TNG Enterprise D question

[DIRustCohle]

Was watching Star Trek TNG 'Encounter at Farpoint' last night and had a question about propulsion in space. To start, I get it's Sci Fi, and not really a real ship. But......


In Farpoint, the Enterprise D separates the saucer with the main part at Warp 9.8. They seam really concerned about doing that maneuver at that velocity, and in fact, have to ask Data if they can even do it. If space is a vacuum, why would the speed matter? My other question is if the warp drives are in the main section, how would the saucer section maintain it's warp velocity, or even physically separate from the drive section. I get that inertia would keep the saucer going, but how long could it maintain 9.8 without continued propulsion? If the clasps that hold the two parts together are in the 'rear' section of the saucer, wouldn't they have to be traveling in 'reverse' to be able to separate at that speed, or any speed above what the saucer is capable of on it's own?

I know that there are a lot of questionable things that occur in space in Sci Fi, like JJ Abrams flash light flare, and fire, but was just wandering.

 

[MNCyGuy]

You're going to catch a lot of **** for this thread, so I just want to beat the haters and applaud you for your commitment to the fine nerd tradition of thinking way too hard about this ****.

 

[Cyballzz]

Was watching Star Trek TNG 'Encounter at Farpoint' last night and had a question about propulsion in space. To start, I get it's Sci Fi, and not really a real ship. But......


In Farpoint, the Enterprise D separates the saucer with the main part at Warp 9.8. They seam really concerned about doing that maneuver at that velocity, and in fact, have to ask Data if they can even do it. If space is a vacuum, why would the speed matter? My other question is if the warp drives are in the main section, how would the saucer section maintain it's warp velocity, or even physically separate from the drive section. I get that inertia would keep the saucer going, but how long could it maintain 9.8 without continued propulsion? If the clasps that hold the two parts together are in the 'rear' section of the saucer, wouldn't they have to be traveling in 'reverse' to be able to separate at that speed, or any speed above what the saucer is capable of on it's own?

I know that there are a lot of questionable things that occur in space in Sci Fi, like JJ Abrams flash light flare, and fire, but was just wandering.

[video=youtube;tZVdR19E5mU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVdR19E5mU&feature=kp[/video]

 

[Clonefan32]

I was going to post something in reference to this being incredibly nerdy but I see that is now covered. Carry on.

 

[HFCS]

I can't answer your question, but I've always wanted to quantify how often Data saves the entire ship or almost destroys everyone. It seems like about 20% of the episodes Data saves them, maybe 5% he goes haywire somehow and they can barely stop him from destroying them all. Basically a quarter of all episodes their survival is Data-dependent.

 

[TRZA]

There was a writer for TNG who said that they would just come up with random unsolvable problems and technical situations and have a forty five minute buildup to a climax where a guy in glasses would spew a bunch of technical sci-fi space ship jargon and solve the problem by pushing some buttons while some intense music plays.

 

[tejasclone]

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

 

[roundball]

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly distinct tones. What are we to believe, that this is some sort of magic xylophone or something?

 

[roundball]

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly distinct tones. What are we to believe, that this is some sort of magic xylophone or something?

 

[Clonefan32]

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly distinct tones. What are we to believe, that this is some sort of magic xylophone or something?

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

I'm pretty sure this makes you guys common law married or something...

 

[Clark]

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly distinct tones. What are we to believe, that this is some sort of magic xylophone or something?

 

[jbhtexas]

Well, you know, if you are really interested, there are resources out there than can probably answer these question for you...



Note that the latter document is fully illustrated...

 

[Clark]

Well, you know, if you are really interested, there are resources out there than can probably answer these question for you...

View attachment 26949 View attachment 26950

Note that the latter document is fully illustrated...

you have got to be ******** me.

 

[MNCyGuy]

you have got to be ******** me.

This surprises you? Is it really that different than the multitude of pre-season guides, fantasy rankings, etc. that get printed every season for sports? People get obsessive about **** they like and publishers cash in.

 

[Acylum]

I could never decide if Troi was hot/not hot. Seemed kinda whiny most of the time. Warf was hitting it, but that really doesn't help me much.

 

[Cyballzz]

This surprises you? Is it really that different than the multitude of pre-season guides, fantasy rankings, etc. that get printed every season for sports? People get obsessive about **** they like and publishers cash in.

Yeah but the difference is that the guys that write the preseason guides aren't virgins.

 

[johnstoncy]

Yeah but the difference is that the guys that write the preseason guides aren't virgins.

I know a couple of these guys and I beg to differ...

 

[tzjung]

Was watching Star Trek TNG 'Encounter at Farpoint' last night and had a question about propulsion in space. To start, I get it's Sci Fi, and not really a real ship. But......


In Farpoint, the Enterprise D separates the saucer with the main part at Warp 9.8. They seam really concerned about doing that maneuver at that velocity, and in fact, have to ask Data if they can even do it. If space is a vacuum, why would the speed matter? My other question is if the warp drives are in the main section, how would the saucer section maintain it's warp velocity, or even physically separate from the drive section. I get that inertia would keep the saucer going, but how long could it maintain 9.8 without continued propulsion? If the clasps that hold the two parts together are in the 'rear' section of the saucer, wouldn't they have to be traveling in 'reverse' to be able to separate at that speed, or any speed above what the saucer is capable of on it's own?

I know that there are a lot of questionable things that occur in space in Sci Fi, like JJ Abrams flash light flare, and fire, but was just wandering.

You are definitely thinking too hard on this. Propulsion in this situation doesn't matter...remember you are in space. Propulsion in only required for ACCELERATION! One you hit the speed you want to be at...in this instance Warp 9.8 you no longer need any propulsion to maintain that speed as there is nothing in empty space to slow you down. With this in mind, the 'Saucer' part of the ship would only need a smallish engine to separate itself from the main ship as its already traveling at Warp 9.8 and would only need to accelerate it's individual component (Warp 9.8 + separation acceleration added by small engine).

Now..if its assumed that 'Warp' is an ongoing energetic process supported by the Enterprise's propulsion engine where you are leveraging gravity to 'Warp' space in front and behind the ship to allow for faster than light travel, as soon as the 'Saucer' portion moves outside of that gravitational field it's going to have a bad time. :smile:

 

[Clonefan32]

You are definitely thinking too hard on this. Propulsion in this situation doesn't matter...remember you are in space. Propulsion in only required for ACCELERATION! One you hit the speed you want to be at...in this instance Warp 9.8 you no longer need any propulsion to maintain that speed as there is nothing in empty space to slow you down. With this in mind, the 'Saucer' part of the ship would only need a smallish engine to separate itself from the main ship as its already traveling at Warp 9.8 and would only need to accelerate it's individual component (Warp 9.8 + separation acceleration added by small engine).

Now..if its assumed that 'Warp' is an ongoing energetic process supported by the Enterprise's propulsion engine where you are leveraging gravity to 'Warp' space in front and behind the ship to allow for faster than light travel, as soon as the 'Saucer' portion moves outside of that gravitational field it's going to have a bad time. :smile:

That is EXACTLY what I was just getting ready to post... thanks alot, *******.

 

[Cyballzz]

I know a couple of these guys and I beg to differ...

Couple of who guys?