My secondary idea of S.T.A.R. Labs having something that helps him travel faster stopped seeming like a good idea when I thought about how they really aren't that much further technologically than we are and faster than light travel is still out of our reach...
S.T.A.R Labs could have reverse engineered the engine on Clark's ship. They never say whether Clark's ship was FTL or not but it is implied. (Clark could have never made it to NK and back in a human lifetime otherwise.) I believe Jor-El said that creating a manned ship was only a matter of time. Maybe it wasn't a technological issue at all, just time and resources to build one.
