The spore drive was an organic propulsion system the Federation experimented with during the 2240s and 2250s. it was created by Straal and Paul Stamets.

The technology used mycelium spores harvested from Prototaxites stellaviatori to "jump" or "leap" across the mycelial network, and travel to any point in the universe almost instantaneously. During such jumps, the ships were not in normal space but in the mycelial plane.

Originally it could only be used for short jumps but eventually it was upgraded to allow longer jumps. It was controlled by Stamets, who mutated his DNA with some tardigrades genes allowing him full control of the spore drive.

After Discovery was reported destroyed in a battle with an armada of ships controlled by Control, Starfleet classified this technology and ordered all officers with knowledge of it to never to speak of Discovery or its spore drive, under penalty of treason.

When Discovery arrived in the 32nd century, the Spore Drive became public knowledge. A second-generation spore drive was developed and a prototype able to be quickly and easily installed into any ship was built. It still required a compatible pilot.