I am working on an addition to "Ships Starfleet Never Built". It's a shuttle that's based on aerodynamic principles more than the ones seen in the series today, or even in TOS. I've posted the illustration before in the "Designs and Artwork" forum).
Can anyone answer the following question:
When did the "current" shuttle technology supercede the "aerospace plane" type of shuttle?
--Baloo
------------------ It is less important that you agree with me than it is for you to to understand what I'm saying.
The likely timeline point would be the one where some innovation made wings unnecessary. Perhaps the development of compact impulse engines? The rocket used by Cochrane was rather nifty already, but still seemed to require lots of fuel/propellant. If Earth had something like the modern shuttles before the early 2100s, then colonization of Mars wouldn't have been delayed that much.
And in "Samaritan Snare" Picard compares an impulse journey aboard a type 7 shuttle to "22nd century interplanetary travel". He is likely to be referring to the fastest designs or "capital ships" of that era, or he would specify "22nd century shuttlecraft travel". So modern shuttles oughtn't come before the early 23rd century.
Perhaps the crucial point was the development of shields to generate aerodynamic shapes around unaerodynamic hulls? We don't know when shields first appeared, although apparently an early experiment was run aboard the Charybdis in 2037.
Personally, I'd put the Jeffries TOS shuttles and the Phase II shuttle aboard April's Enterprise, but not aboard Pike's. That's just IMHO, though, and I sure would like to have some factoids to back that up. Much depends of course on the timeline of transporter development, too.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I wonder what the colour scheme of April's ship was compared to Pikes? - how long were each of their respective tours of duty aboard the Enterprise?
------------------ Ralph: Um, Miss Hoover? There's a dog in the vent. Hoover: Ralph, remember the time you said Snagglepuss was outside? Ralph: He was going to the bathroom.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
April did 5 years Pike did 10 years Kirk did 5 before the refit and apparently another 5 after but before the rest of the movies.
I believe this is correct according to the chronology
------------------ "Resolve and thou art free."
Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :
Well, the post-refit 5 years is heavily conjectural. . . I'm assuming some fiction exists which is set during this period, but I've never seen any of it in the bookshops. . .
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Oh it's definately conjectural. It's the Phase 2 stuff that never happened. I only reason I'm inclined to say that it did is because it helps shore up the timeline alot. There's so much stuff that happened between movies 1 and 2, and 4 and 5 that we never got to see. A bunch of years passed between some of those movies.
------------------ "Resolve and thou art free."
Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :
Don't you mean between 1 and 2, and 5 and 6? That's where the gaps lie.
------------------ "Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, Tears of the Prophets) Dax's Ships of STAR TREK
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Yes, I suppose you're right Dax. That is what I meant although there was gap of maybe a few weeks or months between 4 and 5 (of course they couldn't do much with the Enterprise in pieces now could they :-) ).