Subspace (Star Trek)

The technology in Star Trek has borrowed freely from the scientific world to provide storylines. Episodes are replete with references to tachyon beams, baryon sweeps, quantum fluctuations and event horizons. Many of the technologies created for the Star Trek universe were done so out of simple economic necessity—the transporter was created because the budget of the original series in the 1960s did not allow for expensive shots of spaceships landing on planets.

Discovery Channel Magazine stated that cloaking devices, faster-than-light travel and dematerialized transport were only dreams at the time the original series was made, but physicist Michio Kaku believes all these things are possible.William Shatner, who portrayed James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, believed this as well, and went on to cowrite the book I'm Working on That, in which he investigated how Star Trek technology was becoming feasible.

In the Star Trek fictional universe, subspace is a feature of space-time that facilitates faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace works similarly to the Alcubierre Drive, but obeys different laws of physics. Subspace has also been adopted and used in other fictional settings, such as the Stargate franchise, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and Descent: Freespace.

...
Wikipedia