Heart of the TARDIS The Heart of the TARDIS ( also known as space - time element ) was a core element of TARDIS technology . It was the basic life and mind , ( PROSE : " Falls the Shadow " ) the " soul " of the ship . ( TV : " Boom Town " ) The Eighth Doctor claimed that the Eye of Harmony was " the power source of the heart of the TARDIS . " ( TV : " Doctor Who " ) Whether it changed positions like other rooms in the Doctor ' s TARDIS was unclear , but during the times of the Fifth , Ninth , Tenth and Eleventh Doctor s , it was apparently located beneath the central console . A regular pulse , the heart worked to the keep occupants in the same time frame as their surroundings during materialisation ; too slow and the TARDIS would be lost in the past , too fast and it would head into the future . If it suffered problems , such as a skipped beat , the TARDIS would materialise at a point in time to allow for repairs . ( AUDIO : " 1963 " ) Commander Maxil removed the space - time element to stop the Fifth Doctor from leaving Gallifrey to avoid his execution . Damon was asked by the Doctor to find a new one , possibly without the recall circuit who let the Time Lords summon the TARDIS on the planet ; eventually Damon reassembled and replaced it to allow the Doctor to continue his travels . ( TV : " Arc of Infinity " ) When trying to get Turlough to sabotage the TARDIS , the Black Guardian directed him to the heart of the TARDIS , describing it as a space - time element and ordering him to rip it out . While he could not remove it completely , he tampered with it enough to make the TARDIS begin to break up . It was this tampering that led to Nyssa leaving the TARDIS . ( TV : " Terminus " ) After being tortured by Tobias Vaughn , the Seventh Doctor used the heart of the TARDIS to heal himself of his injuries . ( PROSE : " Original Sin " ) On one occasion , it opened as the TARDIS was being ripped apart after Blon Slitheen had programmed a tribophysical waveform macro - kinetic extrapolator to tap into the greatest power source available , in this case the TARDIS . When Blon Slitheen looked into the Heart , she regressed to a Raxacoricofallapatorian egg , fulfilling her wish for a clean slate . ( TV : " Boom Town " ) On another occasion it was forcibly opened by Rose Tyler , Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith , who used an attached chain and the pull of a large , yellow tow truck . ( TV : " The Parting of the Ways " ) The Heart appeared to be bright energy which varied in colour from milky - white to orange . ( TV : " The Parting of the Ways " ) The Heart was also said to contain the last traces of Huon particles in the universe . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) When Rose Tyler looked into the Heart , it fulfilled her wish to save the Doctor and infused her with god - like powers . She took the TARDIS to Satellite Five , where she saved the Doctor and destroyed an army of Dalek s , including the Emperor . She was also infused with vortex energy . To save her life , the Ninth Doctor took the energy into himself at the cost of his own life . He regenerated into the Tenth Doctor . ( TV : " The Parting of the Ways " ) After the Tenth Doctor ' s regeneration ( TV : " The End of Time " ) caused massive damage to the control room and forced a crash - landing , the console room was repaired and remodelled into a new design . Now the Heart was relocated right below the console , covered by a protective bubble , instead of inside it . The cover also helped hold up the glass floor . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) When the Silence took control of the TARDIS and made it explode in their efforts to kill the Doctor , the explosion seemed to start at the heart . ( TV : " The Pandorica Opens " / " The Big Bang " ) When the TARDIS collided with a salvage ship used by Van Baalen Bros . , the engine was critically damaged , exploded , and opened a time rift , visually reminiscent to a crack in time , through which the past and future began to leak . The TARDIS managed to freeze the explosion in time , but the Doctor stated that it was merely a temporary fix . The explosion was later prevented when the Doctor used a magno - grab remote to prevent the collision and negate the timeline . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " )