3.0 Enterprise Spacecraft Structure & Impulse/Warp Technology

Enterprise Spacecraft Structure

According to a rough calculation of area for each deck of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, I've gotten the following estimates (assuming 8' ceilings):

Saucer:

• Raw Space: 11,500,000 square feet
• Usable Deck Space: 7,500,000 square feet (66%)
• Processable volume: 60,720,000 cubic feet

Engineering:

• Raw Space: 1,250,000 square feet
• Usable Deck Space: 850,000 square feet (66%)
• Processable volume: 6,600,000 cubic feet

The published figure for personnel on board is approximately 1012. This might be considered as the general crew level for routine exploratory missions. After all, the actual running of the vehicle and maintenance of its systems will not require a great many people. A large percentage of that 1000 are family members not directly connected with spacecraft operations and scientific investigators.

For large-scale science or diplomatic missions, the ship can accomodate a larger crew. In fact, the Galaxy-class vehicle can comfortably accept up to 5000 people. Even at this level, each person would have a living quarters volume of 9300 cubic feet, or about 1160 square feet of deck space. This is quite a bit. Even if we assume that each person got only a quarter of that for living quarters, it still works out to about 4' x 24' per person. A single technician would have a fine cabin, and a family would have just about the same space as in a house.

If the Enterprise were called up for evacuation duty, she would be able to take on an additional 15,000 persons above 6500 before straining its services and habitat space. The transporter would, of course, be another matter altogether...

Starship Impulse and Warp Technology

Understanding How the Enterprise Does What She Does — Without Having to be a Nuclear Physicist

This memo is for the benefit of anyone who must understand the primary propulsion systems of the Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701D. Although it contains some technical yak-yak rooted in reality as well as fiction, it is not necessary for one to have a graduate degree in physics in order to grasp the basics of the ship's motive power.

Technology Level: We can assume that Starfleet and/or Federation science has reached a plateau regarding major propulsion schemes for interstellar vessels. The sail, the steam engine, internal combustion engine, the jet turbine, and the rocket engine all continue in use today, due either to practicality of application (the right engine for the right vehicle) or economics (someone owns a sailboat because he/she cannot afford a power boat). In the case of the rocket engine, even the most advanced design in operation or under testing can be traced back to the days of Robert Goddard, Herman Oberth, and Konstantin Tsiolokovsky. The basic principle has not changed one bit.

So it may be with Starfleet R&D. Once warp physics was discovered, and the prototype engines were built and tested (“proof-of-concept”), the principles have remained pretty much the same. Refinements in design and gains in engine efficiency may be the big goals for the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Especially if we assume that Starfleet doesn't have all the credits in the galaxy to pump into R&D and operational vessels. In the history of space exploration, there has always been an advanced technology peeking over the horizon, but you have to freeze the design somewhere and get to building. In terms of time, one can allocate 10-15 years per major space project, so that in 100 years, even with “high technology”, we aren't looking at that many great leaps.

Impulse Power: We'll begin with the impulse engines, since they are the initial low-power devices traditionally employed to drive a starship. Impulse engines work in part like conventional rocket motors, in that they produce an exhaust stream and forward thrust. The fusion reaction involved in the Enterprise goes beyond simple solid or liquid rocket fuel, relying on high-energy thermonuclear explosions (perhaps 30-60 per second) which are confined within a spherical chamber. Please note that “thermonuclear” refers only to the type of reaction and has nothing to do with weapons applications.

The exhaust plasma is directed through a vectored thrust vent, but only after it passes through two