The original series and TNG

Starfleet did not attempt to remake Star Trek: DiscoverySpore drive in Star Trek: The Original Series Or Star Trek: The Next Generations periods. Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, set in 2256-2257, introduced the displacement-activated Spore Hub Drive, or Spore Drive, for short. Discovery‘s revolutionary sports car was the series ‘Big Idea,’ Which was a significant leap forward as a Star Trek Technology. The spore drive allowed the USS Discovery to instantly travel through the mycelial network so that the starship essentially teleports to its destination. But why did Starfleet limit the spore drive to the USS Discovery?

Star Trek: DiscoverySpore drive was controversial because it was cannon-breaking technology far more advanced than anything seen in Star Trek: The Original SeriesWhich takes place a decade later. Also not seen is a spore drive and instantaneous starship teleportation Star Trek: The Next Generation24th century era. Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 resolved these grievances By making the Spore drive part of an overall crisis surrounding the very existence of the USS Discovery. After Discovery collided with a 100,000-year-old sphere and its data was uploaded into Discotheque’s computers, the starship became the target of a rogue AI called Control. With the sphere data, control could become fully sentient and wipe out all organic life in the galaxy.

Discovery’s Spore Drive technology was a closely guarded secret within Starfleet

The USS Discovery and the Spore Drive were redacted

at the end of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, the combined forces of the USS Discovery, the USS Enterprise, and their allies, including the Kelpiens, destroyed Control, Section 31’s Genocide Threat Assessment AI However, in order to prevent another control from becoming online and sentient, Discovery, His bullet data, and his spur drive had to be removed from the 23rd century. To secure the galaxy, Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) led the USS Discovery on a permanent, one-way trip 930 years into the 32nd century. In the real world, it happened too Star Trek: Discoverys solution to the problem of the starship is also technologically advanced for star treks 23rd century. In the distant future, Discovery may set up Star Trek Cannon instead of resisting it.

Once the USS Discovery was no more in the 23rd century, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Berg) and Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) of the USS Enterprise reported to Starfleet that Discovery was destroyed and all hands lost. Next, Spock redacted the USS Discovery from Starfleet records to protect Michael Burnham, his adopted sister. The USS Discovery’s Spore Drive technology has been redacted along with the starship’s records so that Starfleet cannot build another. As time passed, and Starfleet continued to rely on standard warp drive, knowledge of the USS Discovery and its spore drive was simply forgotten by the 24th century.

Starfleet knew that the Spore Drive was almost impossible to use in practice

A sports car needs a navigator

The USS Discovery’s spore displacement hub drive is also dangerous technology that Requires a specialized navigator for it to work. in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, two Crossfield class starships experimented with spore drive technology. The USS Glenn attempted a spore drive jump through the mycelial net which killed everyone aboard. However, Glenn has a giant tardigrade brought aboard the USS Discovery, and the crew soon deduces that the tardigrade, named Reaper, can serve as the Spore Four’s navigator. Unfortunately, the Tardigrade was debilitated by interfacing with the spore drive, so Discovery’s crew released it back into space.

Lieutenant Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) injects himself with tardigrade DNA and grows up to become the USS Discovery’s spore drive navigator. in Star Trek: Discovery In season 3, Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) learned his Quejian DNA and empathic abilities also allow him to serve as the navigator of the Spore Drive. however, The genetic manipulation Stemets underwent is illegal in the United Federation of Planets. Since tardigrade DNA was a requirement to safely interface with the spore drive, it was logical for Starfleet to abandon the technology, which would be impossible to replicate on other starships.

Any Spore Drive research would have been squashed by Starfleet

Section 31 does not want to create another control

Even if Starfleet scientists had access to the redacted files from the USS Discovery, Starfleet and Section 31 would never allow new research into Spore Drive technology. The combined tragedies of the USS Glenn and the USS Discovery were enough to stop Starfleet from pursuing the creation of another spore drive. In addition, Control was the AI ​​of Section 31 and the black ops organization would have prevented any attempt to create a spore drive that could somehow lead to building another Control. finally, The concept of starships instantly teleporting was abandoned In favor of​​​​Starfleet finding new ways to make normal warp travel faster.

Instead of new spore drive or starship teleportation technology, Improving warp drives became Starfleet’s goal. in Star Trek III: The Search for SpockThe USS Excelsior was built with “The Great Experiment,” A transwarp ride. Unfortunately, after it was sabotaged by Scotty (James Doohan), Starfleet also mothballed the transwarp drive. Trapped in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager developed quantum slipstem technology to speed its journey home in Star Trek: Voyager. Star Trek: Prodigy Introducing the Proto DriveWhich harnesses the power of a baby star to make the USS Protostar the fastest starship of its time.

Star Trek’s 32nd Century also abandoned Discovery’s Spore Drive

Starfleet chose to adopt the Pathway Drive

Ironically, Starfleet in the 32nd century also chose to abandon spore drive technology. Even though the USS Discovery was almost a thousand years old when it arrived in 3189, Starfleet had no technology that could equal the Discovery’s spore drive. In fact, the Federation was broken and isolated for nearly a century after a disaster called the Burn wiped out dilithium crystals in starships and eliminated warp travel. With his ability to teleport using the spore drive, as well as a functional standard warp drive, the USS Discovery became the linchpin of 32nd century Starfleet and his primary weapon to diffuse crises threatening the Federation.

And yet, despite Commander Paul Stamets’ dream of replicating spore drives throughout the 32nd century Starfleet, the Federation went in a different direction. Perhaps due to the well-known problems of spore drives that require navigators that can safely interact with the mycelial network, The federation decided spore drives were not workable. Instead, the Federation developed a next generation warp drive called the Pathway Drive which was successfully tested by the USS Voyager-J before being installed throughout Starfleet. As the only starship equipped with a displacement-activated spore hub drive, the USS Discovery remains unique in Starfleet at the end of Star Trek: Discovery.