Mycelium spores were a type of harmless spore derived from the mycelium of some types of fungi.
Mycelium spores harvested from the species Prototaxites stellaviatori were used in the experimental spore drive. These spores derived from a sample obtained by Paul Stamets. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within") The spores enabled access to the mycelial network. These spores might also be referred to as "mycelial spores", "fungal spores", or just spores. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings", "Point of Light") They were described as clean and renewable. (DIS: "An Obol for Charon")
The term "mycelial spore" was used in "What's Past Is Prologue" in the context of the super-mycelial reactor.
Large amounts of these spores packed together might create hyper-gravitational and magnetic fields. The spores were attracted to a dark matter component in an Interstellar asteroid encountered by Discovery. (DIS: "What's Past Is Prologue", "Point of Light") Sufficiently high concentrations of mycelium spores might also interact catastrophically with cosmic gases such as existed in the Yridia Nebula. (DIS: "Lethe")
All personnel working around the spore drive were inoculated. (DIS: "Point of Light") The spores were infused with an argon-xenon mixture to slow decay. (DIS: "An Obol for Charon")
Spores from the Terran Empire universe were theorized to be different from the ones used by Discovery. (DIS: "Point of Light")
| Displacement-activated spore hub drive |
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| basidiosac rupture • black alert • bloom failure • excess energy cavitation • Hawking radiation firewall • mycelial network • mycelial plane • mycelial barrier • mycelium spore • prototaxites stellaviatori • reaction cube • speirin • spore chamber |