Hello, Ric here on Certifiably Ingame with a video that attempts to break down just how
the various types of Torpedoes in star trek work. But beyond the basics, I quickly stumbled
into a few dead-ends with that because quite simply, the technobabble is there to mask
the fact that the writers often don’t know. This isn’t a criticism levelled at the writers,
because often they do lend a certain level of believability to the universe of Star Trek
by alluding to real-world theories and science, but in the case of Quantum torpedoes for example…
things get a little hazier than usual. So with that being said, I instead decided
to focus on what the actual difference is between Photon torpedoes and their later Quantum
counterpart that was introduced around 2371. First off, let’s take a look at how torpedoes
in Trek actually operate. There is a lot of tech that goes into each device, especially
the casings for the weapons. In fact those torpedo casings are often interchangeable
with several probe models and vice versa, especially the Class 8 casing. This ties heavily
into Starfleet’s mantra of adaptability and that to them, even a weapon is a multifunction
tool. Run out of probes? No problem, gut a class 8 torpedo, replicate the sensor equipment
and slot it in. Need to modify a photon to deliver a gravimetric charge instead? Whip
out the payload and replace it. Dead crewmember? Whack ‘em in the tube. That may have been
a little callous. But today we’re looking at them in their
role specifically as photon torpedoes. So we see these weapons fired at both warp and
sublight speeds, but the devices themselves have no warp cores, nor expansive rig for
flight, so how does that work? For the most part, the Photon tube or torpedo launcher
acts as an accelerator that provides the torpedo with its initial burst of momentum. Then,
micro-fusion reactors inside the torpedo act to provide further acceleration and guidance
when it is in flight, leaving a plasma wake, which is presumably the visible glow. The
interesting bit comes when they are fired at warp.
During launch, the torpedo grabs a “hand-off” warp bubble from the firing ship currently
at warp. The torpedo tubes generate a bubble around the projectile drawn from the vessels’
own warp field so as the missile leaves the ship, it doesn’t instantly begin to decelerate
from warp. Remember, it’s the warp bubble that removes a ship from the relativistic
effects of space travel, so without a bubble, physics begins to demand to know just what
the hell you’re playing at, and begins to drag you back down to natural speed limits.
So that would suck for a torpedo launcher, because as soon as the explosive leaves the
firing vessel’s warp effect, it would decelerate back into the ship that fired it.
A small, on-board system provides enough power to maintain a warp-bubble for the torpedo,
but not generate one, therefore a torpedo fired at warp stays at warp until the power
fails, but a sublight one cannot reach FTL speeds. Although I guess you could refit a
torpedo to house a small warp core, like a shuttle.
The unit of measuring a blast from a torpedo is in the made-up Isoton. The reason this
was created in real life was so that inconsistencies and comparisons between real world blasts
and those in Star Trek would be hard to spot and any inconsistencies in the writing could
be hand waved away. It’s for this same reason we don’t get many canon maps of the Trek
galaxy and a definite breakdown of warp speeds, which needs its own video. But, boy are there
inconsistencies. It’s stated that 25 isotons is the maximum yield for a photon, whereas
a Quantum caps out at around 50-60. Star Trek Voyager then launches a 200 Isoton photon
torpedo like it’s nothing. For a comparison, 25 Isotons would level a city, while 5 million
would level a solar system and create a 5 lightyear shockwave. Granted, I may have skipped
over a fair bit in between those two values… As you’d expect, without deflector shielding,
torpedoes are incredibly powerful and can rip apart a target, both Photon and Quantum
varieties. So that is what is similar, what about what is different?
Photon Torpedoes are an incredibly common weapons system, on par with the disruptor
for its use by space-faring species. This is evident when we look into the technology
behind them as they are simply a matter-antimatter reaction in a guided shell. Most species in
Star Trek eventually harness the power produced by the annihilation of matter and antimatter
and use that to create warp drives, so it’s not much of a leap for someone to put that
into a bomb. Interestingly, this is reflected in the technological evolution of some other
species, such as the Romulans (days since Ric mentions the Romulans in a Video) who
preferred singularity cores in many of their vessels and developed a potent plasma based
torpedo instead of photons, although to be fair, the Romulans do have matter-antimatter
tech and photon torpedoes, they just like being ponsy contrarians.
Starfleet began experimenting with photon torpedoes, well pretty much after they cracked
warp drive, like I said, it’s an easy jump to make and by 2153, they had developed the
Photonic Torpedo, which was the precursor to the photon torpedo. The tech involved between
the two may have improved over time, but not the general principle, so many suspect that
the photonic warheads we see in Enterprise are simply the same as Photon torpedoes from
later Trek, just with a syllable lost in the naming convention.
1.5 kilograms of deuterium and anti-deuterium are the payload for a photon torpedo. The
antimatter is safely contained by a photo-magnetic field until it is needed, just like the storage
tanks of a starship. When the device is fired, the deuterium and its opposite are primed
and then enter the intermix chamber awaiting the trigger. By default the trigger for the
torpedo is impact, but they can be remotely detonated by subspace signal or set with a
timer. A leap in Photon torpedo tech was attained in the mid-2270s when the way the intermix
was achieved was altered. Instead of dumping the two together, smaller magnetic pockets
were created that decreased reaction time and increase the burst energy of the annihilation.
When the explosions goes off, alongside concussive forces, there is a great deal of gamma radiation
released, which is supposedly high (Planck) energy Photons, hence the name of the torpedo.
There are a multitude of models and yields of torpedo divided up into Marks, Types and
Classes, with varying ranges and yields, although with such adaptability in individual torpedoes,
it does make me question why there were so many. Believe it or not, we actually have
several company names from apocrypha that list official Starfleet manufactures of these
arms, such as Beltesha Missile Systems and Morris Magtronics.
So moving on to Quantum torpedoes now and the science behind these is more intriguing
in my opinion, but makes way less sense. The theories on Quantum torpedoes as effective
weapons has been circulating in Starfleet since 2236, but it wasn’t until 2355, that
they managed to create a working prototype. Even then, the complexity of the science behind
them meant that it took the threat posed by the Borg to accelerate Starfleet research
in them, producing the first viable ones in 2371 as part of the USS Defiant’s armaments.
In essence, a Quantum Torpedoes are the same as a Photon. Except when canon says that they’re
plasma based, which naturally means they leave an antimatter residue. Wait, it can’t be
both. Or can it? Doesn’t matter, because really the method of going boom is not as
important as what happens after and where they get their name. In all honesty the exact
science behind Quantum torpedoes is uncertain. The point is, that they increase the isoton
yield of antimatter reaction by utilising zero-point energy. Somehow, matter in a quantum
vacuum state, which is to say with little to no energy, the literal minimum possible
amount is twisted through some form of time-space doughnut-shaped deformation created within
the torpedo… The energy produced by this subsequent breakdown between dimensions, yes
between dimensions, takes just as much energy from the Quantum vacuum state, effectively
doubling the yield. I’ll be honest, I paraphrased the DS9 technical manual on that and I still
don’t fully understand it. Nor, judging by their rarity, does the rest
of the galaxy because for the longest time, Quantum Torpedoes were a Federation specific
breakthrough. However what is for sure, is that they are as difficult and slow to produce
as they sound, meaning as of 2375, they have been proliferated throughout Starfleet, but
ships still carry primarily Photon torpedoes for their far, far simpler creation and use.
Quantum torpedoes are tantalisingly cool because they involve that realm of science that sci-fi
loves to frolic in, the quantum realms and unsolved mysteries that we still grapple with.
The point is that by 2371, the Federation has a much clearer understanding of the makeup
of the universe than we do currently, and therefore is better at blowing it up.
Both Quantum and Photon torpedoes contain lots of antimatter (and/or plasma?), which
does mean that they need magnetic containment on at all times to prevent the anti-deuterium
form touching anything. This means that technically the torpedoes are always “on”, just in
a very low-power safe mode when they are fuelled up. More can be manufactured and in the case
of Photon torpedoes, the ship’s own reserves of deuterium and antimatter can be used to
supplement the armoury, but Quantum torpedoes are just too complex to be rigged up on the
fly. At least, until the far future of Trek, where
it seems “Quantums” have become the standard loadout. I could not provide a satisfying
answer as to how Quantum torpedoes worked and if I could, I’d phone CERN, or maybe
someone from CERN could phone me to let me know? Thanks for watching this video on the
difference between Photon and Quantum torpedoes and the convoluted science that went into
deriving their names. Surely it’s not simply because they sounded cool… right? I haven’t
wasted my time here have I? No, course not. Thanks again for watching, I’ve been Ric
and I’ll see you next time for another video! Goodbye!