posted
Well, is one of those selectively permeable forcefields more or less energy hungry than your standard shield setup? Because we've never heard of shields in their usual configuration being power hogs, and they are by definition as large as the ships that generate them.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yep, I'd say the forcefield would be a standard in this case. Now you're gonna need something exiting/entering the pressurized area to get the door open, then something to cause the whole station to loose power (and redundant systems can't come online)...sounds like sabotage to me
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yeah, a forcefield MIGHT be considered standard... but there's a huge difference between a shuttlebay barrier and a drydock barrier that measures hundreds of meters in diameter. That's likely to be an exponential increase in energy required...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Well, presumeably the forcefield would only need to be up for a few minutes at a time, as the ships enter and exit; the rest of the time a physical structure would be in place.I don't think the power expenditure for this amount of time would be prohibitive.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
If you want trouble, I'll give you trouble!
You want to hold the horses even though the stall on fire? Well, structural damage to the dock shell need not be the issue here. Rather, the ship inside might have to wait until the air around is thin enough that it won't buffet the ship and make her bang onto the walls when it rushes out. If the ship is your standard highly asymmetric design, with large aerodynamic surfaces offset from the center of gravity, and isn't tightly tied in place and isn't running position-keeping engines... Then the danger of banging to the walls could be very real, even if the "wind forces" are minor.
Alternately, you could say that hydrogen-spewing starship engines and oxygen-containing atmosphere don't mix, since there will always be a moment during engine activation when the concentration of hydrogen is in the explosively combustive range.
Or the doors might open asymmetrically, so the "exhaust jet" would send the dock spinning and create all sorts navigational hazards for the departing ship and for the surroundings.
And depending on the severity of the distress, you could play on the real-world issue of costs. The dock shell might have been built to split open in emergencies, but is this one dire enough to justify the costs of putting it back together again?
Or let the person in charge agonize over some personnel outside, on some scaffolding that is on the way. Downplay the atmosphere aspect, but retain it as one of the factors that keep your hero from simply blasting out.
quote: . I'm trying to consider the potential consequences of rapid depressurization -- forcing the ship to hold off the launch until it's safe to open the doors. But I'm not too attached to the idea, so I wanted to try to get some of the facts to make it more believable.)
I don't know how realistic it was, but in "Cause And Effect" (TNGseason5) when they blew out the shuttle bay, the ship moved
-------------------- Sparky:: Think! Question Authority, Authoritatively. “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.” EMSparks
Shalamar: To save face, keep lower half shut.
Registered: Jun 1999
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