In Star Trek, what propulsion technology connects ships to a network of mycelial pathways?

In Star Trek, the spore drive connects ships to a network of mycelial pathways.

The spore drive is the experimental propulsion system central to Star Trek: Discovery. It uses a fictional mycelial network that extends throughout the universe, allowing a specially equipped ship to make unusually rapid jumps between distant locations. The system is associated with fungal spores and the ability of certain organisms to sense or interact with the network.

The drive is not a version of ordinary warp propulsion. Warp travel creates a field around a starship and moves it through space, whereas the spore drive uses a separate biological and extradimensional pathway. Its operation depends on a navigator capable of interfacing with the network, most notably the tardigrade-like Ripper and later Paul Stamets.

The technology has important ethical consequences in the series. The crew must consider the effects of using living organisms and the network itself. Those consequences help distinguish the spore drive from a simple engine upgrade and make it one of Discovery’s defining technologies.