Eugene's Limit (Star Trek)
This article is AbOUT Eugene's Theoretical Limit imposed on WarP Drive propulsion systems from the Star Trek Universe. According to Eugene's limit, warp factor 10 cannot be achieved, since the energy expenditure as well as the speed would be infinite according to the official Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.
Although Eugene's limit has never been explicitly mentioned on screen, its impact on all Trek incarnations since TNG is undeniable. It is named after Gene Roddenberry who introduced the Warp 10 limit for TNG. Although it was an arbitrary definition at first, Eugene's limit can fortunately be explained along with the peak transitional threshold in a way that a 10th layer of the warp field is not efficient and the complete remaining speed range is compressed between Warp 9 (9 layers) and Warp 10 (infinite speed). Any mentioned warp factor of 10 or more that seems to break this rule is actually attributed to a different definition of warp factors (either the old TOS scale or the future scale in TNG: "All Good Things"), where the latter might be connected with a new propulsion technology (Transwarp). In essence, Eugene's limit expresses the impossibility of achieving infinite speed, and this fundamental principle has been violated only in the episode "Threshold" from Star Trek Voyager.
The general consensus in contemporary Star Trek technical circles is that infinite speed is impossible, irrespective of the employed propulsion system.