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A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern (a process called dematerialization), then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter (rematerialization). The term transporter accident is a catch-all term for when a person or object does not rematerialize correctly.

According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, however when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode "The Cage". The transporter special effect, before being done using computer animation, was created by mixing glitter with water, then agitating the solution and incorporating it into special camera effects.

Gene Roddenberry in 1964 had not seen The Fly upon his first draft of "The Cage", but it was brought to his attention, and this is how the transporter was considered.

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, the three touch-sensitive light-up bars on the Enterprise-D's transporter console were an homage to the three sliders used on the duotronic transporter console on the original Enterprise in The Original Series.

Contents 1 Depiction 1.1 History 1.2 Capabilities and limitations 2 In popular culture 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

According to dialogue in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Daedalus", the transporter was invented in the early 22nd century by Dr. Emory Erickson, who also became the first human to be successfully transported. Although the Enterprise (NX-01) has a transporter, the crew does not routinely use it (Captain Jonathan Archer once said that he wouldn't even put his dog through it), generally preferring shuttlepods or other means of transportation before falling back on the transporter if no other means of transportation were possible or feasible. The crew aboard the 23rd century USS Enterprise frequently use the transporter. By the 24th century, transporter travel was very reliable and "the safest way to travel", according to dialogue in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Realm of Fear".

According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Homefront", Starfleet Academy cadets receive transporter rations, and the Sisko family once used a transporter to move furniture into a new home.

Despite its frequent use, characters such as Leonard McCoy and Katherine Pulaski are reluctant to use the transporter, as the characters express in the Next Generation episodes "Encounter at Farpoint, Part II" and "Unnatural Selection", respectively. Reginald Barclay expresses his outright fear of transporting in "Realm of Fear", and Montgomery Scott was suspended in a transporter buffer for over 75 years before being rematerialized intact by the crew of the Enterprise D in the Next Generation episode "Relics".

The shows and movie do not go into great detail about transport technology. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual claims that the devices transport objects in real time, accurate to the quantum level. The episode "Realm of Fear" specifies the length of a transport under unusual circumstances would last "... four or five seconds; about twice the normal time". This calculates the length of a typical transport as between 2 and 2.5 seconds and possibly less. Heisenberg compensators remove uncertainty from the subatomic measurements, making transporter travel feasible. Further technology involved in transportation include a computer pattern buffer to enable a degree of leeway in the process.

According to the The Original Series writers guide, transporters' effective range is 40,000 kilometers, although thick layers of rock can reduce this range (TNG: "Legacy"). Transporter operations have been disrupted or prevented by dense metals (TNG: "Contagion"), solar flares (TNG: "Symbiosis"), and other forms of radiation, including electromagnetic (TNG: "The Enemy" & TNG; "Power Play") and nucleonic (TNG: "Schisms"). Transporters have also been stopped by telekinetic powers (TNG: "Skin of Evil") and by brute strength (TNG: "The Hunted"). The TNG episode "Bloodlines" features a dangerous and experimental "subspace transporter" capable of interstellar distances. The 40,000 kilometer limit is also referenced in STE: "Deadelus".

Starfleet transporters include a device that can detect and disable an active weapon (TNG: "The Most Toys"), and a bio-filter to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an individual in transport (TNG: "Shades of Gray"). The transporter can also serve a tactical purpose, such as beaming a photon grenade or photon torpedo to detonate at remote locations (TNG: "Legacy", Voy: "Dark Frontier").

While several characters have asserted that transporters cannot transport through a ship's shields, there are instances of this "rule" being broken through a technobabble solution (TNG: "The Wounded") or disregarded by the show's writers (Voy: "Caretaker", Star Trek: First Contact).

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Vice Admiral James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Saavik carry on a conversation during rematerialization. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Dr. Gillian Taylor jumps into Kirk's transporter beam during dematerialization, and rematerializes without any apparent ill effects.

People tend to face an appropriate direction when they rematerialize, although in "Manhunt" Lwaxana Troi rematerializes facing the back of the transporter platform. There is no canon explanation for how people maintain their footing when transporting from the evenly surfaced transporter platform to an uneven surface.

The "Mark VII" transporter is capable of handling unstable biomatter (DS9).

According to the TNG Technical Manual, the transporter cannot move antimatter, but this rule has been broken a few times. Such as in the Voyager episode "Dark Frontier", when Voyager transported a live photon torpedo (which contains antimatter) onto a Borg ship.

"It remains unclear why the transporter rooms exist. On numerous occasions, characters have been transported to and from various locations, such as the bridge or cargo holds of the ship, or any location on a planet or other vessel. This implies that there is no need for the transporter room, and also raises the question of why people on the ship must first walk to the transporter room instead of simply being transported from where they are. A possible explanation for this that was put forward in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual is that 'site-to-site transports', as the are referred to on the show, would probably use twice as much energy as would be required for transport to or from the transporter room. This is because the subject being beamed would first need to be beamed to the pattern buffers located in the transporter room before being shunted on to a secondary location. In addition, the six circles on the platform are generally used as targets for the subjects to stand on, but they do not appear to represent any limitation of the hardware to six or fewer people. People have been transported carrying others, in a coffin style transport, and once animals, hay, and other inanimate objects". This is explained in the TOS episode, "The Day of the Dove". Spock and Scotty had said that doing a transport like that could be risky. They could "beam into a deck" or an inanimate object and get stuck there.

For special effects reasons, in TOS, people generally appear immobilized during transport, with the exception of Kirk in the episode That Which Survives. However, by TNG, characters can move within the confines of the transporter beam while being transported, though this is rarely shown.

The famous catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" refers to the transporter device, which was often operated by Montgomery Scott during the original series (although it was never actually uttered by anyone in the original series).

The 2002 action film The Transporter, while having no connection to the Star Trek universe, did feature a subtle homage to the film's sci-fi namesake. Its title and opening credits appeared on the screen in a manner resembling the visual effect of Star Trek transporters, slowly materializing amidst a brilliant array of lights.

• Personal identity (philosophy)
• Physics and Star Trek
• Replicator (Star Trek)
• Quantum teleportation
• Teleportation

• Krauss, Lawrence M; Stephen Hawking (1995). The Physics of Star Trek. ISBN 978-0-06-097710-8. 

• Transporter article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Transporter psychosis article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• The Duplicates Paradox
• "Transporters, Replicators and Phasing FAQ" by Joshua Bell
• startrek.com description