Hyper-subspace was a measure of speed that surpassed the standard Federation warp factor. Technology utilizing hyper-subspace speeds was first conceived of in the late 24th century by the Pathfinder Project, seeking to find a way to contact the Federation starship USS Voyager in 2376, lost in the Delta Quadrant since the beginning of the decade. They managed to establish a momentary communication link by using the MIDAS array to create an artificial wormhole from the Alpha Quadrant to the Delta Quadrant, then sending a transmission through which Voyager detected and received. Voyager was sent the specifications for the hyper-subspace technology and immediately set out to equip their communications array with it. (VOY: "Pathfinder")