Might the USS Enterprise ...

Kugai

--r as atmospheric capabilities, the Voyager was intended from the start ( as indicated by crewmen depicted walking around on the exterior in some of the preliminary design art ) to go planetside, even before the ship's design was finalized in preproduction.  While I've never seen anything in print stating it was the intention in the final design, it always seemed to me that the shape was intended to reflect the "lifting body" concept ( even if the balance, size, etc. wouldn't actually work ).

i do believe so. i think they (rick berman?) said something like "since TOS invented transporters so they wouldn't have to land every week, we decided since we could afford to do it, we should."

For some daffy reason, a lot of the more recent stuff I've read has based size comparisons in trek on the number of decks a ship has.  By that logic, the Voyager would be a lot "smaller" than the classic/ST:I-VI Enterprise because it has only about 15 decks while the Enterprise had over 20 ( mostly because the former lacks the "hit me here" neck ).

By that logic, the Sovereign class would only be slightly "bigger" than the older Enterprise because it had 24 decks.

As far as atmospheric capabilities, the Voyager was intended from the start ( as indicated by crewmen depicted walking around on the exterior in some of the preliminary design art ) to go planetside, even before the ship's design was finalized in preproduction.  While I've never seen anything in print stating it was the intention in the final design, it always seemed to me that the shape was intended to reflect the "lifting body" concept ( even if the balance, size, etc. wouldn't actually work ).

The old Enterprise didn't have much of that, especially the classic design of the original episode you mentioned.  I don't think the original designer had atmospheric flight for the time indicated in mind, and the ship appearing in the sky like that was more of a writer's attempt to get the ship to an altitude that an F-104 pilot would see it for the story than anything else.

David Harris

 

I seem to remember USS Voyager landing on a planets surface in one of the few episodes that I could stomach of the series. OK not the Enterprise & a she is/was/will be (delete as applicable... ) a smaller ship.

 

If I recall correctly, Voyager is/was/will be about the same size as the refit Enterprise.  It is just considered small because by the TNG era starships had gotten so huge.

Ah, the mighty Clarkson. Some people vilify him, but a lot of the time he makes a lot of sense to me with what he says. Love the episode where they test supercars in France & drive across the Milau bridge ( http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf050103.htm ) which must be one of the wonders of the modern world & after praising the bridge to the hilt takes great pleasure in mentioning that the architect was British.

I seem to remember USS Voyager landing on a planets surface in one of the few episodes that I could stomach of the series. OK not the Enterprise & a she is/was/will be (delete as applicable... ) a smaller ship.

No reason why they couldn't add something out of transparent aluminium to the top of the Eiffel Tower for a starship to dock IMO. As it is transparent, it shouldn't detract too much from the look of the tower from the ground. Be a nice diorama to see & please post a pic if you ever build it.

IF I remember my episodes there was one where the enterprise DID come back to earth in a time traveling sling shot and entered the earths atmosphere.  At least they could move in teh low atmosphere so I "Suppose" they could hover?

 "Tommarrow is Yesterday"

On stardate 3113.2, the starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is thrown back in time to Earth in 1969 by the effects of a high-gravity neutron star (referred to as a "black star"). Enterprise ends up in a suborbital position in Earth's upper atmosphere, and the ship is picked up as a UFO on military radar.

Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, scrambles an F-104 Starfighter jet interceptor piloted by Captain John Christopher (played by Roger Perry), to identify the craft. The pilot cannot believe his eyes when he sees the bizarre spaceship floating above him. The pilot is ordered to stop the Enterprise from escaping before reinforcements arrive, and Kirk is forced to take defensive action. The ship emits a tractor beam toward the jet and the force accidentally tears the plane apart. Acting quickly, Kirk orders the pilot rescued from the doomed plane, and Christopher is transported aboard.

The man at first is confused with his new surroundings but is quickly amazed to learn all that the future has to offer. He learns such facts as Enterprise is one of 12 such starships, and why the computer started calling Kirk "dear", having been overhauled on the woman-dominated planet Cygnet XIV (who thought the computer needed a personality).

The problem quickly arises that returning this 20th century pilot to Earth, after having seen a glimpse of the future, could contaminate the timeline. Learning the pilot's own as yet unborn son, Sean Jeffrey Christopher, plays an important role in Earth's future (as chief pilot for the historical Earth-Saturn probe mission), adds to the severity of the situation. Kirk must somehow return Captain Christopher to Earth without any knowledge of Enterprise.

Another problem is that Captain Christopher has taken photographs of Enterprise, which could be recovered by the Air Force, and also alter history. The first step is to steal the images and reports of the Enterprise's appearance from the airbase logs. Kirk and Mr. Sulu beam down to the base to locate the report files. Upon their removing the sensitive data tapes, a security policeman enters and draws a pistol. Kirk and Sulu surrender their weapons and communicators to the policeman.

Meanwhile, back aboard Enterprise, Mr. Spock contacts the Captain to check on his progress. When the policeman "answers" the communicator, he accidentally activates an emergency recall to the ship, and is suddenly beamed aboard Enterprise, frozen in a state of shock. The Captain points out to Spock, "we have another problem" with yet another abducted (accidental this time) native to deal with; they decide to confine him to the transporter room to limit his exposure.

Kirk and Sulu continue searching for the remaining evidence of their time intrusion. Sulu successfully locates the rest of the files and returns to the ship while Kirk creates a diversion as more airmen stumble upon them. Kirk is subsequently captured and taken to the security area for questioning.

Spock, with the help of Captain Christopher, beams down to the facility to rescue Captain Kirk. They subdue Kirk's guards and are ready to return to the ship, only to find Christopher has gotten a gun, demanding to remain behind. Fortunately, Spock had anticipated he would make such an attempt, and sneaks behind him to subdue him with a Vulcan nerve pinch, and they all return to the ship.

Spock and Mr. Scott inform Kirk they have an idea for returning to the 23rd century, by slingshotting their way around the Sun. The theory is, time will reverse as the ship races toward the gravity of the star, then, as the ship breaks away, quickly run forward again. With precise navigation, the theory should work; however, braking is a problem, since a mistake could destroy the ship, or make them miss their preferred time period.

Enterprise sets out to make the risky slingshot. As time moves backwards, Kirk has Captain Christopher beamed back to his fighter jet at the instant he first sees Enterprise, so he now only catches a quick glimpse of the "UFO", and the sighting is written off as such for the rest of history. The security policeman is returned to his own time as well, just moments before he first stumbles upon Kirk and Sulu. Enterprise then successfully returns to the 23rd Century.

Kugai

 

sumpter250:

 

Interesting Question........

We're talking about the original NCC 1701, which used shuttle craft ( supposedly ), or the Transporter, to get crew to the planet surface.

 

 

I think it's more of a whimsically-intended project than "canon."

 

sumpter250:

 

One other thing has always "bothered" me. Antimatter. Why, with transporter technology, didn't they use matter / matter anihilation for their energy source, instead of matter / antimatter. Containment of the antimatter had to comsume vast amounts of energy, and was......"risky ?" The concept of "if two equal masses existed in the same place, at the same time"....BOOM !, sounds like a better answer. It would require only a slight change to the intermix chamber.  Even in deep space, there is some mass that could be "harvested", and converted to energy.  A vessel like Enterprise, could have hovered quite well if she had Inertial drive, instead of "thrusters".

Just a couple of thoughts....

 

 

The "mattar/matter" you're suggeting would have required energy to phase-shift one of the sources then allow it to pop back into phase with the unphased matter in exactly the same place on an atomic scale.  The amount of energy needed for initiating such a phase shift and the control needed would have been harder to achieve.  Simple compression without the phase shift step wouldn't work for annihilation, since that would simply result in nuclear fision, which the impulse reactor already provides.

The containment you mention for the antimatter involves simple magnetic bottling in a vaccum.  Much of the risk you mention is controlled with backup power systems and batteries in case the impulse reactor fails, and the ability to eject the fuel containers if needed.

The ships in Trek do collect matter as they travel.  The Bussard ramscoops ( the red glowy domes on the front of most Fed ships, and the forwars-facing grilles on the Ent-A era ships ) collect interstellar gas ( mostly hydrogen ) and dust as the ship travels to provide most of the "matter" part of the matter/antimatter mix, as well as additional hydrogen for the fusion reactor and  reaction mass for the impulse engines.  This is why you see so much antimatter storage space for the warp reacto in cross-sections of Trek ships but almost nothing for matter storage.

Thank You. That is information I didn't have, and didn't think to ask for, but valuable information indeed, and,  incentive to " do some digging ", to learn more.

I love it when a new learning curve pops up unexpectedly !

Why would the USS Enterprise dock in Paris?

to paraphrase one of our greatest natural philosophers, Clarkson of topgear...

perhaps to collect the " Cheese-eating surrender-monkeys" capitulation?

 (lookup 1066 & all that, eg., we DON'T speak french, & how many times have the brits bailed out the frogs?...

Zenophobia is not racism? Discuss 

sumpter250

Interesting Question........

We're talking about the original NCC 1701, which used shuttle craft ( supposedly ), or the Transporter, to get crew to the planet surface.

I think it's more of a whimsically-intended project than "canon."

sumpter250

One other thing has always "bothered" me. Antimatter. Why, with transporter technology, didn't they use matter / matter anihilation for their energy source, instead of matter / antimatter. Containment of the antimatter had to comsume vast amounts of energy, and was......"risky ?" The concept of "if two equal masses existed in the same place, at the same time"....BOOM !, sounds like a better answer. It would require only a slight change to the intermix chamber.  Even in deep space, there is some mass that could be "harvested", and converted to energy.  A vessel like Enterprise, could have hovered quite well if she had Inertial drive, instead of "thrusters".

Just a couple of thoughts....

The "matter/matter" you're suggeting would have required energy to phase-shift one of the sources then allow it to pop back into phase with the unphased matter in exactly the same place on an atomic scale.  The amount of energy needed for initiating such a phase shift and the control needed would have been harder to achieve.  Simple compression without the phase shift step wouldn't work for annihilation, since that would simply result in nuclear fusion, which the impulse reactor already provides.

The containment you mention for the antimatter involves simple magnetic bottling in a vaccum.  Much of the risk you mention is controlled with backup power systems and batteries in case the impulse reactor fails, and the ability to eject the fuel containers if needed.

The ships in Trek do collect matter as they travel.  The Bussard ramscoops ( the red glowy domes on the front of most Fed ships, and the forward-facing grilles on the Ent-A era ships ) collect interstellar gas ( mostly hydrogen ) and dust as the ship travels to provide most of the "matter" part of the matter/antimatter mix, as well as additional hydrogen for the fusion reactor and  reaction mass for the impulse engines.  This is why you see so much antimatter storage space for the warp reacto in cross-sections of Trek ships but almost nothing for matter storage.

Interesting Question........

We're talking about the original NCC 1701, which used shuttle craft ( supposedly ), or the Transporter, to get crew to the planet surface.

She used maneuvering Thrusters, and "orbited" . I don't recall any of the Star Fleet vessels being able to "hover", in an atmosphere, which she'd have to be able to do, to moor to the Eiffel Tower.

A vessel of her size moored to the Eiffel Tower would have to create a destructive downblast from her thrusters, to remain stationary, and then, most likely, only for a short time. Her thrusters were designed for maneuvering, not hovering in the gravitational pull of a planet.

That said, in an alternate space time continuum, it might be possible. Didn't the saucer have docking ports on the sides, like the later vessels?, She'd most likely dock port, or starboard side to, at the edge of the saucer.

One other thing has always "bothered" me. Antimatter. Why, with transporter technology, didn't they use matter / matter anihilation for their energy source, instead of matter / antimatter. Containment of the antimatter had to comsume vast amounts of energy, and was......"risky ?" The concept of "if two equal masses existed in the same place, at the same time"....BOOM !, sounds like a better answer. It would require only a slight change to the intermix chamber.  Even in deep space, there is some mass that could be "harvested", and converted to energy.  A vessel like Enterprise, could have hovered quite well if she had Inertial drive, instead of "thrusters".

Just a couple of thoughts....

I was wondering if there are superdetailing parts for the Eiffel model, such as PE or whatnot?

I love this Idea! I think it would be a very dynamic looking scene.

Also, the idea of the ship docked with the Empire state building would be an excellent choice, as the original design called for a dirigible docking tower on the top.

Though there's no docking port on the bow according to the blueprints, I'd say you could go for the whimsical by going with the derigible-style bow-to-tower approach.