Faster than an instant: 8 of the fastest spaceships in science fiction
By Joshua Taylor | Published
If you’re going to travel through space, you need a ship. Currently, the only ships we can actually build are slow and clunky fire-breathing rockets. Science fiction does make space travel faster.
While some stories are better when things move slowly, science fiction is often most interesting when things move at high speed. But which sci-fi starship is the fastest?
It depends on what you’re asking. For example, a fighter might be faster than a capital ship in normal space, but a capital ship capable of entering hyperspace would easily win. So for the purposes of this list, we measure them purely in terms of how fast a ship gets from point A to point B.
These are the fastest starships in science fiction.
8. Lex (Lex)
this Lex is a biomechanical spacecraft capable of faster-than-light travel. LLEXX moves through the universe via a bio-powered propulsion system. This organic drive enables the ship to travel across galaxies and even between universes at speeds that have never been precisely quantified, but have proven to be far superior to most conventional starships in their universe.
While it lacks the complex navigation systems typical of mechanical spacecraft, its biological design compensates for it with a natural affinity for movement in space. Its ability to span intergalactic and interdimensional boundaries implies a highly advanced and possibly alien understanding of space physics encoded into its organic systems.
Despite its unparalleled speed, LEXX often requires guidance from its crew to determine its destination due to a lack of cognitive ability for strategic decision-making. The ship’s blend of organic propulsion and intuitive navigation makes the LEXX one of the most extraordinary ships in science fiction, despite its ugliness.
7. Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)
this Andromeda Ascendant Is a Glorious Legacy-class heavy cruiser designed as part of the Galaxy Federation’s High Guard fleet. As the Federation fell, Andromeda was the only one of her kind left.
Andromeda’s propulsion relies on slipstream drive technology, which enables faster-than-light travel through a network of natural paths called slipstream paths. Unlike traditional FTL systems, slipstream navigation requires an intuitive pilot to chart a course through these unstable routes. Due to the chaotic nature of slipstream physics, precise calculations are impossible.
Andromeda’s artificial intelligence must work with a human pilot to navigate this complex system efficiently and quickly.
6. Planet Express (Futurama)
this planet express is a state-of-the-art launch spacecraft designed by the brilliant but eccentric Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth.
The ship is powered by dark matter engines, which provide near-infinite fuel efficiency and operate by moving the universe around the ship rather than within it. This unique propulsion system enables Planet Express to achieve effectively infinite speeds relative to itself, enabling instantaneous or near-instantaneous interstellar travel.
The ship’s engines are fueled by dark matter, a substance derived from Niblonian excrement, making it both strangely efficient and efficient.
5. Event Horizon (event horizon)
this event horizonFrom the 1997 science fiction horror film of the same name, it is an experimental spacecraft designed to test a revolutionary propulsion system called “gravity drive”. The drive achieves faster-than-light travel by creating an artificial black hole and folding space-time so that two points are instantly connected.
The gravity-driven core uses exotic matter and advanced energy manipulation to create singularities and reduce the distance between locations in space. By doing this, the event horizon no longer moves in the traditional sense; it just moves. Instead, it “jumps” from one point to another, bypassing the intervening space entirely. The gravity drive is located in a dedicated, highly creepy room at the rear of the ship, surrounded by containment fields and reinforced structures to manage the extreme energy and gravity it generates.
This all sounds great, but there’s a scary side effect. In order to get between the two points, the event horizon must first travel through what is essentially hell. As you can imagine, things didn’t go well.
Still, the Event Horizon can get you to your destination quickly. By the time you get there, you’ll probably be crazy or dead.
4. Discover (“Star Wars: Discovery”)
this Discovery (NCC-1031) exist Star Wars: Discovery One of two Crossfield-class starships built by Starfleet. Both were equipped with experimental propulsion systems called spore drives, but only Discovery was able to function.
The experimental drive exploits the mycelium network, a subspace domain composed of a vast web of spores that spans the entire galaxy. Yes, it basically uses space mushrooms to fly.
Spore Drive’s bioaugmentation system incorporates supercomputer-like organic Interfaced with living navigators, most notably the Tardigrade Ripper or later Commander Paul Stamets, who used injected spores to interface with the network. By accessing this mycelium network, Discovery can instantly “jump” to any location in the universe, bypassing traditional warp speed limitations and enabling unparalleled tactical and exploratory capabilities.
The mechanics of the Spore Drive are based on advanced technology, with the ship essentially repositioning itself through microscopic conduits of space and time, rather than traveling through the space in between. While regular Star Wars warp drives rely on manipulating space and time through matter-antimatter reactions and dilithium crystals, the Spore Drive operates completely outside of this paradigm, providing instantaneous travel without the effects of time dilation.
3. Guild ship (dune)
The guild ship is at dune It is a huge spacecraft used by the Space Guild for instantaneous interstellar travel, and is the cornerstone of the empire’s economy and governance.
These craft employ space-folding technology, which is achieved through the use of psychoactive spice blends. This ability gives guild navigators the prescient ability to chart safe paths through folded space. This process, known as Holtzmann drive-driven space folding, can collapse huge distances between two points, effectively eliminating travel time.
Guild ships are operated by mutated human navigators who developed superhuman cognitive abilities and physical deformities after long-term exposure to spices. These abilities allow them to sense complex, changing paths in folded space and avoid fatal collisions with celestial bodies.
These massive cylindrical ships could carry entire fleets or large amounts of cargo, making them an integral part of trade, warfare, and governance.
2.TARDIS (Doctor Who)
TARDIS Represents the relative dimensions of time and space. The Doctor’s journey took place on its maiden voyage long before the events we see on screen in Doctor Who. This extremely ancient vehicle is a Type 40 time capsule built by the Time Lords on the planet Gallifrey.
The TARDIS is both energetic and intelligent. It exists in multiple dimensions at once, which is why it’s larger on the inside. This multidimensional nature allows it to circumvent the normal constraints of time and space.
When the Doctor sets the coordinates of a new location in time or space, the TARDIS will dematerialize from its current location, travel through the “time vortex”, and then rematerialize at its destination. The process is almost instant. A time vortex can be thought of as a highway that instantly connects different points on the space-time continuum, regardless of their distance or time separation in the “normal” universe.
1. Heart of Gold (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
There is a lot of space. You can’t believe how huge, huge, unbelievable it is. I mean, you might think it’s a long way to the drugstore, but it’s just a small trip to space.
So if you’re going to travel in space, you’re going to need something fast. nothing compares heart of gold. Incredibly, it’s number one on our list.
That’s because the Heart of Gold is powered by infinite non-probabilistic drives, a fantastic new way to travel vast distances in less than a second without all the tedious processing in hyperspace .
The drive takes advantage of the natural chaos of the universe by traveling through every imaginable point in every imaginable universe at nearly the same time. While typical sci-fi engines might struggle with twisting the laws of physics, Infinite Improbability Drive throws them out the window and takes its tea with the resulting chaos. It’s impossible, and that’s the point.
The origins of the Golden Heart are as extraordinary and confusing as the vessel itself. Designed and built on the planet Damogran, the ship will be launched to great fanfare in a ceremony attended by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox. Unfortunately, in an utterly impossible move, Zaphod stole the Heart of Gold and was transported to parts unknown.
Zaphod stole it because he knew what you know now. If you’re a Hubby Frudd who knows where the towel is, there’s no faster way to travel the universe than aboard the Heart of Gold.
