The Fastest Starship is Half Engine, The Protostar Class

The Protostar class Starships was first seen in Star Trek Prodigy and instantly there was a mystery around it. Launched in 2383, it was an advanced vessel capable of jumping well beyond warp 9.9 with its Proto-Warp drive which rivalled slipstream travel. It was under the command of Captain Chakotay to return to the Delta Quadrant but that mission did not go according to plan.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Real Origins
01:56 Protostar Project
04:41 USS Protostar
05:53 Specifications
09:07 Mission Profile

Star Trek Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
Star Trek Prodigy/Strange New Worlds/Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation are all owned by Paramount Pictures/CBS and distributed by CBS.
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[xXRubyishereXx]

Some starships have big engines

This big engine has a starship

[TimeSpinner]

This ship is basically a runabout duct-taped onto two photon torpedos with a reverse-engineered Romulan singularity drive (and by 'reverse-engineered' I mean more than half of it was invented whole cloth with a lot of Human ducttape, Tellarite swearing, Andorian doubt, and Vulcan suppressed resigned sighs).

[emperorofscelnar]

A ship with 3 nacelles and 3 cores built into the star drive section, also built with an arrow shaped saucer, this ship was built for speed.

[thomasstrudwick]

Stunning ship. Really hope Prodigy gets saved.

[stevenclark]

I think the Protostar is so fast you don't need all the comforts of home. You can just leave, or be relieved, and come back later.

[leepky]

I feel like the Protostar is actually a long-range stealth bomber dressed up to look like a scout or diplomatic vessel. Look at how it's small and difficult to track despite its insane power output, and how it's got multiple torpedo launchers even though that's very rare on Starfleet ships that are that small. I think as a design it's the Federation's strategic response to the Dominion War, able to directly counterattack an enemy home world in any part of the galaxy within a couple of days.

[Voltaic_Fire]

The entire ship was effectively a holodeck, I wonder why the crew quarters weren't just holographic so the crew could have anything they like in their alloted personal space and communal areas. It's not like the Protostar was short on energy with two warp cores, it would be great to have a fully customisable ship with largely invulnerable holographic security personnel and medical staff.

[ppenmudera]

I really hope they release the second season. It'd be a horrible shame if this great series isn't continued

[igncom]

I do like the smaller vessels. They feel more real in a way then the giant juggernaut vessels.

[firehawk]

I got this ship two days ago in Star Trek Online... and i am absolutely in love with her.

I think a quote from Voyager sums her perfectly
"She may not be as big as a Galaxy-class, but she's quick and smart."

Extreme Emphasis on "QUICK" lol

[joeywall]

It really is an exquisite little ship.

[IN-tmmw]

This ship is the answer to questions i had back in the 90s about Starfleet developing a rival drive comparable to the Romulan's quantum singularity reactor. Which is why i always found it ridiculous that the Fleet in discovery's Future would still be using Anti Matter in most of its ships. If Starfleet wishes to explore beyond the Galactic Barrier, they can't keeping using Anti-matter reactors.

[UnChannelDuVulpineX]

It's not just very unique, it's very, very unique. Not just a bit unique, or half unique.

[AdamBrown]

I love that little ship (instantly thought of Worf and Riker in First Contact when I typed that…Riker saying ”tough little ship” to Worf who replies “little!”) Anyway, I love the design, it’s sleek and would be a great emergency response ship for the Federation.

[mtverv]

4, 000 Lightyears in a few minutes? Damn makes the timeframe for Voyagers journey back from the Delta Quadrant seem ridiculous. With the Protostar they could cover that in a couple of days

[baystated]

I definitely got some Flight of the Navigator vibes when shots featured the exterior forward hull.

[TimeSpinner]

I just realized what the Protostar class reminded me of: The Warp Delta from Enterprise!

The big arrowhead wedge. The two extremely short narrow pylons with the path of propulsion going just above and just outside the main saucer. Built for a crew of 30. Few niceties since it was a propulsion and tech bed. Smooth underside and fore hiding the unaerodynamic experimental tech platform in the back. And if you squint a little, it even has a Duotronic take on that big dome covered bridge giving panoramic views from the dorsal side.

That tested Warp 2, this tests quantum slipstream, still proud little testbeds.

[wolfpack_]

I'm shocked at the scale of the Protostar being, at least presumably, smaller than the Defiant class. Makes sense considering it's race car inspirations, but what little I've managed to watch of this show gave me the impression that it was closer in scale to the Constitution class with a more current gen ship profile. Still a really cool ship class and I hope we haven't seen the last of them.

[AzraelThanatos]

I'm still trying to figure out the timeline with the fall of Romulus, but the Protostar Drive seems like something that would come out of several Romulan engineers working with Starfleet to design something, as it seems to be a far better option than the singularity drives that the RSE uses while being something that would utilize a lot of their tech fed through a Federation filter.

[princekagato]

Looks like a next generation Nova-class replacement as a planetary survey vessel. Fill it with a bunch of scientists and move on to the next star system to chart it.