virtual world and interact with it in ways that were previously impossible. In addition to gaming, virtual reality is also used in education to create immersive learning experiences. Students can use VR technology to explore historical sites, conduct science experiments, and even learn new languages.

Virtual reality is also being used in the field of training. For example, medical professionals can use VR technology to practice surgical procedures in a simulated environment without the risk of harming real patients. Similarly, the military can use virtual reality to train soldiers for combat situations and emergency responders can use it to simulate disaster scenarios.

Overall, virtual reality technology has revolutionized the way we experience digital content and has opened up new possibilities in gaming, education, and training. While we may not have fully functional holodecks like the ones featured in "Star Trek" just yet, virtual reality technology is certainly getting us closer to that reality.

Heads-up displays (HUDs)

Heads-up displays (HUDs) are seen throughout "Star Trek," and these devices have undergone significant advancements in the real world over the last few decades as they have become an increasingly popular component in aviation and automotive applications. HUDs allow drivers and pilots to maintain eye contact with the road or sky while the display projects important information directly into their field of view.

In aviation, HUDs have become an essential part of contemporary cockpit technology, enabling pilots to maintain situational awareness while controlling the aircraft by prominently displaying crucial data such as airspeed, altitude, and heading. By providing visual cues and warning indicators during critical flight stages, such as takeoff and landing, HUDs help pilots make split-second decisions.

HUDs have also become more common in the automotive sector, offering drivers a safer and more practical way to receive information. By projecting speed, navigational instructions, and other essential information directly onto the windshield, HUDs enable drivers to keep their eyes on the road and avoid distractions.

The use of HUDs has revolutionized how we interact with technology, making it easier and safer to access critical data. As technology continues to advance, we can expect to see HUDs incorporated into an increasing number of products and applications. For example, wearable HUDs are becoming more popular, providing users with hands-free access to important information in industries such as healthcare and logistics. As new features and applications are developed, it is clear that the future of HUD technology is bright.

Universal translator

The concept of a universal translator as depicted in "Star Trek" has been a source of inspiration for the development of real-world translation technologies like Google Translate . The universal translator was a revolutionary device that allowed the characters in "Star Trek" to communicate with alien species they encountered during their interstellar travels by translating any language instantly.

What once seemed like an unattainable idea is now a reality. Today there are several translation apps and devices that have made it possible to communicate with people from around the globe without the need for a human translator. Google Translate is one of the most popular translation tools available today, and its creation owes a lot to the universal translator from "Star Trek." This app utilizes machine learning to analyze text and provides real-time translations in over 100 languages. It can translate whole websites, documents, and even speech. Google Translate is accessible on desktops and mobile devices, making it easy to use from anywhere.

Skype Translator is another great example of real-world translation technology that allows people to have voice conversations in real-time in different languages, and iTranslate offers translations in over 100 languages and can even translate text from images. Translation technology has made significant progress, and we can now communicate with people from different parts of the world more efficiently than ever before. As technology advances, we can expect to see even more sophisticated translation tools emerge, bringing us closer to a world without language barriers.

Biometric identification

From its inception, the "Star Trek" franchise has showcased biometric identification as a critical aspect of its futuristic technology. The use of retinal scans, voice recognition, and other biometric technologies in the series has served as a catalyst for the development of real-world biometric identification systems used in various security settings such as border control, law enforcement, and consumer devices like smartphones .

Biometric identification systems rely on physical or behavioral traits unique to an individual to authenticate their identity. They provide a higher level of security than traditional identification methods like passwords or ID cards. Examples of biometric identification systems include fingerprint scanners, facial recognition technology, and iris scanners.

The most significant advantage of biometric identification systems is their accuracy. Biometric characteristics like fingerprints and iris patterns are unique to each individual and cannot be easily replicated or forged. This makes them an effective tool for preventing identity theft and other types of fraud.

Now biometric identification systems are being used in healthcare, banking, and other industries to verify identity and provide personalized services. Some hospitals use biometric identification to ensure patients receive the correct treatments and medications, while banks use it to prevent fraud and improve customer service.

Overall, these systems have revolutionized security, healthcare, banking, and other industries, providing higher accuracy and security than traditional identification methods. As technology continues to progress, the future of biometric identification looks promising, and we can expect even more innovative and exciting developments in the years to come.

Warp drive technology

Warp drive is a captivating technology in the "Star Trek" franchise. The idea of faster-than-light travel has fascinated scientists and researchers, and while a true warp drive has yet to be developed, the concept has led to new research and theories on propulsion systems.

The Alcubierre drive is one such theory. It is named after Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, who proposed the drive based on the principle of warping spacetime . The theory suggests that it is possible to manipulate the curvature of spacetime to create a wave that can carry a spacecraft along with it. This would allow the spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light relative to the rest of the universe without exceeding the speed of light in its own reference frame.

Although the Alcubierre drive is currently only theoretical, it has sparked renewed interest in faster-than-light travel. NASA has proposed a test mission to investigate the feasibility of the drive, which shows the theory's potential. Additionally, other researchers are exploring alternative propulsion systems, such as antimatter engines, wormholes, and black hole propulsion. These ideas may seem far-fetched, but they have been gaining increasing attention in the scientific community as our understanding of the laws of physics continues to evolve.

These ideas have the potential to revolutionize space travel and our understanding of the universe. As we continue to explore the boundaries of science and technology, it is exciting to think about what other incredible discoveries we may uncover in the future.

Star Trek’s Transporter Technology, Explained

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Starfleet Academy: 6 Things You Need To Know About Star Trek's Upcoming Show

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Ever since its creation in the late 1960s, Star Trek has been a pinnacle of positive science fiction, envisioning a non-dystopian future where technology has become so advanced that problems that irk mankind today are no longer an issue . World hunger is solved by the unlimited source of food created by a replicator , complex medical diagnostics can take place in a matter of seconds using a tricorder. However, nothing has become such a cornerstone of the many iterations into the franchise as the iconic transporter.

Teleportation has long been a dream of mankind, replacing arduous long-haul flights with a simple matter transportation device. With this gizmo, journeys that would typically take hours can take only seconds. The transporters are used throughout the many iterations into the franchise, from the revolutionary Original Series to the newest addition to the universe, Strange New Worlds . So fundamental are these transporters as a narrative beat that they appear in almost every episode, bar the occasional few. What's more, they often play a key role in solving whatever problem the intrepid adventures of Starfleet face.

RELATED: How Star Trek: The Next Generation Explored Blindness & Accessibility With Geordi LaForge

While there have been a few gizmos and gadgets from the show that have wiggled their way into non-fictional technological creations , unfortunately the transporter is not one of them. Real-world scientists have poured considerable research into it, with successful experiments having already been carried out on a molecular scale, but sadly we are nowhere close to the transporter technology portrayed in the show.

The biggest problem with achieving teleportation is largely down to how advanced and complex most organisms and objects are. Star Trek transporter tech works by breaking down matter such as living organisms, cargo, even gas or liquid-based matter into an energy pattern, in a process that the show calls “dematerialization.” Once each atom is broken down into this pattern, it is “beamed” across to another transporter pad, where it is converted back into matter. This is aptly named “rematerialization.” Interestingly, the famous quote “Beam me up, Scotty”, in reference to the Original Series transporter operator and chord of engineering Montgomery Scott, is actually a misquote, never uttered in the Original Series . The closest occasion was the one time Kirk said “Scotty, beam me up,” years later in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Within the Star Trek universe, there are some limitations to the miraculous technology, such as distance restriction and often an inability to penetrate through shields. There are of course exceptions to these rules, but they are often connected specifically to a particular episodes plot. Writers, as is often the case in long-running TV shows such as this, often break or bend the rules on transporter specifics, so it’s often hard to canonically understand their limitations. In the Original Series it’s noted that it is only possible to transport from one transporter bay to another. However, this rule has been broken multiple times, showing crew members transported from any random location to another, all without the bay. This raises the question as to why they have the designated transporter room to begin with, other than to make grand entrances and create memorable transitions.

While the process sounds simple enough on paper, like sending an email over, the process is riddled with complex problems and potential dangers. It’s no wonder that transporter operators are so highly trained within Starfleet, as the idea of breaking down matter and then reconstructing it in exactly the same way is a daunting task. It is comparable to smashing a vase into tiny pieces, then trying to glue it all back together. Of course, with the wonders of Star Trek technology, this process is vastly automated, but there are still a myriad of problems that can occur.

There have been various episodes devoted to these issues, potentially most notably the Voyager episode “Tuvix”. Tuvok and Neelix, two crew members under the controversial Capt. Janeway, are on an away mission. Upon beaming back to the ship their energy pattern was disrupted, causing it to merge into one pattern and thus rematerialize into one living organism: Tuvix. There kinds of issues are scarily common, and thus there are various characters whom audiences meet across the franchise that are hesitant or even refuse to use transporters.

Transporters are potentially one of the most fascinating technological advancements present within the show, and are often the envy of even modern day audiences. Technology has come ridiculously far since The Original Series first graced televisions, with touch screens, smartphones, and virtual reality all appearing in the real world, and making the old shows feel dated. Transporters, however, along with warp engines and replicators, make even the oldest episodes feel futuristic, setting a standard that has remained relevant more than 50 years later.

MORE: Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Most Heart Wrenching Moment

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What Star Trek: Discovery Can Tell Us About Tech and Social Progress

What makes Star Trek essential for any contemporary tech user is its role in helping us understand our relationship to technology.

Star Trek: Discovery landed on TV last week, and just in the nick of time. It’s been sixteen years since the last decent Star Trek series concluded its television run. (Yes, l am forgetting Enterprise . I recommend you do the same.) Those have been very long years for those of us who built our weekly schedules, social lives, and marriages around the rhythms of Star Trek .

Sure, we had the occasional movie, but the latest crop of Star Trek films were action movies set in space — not the real Star Trek we count on to use science fiction as a mirror of our real-world dilemmas. In the absence of weekly episodes that we could count on to provoke conversations about the ethics of holographic labor or the paradoxes of time travel, my husband and I were forced to resort to talking about things like our children, or worse yet, our feelings. Ugh.

I recognize that not every marriage is as dependent on Star Trek as ours. We named our dog after a Star Trek character. We’ve dressed our kids as Star Trek’s evil Borg for Halloween. I may even have chronicled our latest family vacation in the form of a Captain’s log.

The Needs of the Many

What makes Star Trek essential not just for me, but for any contemporary tech user, is its role in helping us understand our relationship to technology. Star Trek has been famously credited with helping inspire such innovations as the communications headset, the smartphone, computing tablets, and voice-controlled computers. So it’s tempting to tune into the new series for a sneak peek at whatever might inspire a new generation of inventors: Neural implants? Biological computers? Something else?

That’s not where we need help today, though. Silicon Valley is stuffed to the brim with gadget-crazy entrepreneurs who are busy thinking of the next devices we need ( and many we don’t ). Where we really need help is in learning to live with the technologies we have. And there are lots of reasons to think Star Trek is positioned to help with that.

Just look at the biggest technology dilemmas we have today: How can we have the benefits of abundant, free information without the liabilities of fake news? How can we enable connection and community across difference without descending into flame wars and trolling ? How can we harness data to make smarter decisions and offer better products and services without losing our privacy and autonomy?

These aren’t technology challenges; they’re social, political, and economic challenges that have been created, sharpened, or amplified by technology. And when it comes to engaging with the intersection between technology and social issues, there are few cultural institutions that have had as much influence as Star Trek .

Hailing on All Frequencies

By layering a post-prejudice future on top of one in which technology is so dramatically advanced and pervasive, Star Trek invited its audience to see social and technological development as inextricably linked. It’s a linkage that had particular resonance in the geek subculture that grew up around both the original series and its 1980s-1990s successors: For a generation that was drawn to Silicon Valley long before it was seen as a path to wealth, techies were more likely to be inspired by passion than by money. With its hybrid of tech and social progress, Star Trek spoke to the tech subculture’s 60s-inflected social values and its techno-fetishism.

The Star Trek universe makes its reappearance at a moment when those twin threads of Silicon Valley culture have largely been severed. Today’s prototypical tech innovator is a startup founder looking for enough venture funding to launch the next “unicorn,” and VC firms are looking for financial returns, not social ones. Sure, there are still plenty of techno-utopians kicking around the East Bay, but the social problems that have been catalyzed by the internet attract far less attention and creativity than the financial opportunities tech offers.

Star Trek has the potential to galvanize a new wave of technologists to think critically about the technologies they deploy and the social problems they can address. That’s because in addition to depicting both technological and social progress, Star Trek has often illuminated the relationship between the two. Dig into the past few decades of scholarship on Star Trek , and you will find compelling arguments for the franchise’s value in addressing such questions as the relationship between technology and freedom; the role of gender in framing our understanding of technology’s triumph over nature; and the impact of the internet on the treatment of sexual identity in Star Trek itself.

In “Lessons From Star Trek : Examining the Social Values Embedded in Technological Programs,” John W. Hansen directly invokes Star Trek ’s value as inspiration for socially responsible technology development. Using the movies Star Trek II and III as his reference points, Hansen argues that the conflict between the heroic Federation and the belligerent Klingons usefully frames the conversation around the social ends of technology.

The Federation saw the technology as a means for creation; the Klingons saw technology as a weapon of power. We see the battle that rages between (a) the appropriate objectives of technology and (b) the exercise of personal liberty. Are these concepts related, as Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, hints, or are they virginal concepts that must retain their independence and purity?

You Will Be Assimilated

Tudor Balinisteanu extracts an equally sweeping perspective from a close reading of Star Trek: First Contact. (The best of all the Star Trek movies, obviously.) In “ The Cyborg Goddess: Social Myths of Women as Goddesses of Technologized Otherworlds ,” Balinisteanu contrasts the movie with prior Trek incarnations to tackle the franchise’s three-way dance between technology, social progress, and gender roles:

We notice through the many TV episodes and films of the Star Trek saga that a structuring axiom of its myth is the revolutionary principle; humanity’s progress is epitomized by the quest of the Federation’s flagship, the Enterprise . The evolutionist view is that humanity has evolved by adjusting to the natural environment. Having developed science, men have begun to transform nature.

Watching First Contact through a feminist lens, Balinisteanu argues that the movie’s portrayal of the villainous cyborg species, the Borg, is a departure from the series’ historical depiction of tech progress.

[t]he social organization of the Borg adapts not by conquering nature, as in enlightenment/evolutionist-based visions of progress, but by integrating it with technological culture… in First Contact this integration is perceived as a threat because it allows for the acknowledgment of a woman:nature relationship that, undermining the hierarchy of technological environments placing men in a privileged position vis-à-vis nature (and women), reclaims women’s leadership as creators of techno-culture that does not need to subordinate nature.

3-panel comic shows Kirk and Spock confessing their mutual crush and making out.

If Star Trek has often considered the relationship between technology and social progress, the franchise has also been shaped by that very interplay. P.J. Falzone offers a great case study of this dynamic in the article, “ The Final Frontier is Queer: Aberrancy, Archetype and Audience Generated Folklore in K/S Slashfiction.” For those unfamiliar with the genre, Falzone sums it up as follows:

Known by various names (Spirk, K/S, Kirk/Spock) K/S is defined as fan-generated art, stories, novels, poems, songs, or other creative media that take as their starting point an imagined romantic relationship between the two principal characters of the original Star Trek film and television series… K/S is not a unique genre, but belongs to a larger body of “slashfiction” named for the “/” or “slash” between the names of the characters that the stories queer. Slash, by definition, deals with same sex characters that in the parent narrative are avowedly or assumedly heterosexual… Not only was K/S the first manifestation of a slash narrative, it has also proven to be the most widespread and enduring because the Star Trek narrative is ongoing.

What makes K/S such a great laboratory for exploring the relationship between tech and social progress in the Trek universe is the internet’s unique role in fostering the medium. As Falzone writes:

Relegated to the odd corners of Star Trek conventions, and shunned, sometimes cruelly, by many in the broader community of Trekkers and writers of fan fiction, slash inhabited a marginal and outlaw status for many years… Then came the Internet… what Cumberland (2000) calls the “paradox of cyberspace—personal privacy in a public forum” has provided the infrastructure for K/S to expand beyond its Trekker convention and APA roots and move into a wider sphere. [Cumberland] notes that slash “is no longer a curious subset of the fan fiction phenomenon, but has become one of the mainstream forms of internet erotica.”

Birthing a massive genre of queer fiction and erotica should be evidence enough for the intimate relationship between Star Trek , technology, and social progress. (Though apparently it isn’t enough for new Spock, Zachary Quinto. Despite being an openly gay movie star and an eloquent voice for LGBTQ rights , Quinto has ranged from derogatory to dismissive when it comes to the K/S genre, clearly missing its historical relevance to the gay community.)

Still not sold? Then step back and consider that the ultimate aim of Falzone’s analysis is to argue for the relevance of K/S in queering a Star Trek universe that “through its almost forty years… has still never featured a gay character.”

All that changes with the advent of Star Trek: Discovery , which is slated to include the first openly gay character in the Star Trek TV series. (The latest Star Trek movie quietly queered the longstanding character of Sulu .) After reading Falzone’s article, it’s hard not to credit the appearance of Discovery ’s Lt. Stamets at least partially to K/S, since “the introduction of queer characters into the original Star Trek mythos through rewriting [was] a way for fans to fulfill the utopian ideals of Star Trek that the creators never did.”

The relationship between technology and freedom. The triad of gender, nature and technology. The embrace of queer identity, online, and (finally!) on screen. These are all complex subjects for a science fiction franchise to address, and yet over the course of several decades, Star Trek has tangled with each of them.

Now, with Discovery , we need Star Trek to once again pick up the gauntlet of addressing the complicated relationship between technology and social progress. We need Discovery to inspire a fresh generation of technologists to think not only about the kinds of technologies that could make a buck, but the kind of technologies that could make change. We need a Star Trek to inspire the kinds of conversations that made up so many of the early evenings in my marriage: conversations about how we want technology to function in our lives, and in our world.

But this time, those conversations needn’t be confined to the marriage bed or the family dinner table. When Star Trek: Voyager wrapped up its seventh and final season in 2001, it was before we had Facebook or YouTube or Twitter. We didn’t even have MySpace back then, for Pete’s sake. Sure, there were Usenet groups and email lists where Star Trek fans could discuss the latest episodes and ideas, but by definition those were communities largely composed of hard-core techies. Discovery is the first time we’ll have a week-by-week universe of ideas to explore, and a broadly accessible online medium in which both tech creators and tech users can discuss those ideas together.

So Discovery, please bring the ideas on: The complicated, messy, controversial explorations of what the relationship between technology and social progress could look like. My husband and I are waiting, and we’re tired of talking about our kids.

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

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The U.S.S. Enterprise explores the far corners of the universe in the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation . One engineer today thinks we could build an actual Enterprise in the next 20 or 30 years.

‘Star Trek’ Is Right About Almost Everything

The epic series—celebrating its 50th anniversary this year—bases its science fiction on scientific fact.

Resistance is futile.

For half a century now the Star Trek franchise has been winning new fans and inspiring real-world innovators. Over the course of 12 feature films (the 13th will be released next month) and six TV series—plus an ever-growing constellation of books, games, comics, magazines, and documentaries—it has boldly gone where no science fiction has gone before.

The secret to its success, says Andrew Fazekas , is its allegiance to science fact. Fazekas—a National Geographic writer and astronomy blogger known as the Night Sky Guy—is the author of a new book on the series’ reality-based astronomy and prescient technology. In Star Trek: The Official Guide to our Universe , he explains that unlike most sci-fi, the franchise has always rooted the innate human urge to explore in plausible science, providing “a hopeful pathway to a possible human future that’s not too distant.”

With Star Trek celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, National Geographic recently spoke with Fazekas about the real science and enduring appeal of the series.

You’re a science writer, amateur astronomer, and lifelong fan of Star Trek . This book, you say, represents a sort of Vulcan mind-meld of those passions. Tell me a bit about how and why it came together.

I’ve been an amateur astronomer—a backyard stargazer—since I was 10 years old. At the same time, I’ve always been a Star Trek fan. So I knew that I wanted to mix these two very different worlds together. But I wasn’t sure how.

Then I began to realize that in Star Trek , most of the astronomical objects and destinations have real-life counterparts. Watching the TV shows and movies, you hear names like Andromeda galaxy and Alpha Centauri —real things I’ve come across in my own travels across the night sky.

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I soon began to find many instances where I could reference the series in terms of an astronomical object. Like, if I would show someone a supernova through my telescope, I could quote the Star Trek episode in which it appeared. And I could say, “Remember in ‘All Our Yesterdays’ when the Enterprise had to rush away because the impending explosion of the star would destroy the planet?”

About 10 years ago, I began to make a casual list of all the astronomical objects that have appeared in Star Trek . And as I went through the episodes, I saw, again and again, that the writers were always talking about real-life stuff. They were always taking real science seriously.

book cover for Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe

Tell me about your methodology. I imagine it involved a lot of research and collaboration with scientists. How did you decide what to focus on and explicate?

Star Trek is a fire hose of information and trivia. It’s overwhelming. So I decided that I needed to focus on a few things. Coming from an astronomy-education background, I knew I needed to make it easy for the reader. To make it something that they’d be familiar with: a guidebook about the night sky.

So we’d start off with things in the solar system. Then we’d move on to planets outside the solar system—the exoplanets. Then I’d explain the stars—where they’re born, how they live, where they die. And finally I’d get to the grandest structures of the galaxy.

The cornerstone of this book is looking at the destinations and the true science of Star Trek . Scores of today’s scientists and engineers and physicists—as well as mathematicians, chemists, even astronauts—were inspired as children by Star Trek to pursue these fields professionally. The show captured their imaginations.

And that’s what’s so cool about Star Trek . I mean, I’m not dissing Star Wars —I like that too—but I find it to be much more fantasy-based. I liken Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings . Star Trek is more of a realistic vision.

What were the biggest surprises you encountered in the course of writing this book?

One thing is just how accurate the science really is, throughout all the different incarnations. The foundation that Star Trek is built on is scientifically sturdy. You can tell that the writers and producers took the time to get the science right.

They did that by involving real scientific consultants, whose professional opinions were incorporated into the plotlines, the filming of the scenes. And over the decades—as our technology has gotten better, as we’ve pushed the boundaries of exploration, as we’ve learned more about our universe—new knowledge has made its way into Star Trek plots and story lines.

Nowadays the canvas that all these adventures play out on is almost hyperreal. With the computer simulations we have these days, Hollywood has the ability to re-create any kind of object in space, based on whatever knowledge we have, and give us the ringside seats to the cosmos that all we space geeks wish we had.

In an episode of the original TV series, crew members find themselves encircled by a force field at the O.K. Corral. Since it first aired 50 years ago, Star Trek has relied heavily on input from actual scientists, including physicists, astrophysicists, mathematicians, and chemists.

For instance, let’s say the Enterprise is hiding out in a nebula. Well, as earthbound stargazers we’re never going to be able to see what it would be like. We have only an outside view of these beautiful, colorful star clusters. But Hollywood can now place us within that nebula. And it’s based on computer simulations that real scientists are using to understand what these clouds are, how they form, how they evolve. It’s amazing! It’s like you’re there.

Of course, there has to be artistic license taken. The whole idea of warp drive or teleportation —those were plot devices that were included by [ Star Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry . He came up with those devices 50 years ago, to move the storyline along. You can’t have your characters taking 300 or 400 years to get to one star system.

The technology in Star Trek has often proved prescient in terms of real-world innovations. Specifically, what are some of those things?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that device that they called the PADD (Personal Access Display Device). It had no keypad; you just used your finger. Today we call it an iPad, or a tablet. Really eerie. The dream has come true! Life is imitating art.

Of course, it’s not a coincidence that an iPad and a smartphone and wrist-worn medical devices look like they do. They harken back to what we saw in Star Trek in 1966.

Then there’s voice recognition—talking to your device. It reminds me of a scene in Star Trek IV —the one with the whales—where Scotty goes to this engineering firm, and wants to talk to the computer. So he goes, “Hello, computer.” Then Bones says to him, “You’re supposed to use the mouse!” And Scotty says, “Oh, how quaint.” And then he speaks into the mouse.

Scores of today’s scientists and engineers and physicists—as well as mathematicians, chemists, even astronauts—were inspired as children by Star Trek to pursue these fields professionally. Andrew Fazekas , author, Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe

We’re already there. We can dictate. We have voice recognition. We can type a letter or an email without even touching a keyboard now.

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In the first Star Trek series, they had a quadriplegic character sitting in a big, burly machine. All you saw was his head. And he could communicate only by using this flashing light—two flashes for yes, one flash for no.

Look what we have now. Stephen Hawking is able to communicate through his computer. He can speak full sentences. He can write books! It’s not just a flashing light. So technology there has far surpassed Star Trek . And that’s supposed to be 300 years in the future! We’ve gone much farther, much faster than they envisioned back in 1966.

Conversely, which visions of the future haven’t come to pass? Are there any things—in terms of astronomy, technology, or general science—that Star Trek has really gotten wrong?

The biggie is warp drive. That may very well remain science fiction. It depends on which scientists you talk to. But right now there are scientists doing experiments in the laboratory, on very small scales, to see if this is something we might one day be able to do. Equations exist that show that this might be possible.

Still, warp drive may very well never materialize. The same thing with teleportation. Quantum teleportation—moving a particle from one system to another—does exist. And one day we may, perhaps, be able to move inanimate objects. But teleporting humans—I mean, would we ever really want to do that? You would have to literally deconstruct a living being onto a molecular level, then reconstruct it. Its DNA would be pulled apart.

I was recently asked: Are we molding our future the way we are because we’re trying to mirror and mimic Star Trek ? Or is it just happening on its own? I think it’s the former. We’re being influenced by this very popular science-fiction franchise.

I think one of the things that distinguishes Star Trek from other sci-fi is its philosophical bent—its thoughtful consideration of life, the universe, and everything. Do you think that approach is the reason why it has endured and thrived for so long, finding new audiences across half a century?

There’s definitely something there for everyone, for different kinds of fans and generations. And that thoughtfulness you mention is what touches so many people. Even folks who aren’t science geeks, per se. They like the message that Star Trek has of a hopeful future for humankind. That we’ve passed through these petty problems and difficulties we have now amongst nations and cultures and races. In the Star Trek future of humankind, we’ve gone beyond all that.

Also, this yearning and passion for exploring the unknown—for pushing the frontier. I think that’s very deeply rooted in the DNA of humans. The desire to go where no one has gone before. North America would not have been explored if we didn’t push beyond the European continent. In Star Trek , the stage is not one continent or planet; it’s the entire Milky Way galaxy—and beyond.

four Star Trek characters with photon torpedo

On an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , the crew modifies a photon torpedo, which they'll use to mine a nebula for subatomic particles known as vertions. The astronomical objects we see in Star Trek often overlap with those in our own universe.

These are the things that really speak to people. And I think what also captures their attention, through all the incarnations of Star Trek , is how the series has always incorporated social issues of the times. The civil rights movement, for instance, was very big in the original series. Remember that iconic kiss between Uhura and Captain Kirk ? That made a lot of waves at the time. It was one of the first interracial kisses on TV.

William Shatner wrote the foreword to this book. Did you meet him or any other Star Trek stars during your research? Were you ever, um, starstruck ?

I knew right from the start that I wanted to have Shatner involved—to have him launch the book from the beginning and introduce it. Because it’s a grand, sweeping cosmic adventure that’s very much like the stories that take place in Star Trek . And who better than Captain Kirk to set the scene?

So I begged my editors: “Please get Shatner! If we need to, appeal to his roots and let him know that the author is also from Montreal, and that we went to the same university.” It seemed to work. They made it happen, the stars aligned, and Shatner was part of the book.

You can see from the intro that he wrote that he’s very much into science and science fiction. And you can tell that he wrote it. I’m very keen to thank him personally.

But no—unfortunately I haven’t yet met anyone from Star Trek in person. I’m hoping to rectify that during my book tour. I’ll have opportunities to meet up with most of the cast members of the different series at the major Star Trek convention in New York—the grand 50th anniversary gala—in early September. My dream is to have the cast members all sign my book.

Star clusters like these are perfect laboratories for examining the evolutionary path of stars. But while earthbound astronomers can only observe them from afar, Starfleet crews get to conduct their studies up close.

What effect do you want this book to have on readers? What’s the desired takeaway?

As an astronomy educator and communicator, I hope that people who aren’t familiar with the night sky but love Star Trek will take this book and understand what they’ve actually seen—the true science behind an exploding supernova, for instance.

The sky is a natural resource that we’ve really become disconnected from. People sit at their computers, in front of their devices. And that part of the future that Star Trek has shown us is coming true. But it’s detached us from nature—from the grandness of nature that is the night sky above us. And that’s the canvas that Star Trek plays out on: the heavens above.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Celebrating Star Trek Day

By Bek 8 September 2024

Every year on September 8th, Star Trek Day is celebrated by fans around the globe. It’s a day to honor the sci-fi series that has transcended time, generations, and cultures since its debut in 1966. Whether you’re a long-time Trekkie or someone new to the galaxy, Star Trek Day is a reminder of the vast impact this franchise has had on pop culture, technology, and our vision of the future.

But why September 8th? This date marks the anniversary of the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series airing on NBC in 1966. “ The Man Trap ,” the first televised episode, introduced viewers to a universe that would soon become an enduring cultural phenomenon.

American actor Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and Canadian actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk appear in a scene from 'The Man Trap,' the premiere episode of 'Star Trek,' which aired on September 8, 1966. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

A Legacy of Hope

What sets Star Trek apart from many other sci-fi franchises is its optimistic vision of the future. In a world often rife with tension and division, Star Trek has always presented a future where humanity has united to explore space for the betterment of all species. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, envisioned a utopian future where racial, gender, and cultural divisions had been overcome, setting the stage for the crew of the USS Enterprise to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations.

The themes of diversity, inclusion, and exploration are central to the franchise. With characters like Captain James T. Kirk , the cool and brave leader; Spock , the half-Vulcan, half-human who embodies the struggle between logic and emotion; and Uhura , a groundbreaking character portrayed by Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek has always pushed the boundaries of representation.

The Influence on Science and Technology

One of the most remarkable aspects of Star Trek is how it has inspired real-world science and technology. Many innovations we use today were once merely science fiction ideas on the show. For example:

The tricorder from Star Trek The Original Series

Communicators in the original series have often been compared to early flip phones.
Tablets and touch-screen technology, common on Star Trek: The Next Generation, are now everyday tools.
The tricorder , a portable device used by Starfleet to scan and diagnose, has inspired modern medical devices.

The message surrounding technology is clear: the future is ours to create, and technology can serve as a tool for positive progress.

A Franchise That Continues to Grow

With each new iteration of the series, from The Next Generation to Deep Space Nine , Voyager , and now Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard , the franchise has kept pace with societal changes while maintaining its core values. It has never shied away from addressing complex social issues like war, peace, the ethics of artificial intelligence, or the environment.

Who could forget the ethical struggles faced by Captain Picard or the spiritual journey of Sisko in Deep Space Nine ? Even today, the series continue to challenge viewers to think critically about the direction of our own civilization.

Star Trek Day: A Celebration of Hope

At its core, Star Trek Day is a celebration of hope — the hope that humanity will grow, unite, and reach for the stars. The vision of the future presented by Star Trek is one where curiosity and cooperation can overcome the challenges of today.

So, whether you’re boldly watching Star Trek for the first time or you’re revisiting the classic adventures of the USS Enterprise, take a moment on September 8th to reflect on how Star Trek has inspired countless individuals to dream of a better future, one filled with exploration, innovation, and unity.

The Star Trek Team

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How gravitational waves could help detect Star Trek-style warp drive spaceships

Ernest Rutherford Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, Queen Mary University of London

Associate research fellow at the Gravity Exploration Institute, Cardiff University

Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Potsdam

Disclosure statement

Katy Clough receives funding from the STFC.

Tim Dietrich is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.

Sebastian Khan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Cardiff University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.

Queen Mary University of London provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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How much do we really know about what else is out there in the universe?

Let’s take an outlandish example. If there were aliens flying around our galaxy with the sort of warp drive technology we often see in sci-fi shows, what would the signal from their ships look like? Perhaps, surprisingly, our research shows we have the tools to answer this question, regardless of whether such things really exist.

Telescopes that use light to probe space can now see almost to the edge of what is observable. Each new frequency we have explored – from gamma rays and x-rays, to infrared and radio – has taught us something new and unexpected.

In 2015, a new kind of telescope, a detector called Ligo , was turned on, not looking for light waves but for gravitational waves, which are invisible “ripples” in space and time. Again nature surprised us with a signal labelled GW150914 from a pair of black holes. Each were about thirty times the mass of our sun, merging together in a violent collision 1.4 billion light years away.

Since then gravitational waves have become an essential new tool for scholars exploring the universe. But we are still at the very beginning of our explorations. What signals might we see in the data, and will they change how we see the physics of the cosmos?

There is, however, a more practical question that often gets overlooked – if something is out there, how would we recognise it?

From sci-fi to serious science

You may have seen warp drives in series like Star Trek . A warp drive is a hypothetical form of technology that compresses the space in front of a starship and expands it behind. While nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, in a warp drive we can cheat by making our distance shorter. So, the time it takes to go from A to B is less than the time light takes on another uncompressed path.

The jump from sci-fi to real science was made by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, when he was inspired to model a warp drive using Einstein’s equations of general relativity.

General relativity is a relationship between spacetime curvature (gravity) and a distribution of matter or energy (stuff). Typically, we start by knowing the “stuff”. For example, we know that we have a blob of matter that represents a planet or star. We then put that stuff into the equations to determine how the spacetime curves. And how it curves tells us the gravity we would measure around the object.

A 3D illustration of how the fabric of space is warped by an object

You could say that this is exactly what Isaac Newton’s picture of gravity does – giving a relation between an object’s mass and the gravitational force it exerts. And you would be right. But the concept of spacetime curvature gives rise to a much richer range of phenomena than a simple force. It allows a kind of repulsive gravity that drives our universe to expand, creates time dilation around massive objects and gravitational waves in spacetime and – in theory at least – it makes warp drives possible.

Alcubierre tackled his problem from the opposite direction to the usual one. He knew what kind of spacetime curvature he wanted. It was one in which an object could surf on a region of warped spacetime. So, he worked backwards to determine the kind of matter configuration you would need to create this. It wasn’t a natural solution of the equations, but rather something “made to order”. It wasn’t exactly what he would have ordered though. He found he needed exotic matter , something with a negative energy density, to warp space in the right way.

Exotic matter solutions are generally viewed with scepticism by physicists, and rightly so. While mathematically, one can describe material with negative energies, almost everything we know appears to have a positive energy. But in quantum physics, we have observed that small, temporary violations of energy positivity can occur, and so, “no negative energy” can’t be an absolute, fundamental law.

From warp drives to waves

Given Alcubierre’s model of the warp drive spacetime, we can begin to answer our original question – what would a signal from it look like?

One of the cornerstones of modern gravitational wave observations, and one of its greatest achievements, is the ability to accurately predict waveforms from physical scenarios using a tool called “numerical relativity” .

This tool is important for two reasons. First, because the data we get from detectors is still very noisy, which means we often have to know roughly what a signal looks like to be able to pull it out of the datastream. And second, even if a signal is so loud that it stands out above the noise, we need a model in order to interpret it. That is, we need to have modelled many different types of event, so we can match the signal to its type; otherwise we might be tempted to dismiss it as noise, or mislabel it as a black hole merger.

One problem with the warp drive spacetime is that it doesn’t naturally give gravitational waves unless it starts or stops. Our idea was to study what would happen when a warp drive stopped, particularly in the case of something going wrong. Suppose the warp drive containment field collapsed (a staple storyline in sci-fi); presumably there would be an explosive release of both the exotic matter and gravitational waves. This is something we can, and did, simulate using numerical relativity.

What we found was that the collapse of the warp drive bubble is indeed an extremely violent event. The enormous amount of energy needed to warp spacetime gets released as both gravitational waves and waves of positive and negative matter energy. Unfortunately, it’s most likely the end of the line for the ship’s crew who would be torn apart by tidal forces.

We knew a gravitational wave signal would be emitted; any movement of matter in a messy way creates such a wave. But we couldn’t predict the amplitude and frequency, and how these would depend on the size of the warped region.

We were surprised to find that for a 1km sized ship, the amplitude of the signal would be significant for any such event within our galaxy and even beyond. At a distance of 1 megaparsec (slightly further than the Andromeda galaxy), the signal is similar to our current detector sensitivity. However, the frequency of the waves is about a thousand times higher than the range they are looking at.

We should be honest and say that we can’t claim our signal as the definitive warp drive signal. We had to make quite a few specific choices in our model. And our hypothetical aliens may have made different ones. But as a proof of principle, it shows that cases beyond standard astrophysical events can be modelled, and may have distinctive forms and shapes that we can search for in future detectors.

Our work also reminds us that compared to the study of light waves, we are still at the stage of Galileo, taking pictures of the universe in the narrow frequency band of visible light. We have a whole spectrum of gravitational wave frequencies still to explore, which will be sensitive to a range of phenomena happening across space and time.

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Star trek’s future requires more patience than ever.

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Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Star trek officially brands a surprising deep space nine hero as a war criminal, i can't believe star trek just brought back this one animated series species.

Star Trek may appear as if it has peaked, but I believe more patience than what has been required in the last few years could reveal a brighter future. Star Trek Day 2024 marks 58 years since Star Trek: The Original Series premiered. No one could have guessed Star Trek would still be going strong in 2024, with 13 movies, a dozen TV series, and more still on the way. Yet there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over Star Trek 's future as the franchise downsizes through what looks to be an uncertain time.

In 2022, Star Trek achieved heights it hadn't seen since the 1990s. Star Trek on Paramount+ had five series that were bona fide hits with fans. 2022 even saw a new episode of Star Trek premiere almost every Thursday of the calendar year. 2023 saw the final season of Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, which ranked on Nielsen's streaming top 10. But as the streaming business model changed, and actors and writers went on strike, Star Trek on Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Prodigy (which went to Netflix), and announced the end of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks in 2024. Where does Star Trek go from here?

Star Trek is ending series like Discovery and Lower Decks but renewed Strange New Worlds while setting up new streaming and theatrical movies.

What Star Trek’s Immediate Future Looks Like

Fewer shows, but movies are coming back.

Star Trek on Paramount+ has scaled back significantly. 2024 will end with Star Trek: Lower Decks ' final season , closing out the first-ever Star Trek animated comedy. With Star Trek: Prodigy possibly not being renewed by Netflix, it marks the end of a brief, 4-year golden age of Star Trek animation . This is a huge shame as Lower Decks and Prodigy have proven to be some of the most innovative and genuine Star Trek produced since Star Trek: Discovery reignited the franchise in 2017.

Production on Star Trek: Prodigy season 3 could take 2 years if Netflix renews it.

In 2025, Star Trek: Section 31 premieres, as does Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 . Both projects are all Star Trek on Paramount+ has on tap next year. Star Trek: Section 31 is the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie. Sequels and more Star Trek streaming films on Paramount+ hinge on Section 31 's success. Meanwhile, the popular Strange New Worlds has become Star Trek on Paramount's flagship series now that Star Trek: Discovery is over.

2026 Could Be When Star Trek’s Future Gets Brighter

Just in time for star trek's 60th anniversary.

2026 will likely see two Star Trek on Paramount+ series: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, which goes into production next year, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academ y, which just started filming. However, Paramount Pictures, which controls the Star Trek theatrical movies, is targeting an Untitled Star Trek Origin prequel movie from director Toby Haynes to hit movie screens. All of this would mark Star Tre k's 60th anniversary.

Tawny Newsome and Justin Simien are developing Star Trek 's first live-action comedy, although there is no known release date.

However, 2026 could also be when all of the dust settles from Paramount's sale to Skydance . Star Trek is being understandably cautious with so much uncertainty surrounding its parent company's sale. But Star Trek is also acknowledged as a crown jewel I.P. that is extremely valuable to Paramount. While 2025 may reveal what direction Star Trek will take going forward, a new course taking the franchise into the next decade could be set by 2026.

What I Want For Star Trek's Future

Star trek movies, tv, and animation need to be equal.

Patience and a clear understanding of the choppy waters of the next couple of years ought to lead to the clouds parting and a bright new day for Star Trek . I hope that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets renewed for season 5; but, ideally, I want Strange New Worlds to run for as long as executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers plan for the show to run. I also hope Section 31 is a hit, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy continues the bold innovation and pushing of boundaries that the best of Star Trek: Discovery did for the franchise.

What I really want is for Star Trek 4 to finally break out of development hell.

I would love for Star Trek movies to become a powerhouse again, in theatrical and in streaming, making Star Trek a force in both mediums. The jury is out on the Star Trek prequel movie, but I obviously hope it's good. What I really want is for Star Trek 4 to finally break out of development hell and bring back Chris Pine's Star Trek cast. As for streaming movies, if that is how we can finally get Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) headlining Star Trek: Legacy, then count me in for a made-for-streaming movie about the USS Enterprise-G. Of course, a full-blown Star Trek: Legacy series would be even better.

What a shame it would be if Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy 's last gasps happened in 2024. I dearly hope Star Trek: Lower Decks moves to another streaming service like Star Trek: Prodigy did. I also hope Netflix renews Star Trek: Prodigy, if not for season 3, then for an animated feature. I would also like Star Trek animation to be given equal treatment to live-action Star Trek , and for every aspect of the franchise to keep delivering the high quality we've seen in the last few years. Another golden age for Star Trek could be right around the corner, and we can get there, but we just need to be patient as Star Trek decides its future.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

After being closed for over a hundred years, Starfleet Academy is reopening its doors to those who wish to pursue a career as Starfleet Officers. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow a new group of cadets as they come of age, and build friendships, rivalries, and romantic relationships while being threatened by a new adversary that could destroy the Academy and the Federation itself.

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‘Star Trek’ Is Right About Almost Everything

You’re a science writer, amateur astronomer, and lifelong fan of Star Trek . This book, you say, represents a sort of Vulcan mind-meld of those passions. Tell me a bit about how and why it came together.