Does any one have an idea of what the large rings at the aft of the Declaration Class Starliner do? Jeffries describes the engines for this design as a cluster of "quick change units", but I don't recall any comment on the large rings. Since most of his designs were concerned with keeping the inhabited part of the ship away from the dangerous radiation of the engines, I think we can rule out centrifuge habitats. Treknical ideas?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Would that be the Enterprise from the TMP display that looks like a stick w/ a couple of large rings at the back? I think the most commonly-held belief is that those are the warp engines, just like on many Vulcan ships (the T'Pau et al. from TNG and pretty much all the ones from ENT).
Posted by Sargon (Member # 1090) on :
So the ring is a warp engine, perhaps a giant warp coil?
Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
...morelike a nacelle
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Since the warp field is created by passing plasma through coils of something-or-other alloy, would a design like this have bunches of individual coils placed around the ring, like having a bunch of little warp nacelles mounted in a circle, with separate plasma feeds (or reactors) for each?
I wouldn't think that having coils around the ring, forming a circuit (with one long circular plasma conduit) would be very efficient. That would be like having one long warp nacelle bent in a circle.
Posted by Sargon (Member # 1090) on :
I think MJ had the cluster of QCUs (Quick Change Units) as being the power units; perhaps the rings do something to modify or manage the space-warp generated by the power units.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Or perhaps the ring is just one big arsed warp coil?