Theoretical Types
A common literary device is to posit a faster-than-light propulsion system (such as warp drive) or travel through hyperspace, although some starships may be outfitted for centuries-long journeys of slower-than-light travel. Other designs posit a way to boost the ship to near-lightspeed, allowing relatively "quick" travel (i.e. decades, not centuries) to nearer stars. This results in a general categorization of the kinds of starships:
- Sleeper, which put their passengers into stasis during a long trip.
- Generation, where the destination will be reached by descendants of the original passengers.
- Relativistic, taking advantage of time dilation at close-to-light-speeds, so long trips will seem much shorter (but still take the same amount of time for outside observers).
- Faster-than-light, which can move between places very quickly (transcending current understanding of physics or using interdimensional 'shortcuts').
Read more about this topic: Starship
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