joshua tyler issued
If you want to travel through space, you need a ship. For now, the only ships we can actually build are slow, chunky fire-breathing rockets. Space travel is much faster in science fiction.
Some stories are better when things move slowly, but science fiction is often most interesting when things move at warp speed. But which sci-fi spaceship is the fastest?
It depends on what you’re asking. For example, fighters are likely to be faster than capital ships in normal space, but capital ships that can enter hyperspace are a cakewalk. So, for the purposes of this list, we’re measuring ships purely on how fast they can get from point A to point B.
These are the fastest spaceships in science fiction.
8. Rex (Rex)
of Rex A biomechanical spacecraft capable of traveling faster than light. LEXX travels through space via a biologically driven propulsion system. This organic driving force allows spacecraft to travel across galaxies and even between universes at speeds that will never be accurately quantified, but most conventional spacecraft in the universe has been shown to be much better than.
Although it lacks the complex navigation systems typical of mechanical spacecraft, its biological design compensates for its natural affinity for space travel. Its ability to cross intergalactic and interdimensional boundaries suggests a highly advanced, possibly alien, understanding of the spatial physics encoded in its organic systems.
Despite its unparalleled speed, the LEXX lacks the cognitive capacity for strategic decision-making and often requires guidance from its crew to determine its destination. The ship’s combination of organic propulsion and intuitive navigation makes the LEXX one of the most extraordinary ships in science fiction, even if it’s ugly.
7. Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)
of Andromeda Ascendant is a Glorious Heritage-class heavy cruiser designed as part of the System Federation’s High Guard fleet. With the fall of the Federation, Andromeda was left alone of her kind.
Andromeda’s propulsion relies on slipstream drive, a technology that enables faster-than-light travel through a network of naturally occurring pathways. Unlike traditional FTL systems, slipstream navigation requires an intuitive pilot to plot a course through these unstable routes. Due to the chaotic nature of wake physics, exact calculations are not possible.
Andromeda’s AI will need to work with human pilots to effectively and quickly navigate this complex system.
6. Planet Express Ship (Futurama)
of planet express ship is a state-of-the-art delivery spacecraft designed by the brilliant but eccentric Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth.
The ship is powered by a dark matter engine that provides nearly infinite fuel efficiency and works by moving space around the ship, rather than the ship moving through space. This unique propulsion system allows the Planet Express ship to achieve virtually infinite speeds relative to itself, allowing for instantaneous or near-instantaneous interstellar travel.
The ship’s engines are powered by dark matter, a substance purified from the excrement of the Nibronia species, making it as strange as it is efficient.
5. Event Horizon (Event Horizon)
of event horizonThe spacecraft featured in the 1997 science fiction horror film of the same name is an experimental spacecraft designed to test an innovative propulsion system known as the Gravity Drive. This driving force creates an artificial black hole that folds space-time and instantly connects two points, allowing for faster-than-light travel.
The Gravity Drive’s core uses exotic matter and advanced energy manipulation to create singularities that collapse distances between locations in space. In doing so, the event horizon does not move in the traditional sense. Instead, it “jumps” from one point to another, completely bypassing the intervening space. The Gravity Drive is housed in a very eerie special chamber at the back of the ship, surrounded by containment fields and reinforced structures to manage the extreme energy and gravity it generates.
That all sounds good, but it has horrible side effects. To travel between the two points, Event Horizon must first pass through what is essentially Hell. As you can imagine, that doesn’t work.
Still, Event Horizon allows you to get there very quickly. You’ll probably be crazy or dead by the time you get there.
4. Discovery (Star Trek: Discovery)
of USS Discovery (NCC-1031) in Star Trek: Discovery One of two Crossfield-class starships built by Starfleet. Both were equipped with an experimental propulsion system called Spore Drive, but only Discovery made it work.
This experimental activity utilizes the mycelial network, a subspace domain consisting of a vast web of spores that spans the entire galaxy. Yes, you basically use space mushrooms to fly.
The Spore Drive’s biologically enhanced system integrates organic systems like a supercomputer. Interface with living navigators, especially creatures like tardigrades, the Ripper, or later Commander Paul Stamets. He uses the injected spores to connect to the network. By accessing this mycelial network, Discovery can instantly “jump” to any location in space, bypassing traditional warp speed constraints and enabling unparalleled tactical and exploratory capabilities.
The mechanics of the spore drive are based on advanced technobabble, with ships essentially repositioning themselves through microscopic conduits in space-time rather than across intervening space. While the regular Star Trek warp drive relies on matter-antimatter reactions and space-time manipulation via dilithium crystals, the spore drive operates completely outside of this paradigm, providing instantaneous travel without time dilation effects. Masu.
3. Guild ship (Dune)
guild shipping dunes is a gigantic spaceship utilized by the Spacing Guild for interstellar instantaneous travel, the basis of the Empire’s economy and governance.
These vessels employ a spatial folding technique made possible by the use of psychoactive spice melange. This ability gives the guild navigator the visionary ability to chart a safe path through folded space. This process, known as spatial folding using Holtzmann drives, reduces vast distances between two points, effectively reducing travel time.
Guild ships are piloted by mutated human navigators who develop superhuman cognitive abilities and physical deformities after prolonged exposure to Spice. These abilities allow it to recognize complex and changing paths in folded space and avoid fatal collisions with celestial bodies.
These giant cylindrical ships can carry entire fleets or vast amounts of cargo, making them essential for trade, war, and governance.
2. TARDIS (Doctor Who)
tardis Represents time and relative dimensions of space. The Doctor’s vehicle made its maiden voyage long before the events we see on screen in Doctor Who. This incredibly ancient vehicle is a Type 40 time capsule built by the Time Lords on the planet Gallifrey.
The TARDIS is alive and incredibly intelligent. It is larger on the inside because it exists in multiple dimensions simultaneously. This multidimensional nature allows us to avoid the usual constraints of both time and space.
When the Doctor sets the coordinates of a new location in time or space, the TARDIS dematerializes from its current location, travels through the “time vortex” and rematerializes at its destination. This process is almost instantaneous. A time vortex can be thought of as a highway that instantly connects different points on the space-time continuum, regardless of distance or time separation in the “normal” universe.
1. Heart of Gold (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
The space is large. You won’t believe how vast, tremendous, and mind-bogglingly large it is. So, while you might think it’s a long way to go to the chemist, it’s just a quick trip to space.
So if you’re going to travel through space, you’re going to need something fast. Nothing is faster than this heart of gold. Probably, it’s number one on our list.
That’s because The Heart of Gold is powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive. This is a great new way to traverse vast distances in less than a second without the hassle of hyperspace.
This drive takes advantage of the natural chaos of the universe by passing through every possible point in every possible universe almost simultaneously. While a typical sci-fi engine might struggle with bending the laws of physics, Infinite Improbability Drive throws them out the window and enjoys its tea with the resulting chaos. That’s impossible, that’s the point.
The origins of the Heart of Gold are as extraordinary and chaotic as the vessel itself. The ship was designed and constructed on the planet Damogran, and was scheduled for a grand launch in a ceremony attended by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox. Unfortunately, in a completely unlikely move, Zaphod steals the Heart of Gold and is sent to an unknown region.
Zaphod stole it because he knows what you know now. If you’re a Whoopi Flood who knows where the towel is, there’s no faster way to travel through space than by riding the Heart of Gold.
