43
votes
Accepted
Why is it called 'Lightspeed' if the ships aren't traveling at the speed of light?
In the Star Wars universe, the term 'lightspeed' doesn't literally mean "traveling at the speed of light" (something that's actually scientifically impossible), it's simply shorthand for ...
- 708k
25
votes
Accepted
Faster than light ship is doomed, captain keeps log anyway
Ultima Thule, a short story by Eric Frank Russell, first published in Astounding Science Fiction, October 1951, available at the Internet Archive. You may have read it in one of these compilations.
&...
- 169k
20
votes
Short story about the maiden voyage of an FTL capable ship
This is Randall Garrett's "Time Fuze", first published in IF, March 1954.
The ultradrive had just one slight drawback: it set up a shock wave that made suns explode. Which made the problem ...
- 11.2k
20
votes
Accepted
Novel about a teenage female protagonist on a FTL spaceflight in a deterministic universe
I can't find a cover image that really matches your description, but the story of a teenager who goes on a trip that turns into a voyage past the end of the universe seems to match The Starlight ...
- 138k
19
votes
Accepted
Short story about scientists that stumble across an FTL drive
That sounds very much like a story "Persistence" by Joe Martino in the May 1969 Analog. Commander William Marshall is studying a captured Arcani (the aliens) ship. His bosses are convinced that they ...
- 42.1k
19
votes
Accepted
1950's novel about FTL engine and the rare mineral that makes it possible
Operation Star Voyage by Jack Pearl (1970), the second book in the Space Eagle series.
In the first book, millionaire and scientific genius Paul Girard discovers the exotic element "Spartanium&...
- 14.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Most modern sci-fi with FTL that really is FTL
In Skylark of Space by E.E. “Doc” Smith, the speed of light is no limit at all. Einstein was simply wrong! The ships in the Skylark series use simple acceleration, and end up going very, very fast, ...
- 2,155
15
votes
Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?
Probably Tau Zero by Poul Anderson.
According to Wikipedia, eventually they end up going billions of light-years in "moments" of their proper time.
They basically keep on accelerating, and fly ...
- 1,007
15
votes
60s (or earlier) SF short story with FTL Travel using electron psychology aka addiclenendar technology
This is the story "Far Centarus" by A.E. van Vogt as suggested by the comment.
If you check out page 81 of the story in the January 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, you'll find the ...
- 138k
15
votes
Book featuring a specific method of FTL travel which involved tachyon pulses and made a lot of people sick
If it's relatively recent, I would suggest the Odyssey One series by Evan Currie, starting with Into the Black. The titular ship 'Odyssey' is the first interstellar ship built on Earth, and uses what ...
- 22.3k
12
votes
How do they get to Andromeda so fast?
In the trilogy it's said that man kind can travel 50 times the speed of light.
Well... no. I'm not sure where you got that number from, but it disagrees with my sources.
The ME3 Codex gives top ...
- 9,564
12
votes
Accepted
Looking for the title of a sci-fi book on FTL network
The Dragon Never Sleeps, by Glen Cook. Here's a scan of what I believe was the original cover art from the first paperback edition.
It was first published in 1988, which fits your belief that you ...
- 27.6k
11
votes
Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?
In Diaspora by Greg Egan, the protagonists discover that our universe is effectively contained in a sub-atomic particle in another higher universe (it’s actually more complicated than that), which is ...
- 62.4k
10
votes
Why is it called 'Lightspeed' if the ships aren't traveling at the speed of light?
Star Wars was released in 1977. Movies and TV from that era didn't lean towards scientific accuracy, as sci-fi wasn't a big thing back then.
The TIE Fighters make their distinctive engine screech... ...
- 655
8
votes
Is there any time travel in the Star Wars expanded universe, or anywhere in the Star Wars canon?
Time Travel now exists in Star Wars canon.
In the recent episode A World Between Worlds of Star Wars: Rebels TV series,
Using a portal in there, he also saved Ahsoka who had previously been killed ...
- 116k
8
votes
Can warp drive be used to travel at sublight speeds?
Yes, and it's been done
First, a look at the warp scale:
Notice that the plotting doesn't begin at warp one, but rather at 0. This would at least in theory strongly imply the existence of warp ...
- 15.8k
7
votes
Accepted
What is meant by the term 'spinship' in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series?
According to the Hyperion Cantos fandom page, as spinship is:
spinship is a type of vessel used primarily for interstellar travel. Spinships travel under drive to a spinout point on the periphery of ...
- 5,316
6
votes
Initial uses of the term "ultradrive" as a faster FTL drive?
Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction (edited by Jeff Prucher) defines "ultradrive" as follows:
Ultradrive n. a space drive that enables spaceships to travel faster than ...
- 169k
6
votes
Which sci-fi universe has the slowest extensively used interstellar drive (best available)?
Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan involves near-lightspeed travel for hundreds of years in an attempt to escape a bubble in space that isn't very friendly to life and expands in every direction at half the ...
- 61
6
votes
Why wouldn't Cylon Raiders immediately send at least one by FTL to report contact with military enemies?
In TRS Season 2 Episode 15 "Scar" of the 2004 series, we learn that Raiders are reborn through resurrection technology just like other cylons. This could mean that there's no need to jump out to get ...
- 249
6
votes
Accepted
Novel where FTL causes a centrifuge to attract towards center
This is a shot in the dark, but how about Barnard's Planet by John Boyd?
Captain Lee Ashby, USN, was ready to retire. He wanted no more adventures in his life, no more uncertainty. But he found ...
- 113k
6
votes
What do other Star Trek races call their FTL tech?
Generally, yes everyone is using the same warp physics. In fact the designers of the Original series Klingon and Romulan ships made a point of making the ships have analogous features.
A point that is ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
Which sci-fi universe has the slowest extensively used interstellar drive (best available)?
If your star travelers don't have to be human then I think the all time slowest interstellar voyagers are the aliens in Hal Clement's novel The Nitrogen Fix. They use hollowed out comets as their ...
- 271
5
votes
Sublight Starship "passed" by FTL
Could be The Voyage that Lasted Six Hundred Years by Don Wilcox.
In this story there is a man called the "Keeper of the traditions" who goes the whole way in suspended animation, coming out every ...
- 13k
5
votes
Can the warp drive be run in reverse?
I know you are primarily interested in TNG-era, but in TOS's Balance of Terror, Kirk's Enterprise (NCC-1701) travels at warp in reverse:
(The Romulan ship has become visible)
KIRK: Full astern! ...
- 8,464
4
votes
Can warp drive be used to travel at sublight speeds?
I don't know if there are examples of using warp drive to go slower than light. The example given from Star Trek: The Motion Picture might be an error.
KIRK: Impulse power, Mister Sulu. Ahead, ...
- 42.6k
4
votes
Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?
In "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley, a spaceship that can travel at velocities far beyond c is pushed to go past the edges of the known universe, far from any galaxies, ...
- 4,446
4
votes
Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?
I expect that a very great distance was reached returning to Earth in The Skylark of Valeron by E.E. Smith.
After chasing their enemies a vast distance in interstellar space in Skylark Three, our ...
- 49
4
votes
Do Powell and Donovan experience relativistic time dilation, in 'Escape!'?
Those five days pass before the jump is made.
Donovan felt as haggard as he looked. "Only five days?"
"Only five days. I'm sure of it."
Donovan looked about him wretchedly. The stars through ...
- 39k
4
votes
A novel about a spaceship race in a faster than light race course
Sounds like Clypsis by Jeffrey A. Carver, the first book of the series Roger Zelazny's Alien Speedway.
Per the synopsis on the author's website:
Clypsis!
Imagine an entire solar system designed as ...
- 425
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