posted
Anyone ever notice that in the satellite imagery shot of Utopia Planitia's ground-based facility (lower right hand pic in link) the structures inside the box seem to be a Galaxy-class Saucer on the left, Engineering section right and two warp nacelles above and below it?
Was there ever a hint from Sternbach/Okuda as to what this was supposed to be? A static prototype maybe, something to do fit checks with? Shouldn't be space-rated components, since they look almost completed and the UP drydocks have repeatedly shown assembly primarily occurs in orbit.
posted
Vaguely, but I dount it's intenional, That top riht pic loks like something I once had growing n a tupperware dish in my fridge.
Coincidence, or was my moldy meal the basis for a secret Starfleet instilation? You make the call.
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posted
Perhaps they tested whether a Galaxy can land in one piece, and when the answer was found to be "nope", they built a really really high concrete wall around the site to keep the press out?
posted
Yeah, maybe one frequency of the subspace sensor arrays interferes with the whales' navigation senses...
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Registered: Nov 2000
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So who would have been responsible for this graphic at this time during TNG? Sternbach was/is big on Mars-scapes, but I don't remember anybody ever questioning him or any of the other folks that actually took questions from fans at that time? Just curious to find out what, if any story, there was behind this image?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
It's an uncanny likeness. Is it possible that they simply used an Ent D model to make the model for the barely visible ground facility, simply needing something that would look like buildings at a glance? The saucer does appear to have sections of hull missing suggesting that it's not completed. But I see no use in constructing a starship of that size on the surface. How would they get it into orbit?
What about the 4 long rectangular structures in the upper right corner? Could they be nacelles?
posted
Rick can be asked directly about these things; both he and Mike still read the trekbbs.com site from time to time (less so now that neither is employed by the franchise).
posted
Could it be a training facility, much like the Navy and Air Force use ships and aircraft frames for training for damage control and firefighting? Better to train in an atmosphere where an accident may not lead to having a vacuum bath.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
That might be plausible, but the components are separated...which wouldn't be as useful for training purposes. It's almost like it could be some kind of internal fit model (but why would you need two warp nacelles in that case?)
You can almost make out the unfinished parts of the saucer like Aban suggested. Although we've never seen it, maybe larger components "can" be assembled on the surface if it's lower than 1g? Lifted with a tractor beam from orbit, up to the UP yards for fitting out? Or towed up by smaller starships?
I may step over to bbs and give the question a shot over there. Anxious to find out what the intent was, if there was one.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Note that they have a Saturn V on display... Disassembled.
Anyway, there's nothing to say that you CAN'T , or DON'T build GCS components on the ground and then heft them into orbit. We've never really seen a starship BUILT at UP, have we? Only under repair, or arguably being fitted out for active duty (Voyager et. al.). Would it make more sense to build a starship's major components in atmosphere, or (as the tech manuals imply) to build them wholesale in orbit?
There's a fairly lackluster early DS9 novel that deals with the reactivation of the Bajoran shipyards after the Cardassians left it. In particular, they were tasked with building an older-model Federation starship, the Ambassador-class USS Hannibal, from the keel up as a test to see if they could support Starfleet designs. It was a gound-based facility that used massive tractor beams to launch a completed starship into orbit upon completion. A lofty concept (sic), but not wholly impossible these days...
posted
Getting something to the surface or up to space requires overcoming only 1 gravity on Earth (even less on Mars, of course). That doesn't seem like much. An impulse engine that can get you up a quarter of light speed in a few seconds should have be able to handle that. A SIF able to hold a ship together with that kind of accleration and shields that can deflect nuclear explosions should be able to deal with the heat and forces of re-entry or take off.
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Registered: Oct 1999
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