Star Trek: 10 Devices That Every Starfleet Ship Has

Transporters are the primary method that people use to get on and off the ship. They convert the body into a stream of energy that is then reconstructed at another location.

People often bring up the ethical issues of transporters, such as whether the version of you that went into the transporter is the same you that comes out or merely an exact copy that possesses all of your memories. Some people will even go so far as to refuse being beamed in favour of shuttle-travel which is much slower.

Transporters were invented on Earth by Emory Erickson some time in the early 22nd century and were available very early on in Starfleet's history, even aboard Archer's Enterprise, though they were quite glitchy and were not trusted back then to be used for anything alive. They would however use the transporters on people in the event of an emergency if all other options were exhausted.

Sadly, even newer transporters have their bugs, such as reverting people into children, combining two people into one, and distorting your body into a mangled mess of atoms.