posted
On the locally-dubbed "Iceland"-class ship from "Enterprise":
There is an obvious design influence from the Lockheed Martin X-33 Venture Star spacecraft, first proposed as a replacement for the aging Space Shuttle. The original X-33 proof-of-concept vehicle was 20 meters long and wide, with Aerospike high-performance engines. If the POC had returned positive test results, NASA would have gone ahead with a scaled-up planform of 40 meters, also with the Aerospike propulsion system. Although in the real-world, the X-33 program was terminated, it would seem from the opening credits of "Enterprise" that the X-33 development cycle continued in the Trek universe.
The Iceland-class appeared as part of an Earth Defense Fleet which clearly predated NX-01's introduction. Its planform can be interpreted as presenting a later refinement of the X-33 planform, modernized and retasked for a new mission.
I've played around a little with hypothetical timelines based on this evolution.
2007 - Venture Star spacecraft is introduced. It is land-launched, with capabilities roughly akin to the Space Shuttle. (40 meters l & w), Aerospike Engines
2043 - Venture Star 2 (On-orbit assembly and deployment) (60 meters l & w), Mini-Mag Orion Engines
2063 - Zephram Cochrane invents the CDP (warp drive).
2067 - The Conestoga, first colony ship refitted with a CDP drive, leaves for Terra Nova.
2090 - Venture Star 3 (On-orbit assembly and deployment) (80 meters l & w) Warp 1 Engines
2119 - The Iceland-class is launched, developed for planetary defense (on-orbit assembly and deployment) (120 meters l & w) Warp 2 Engines
2135 - The Intrepid-class is launched as Solar Explorers (on-orbit assembly and deployment) Warp 3.9 Engines
2151 - The NX-01 is launched under command of Jonathan Archer.
There will be Iceland schematics soon.
Any thoughts on how this might fit into canon chronologies?
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Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
What ship is this? The one we only see the back of in the intro? I think your chrono fits just fine, although I'd place the venture star 1 around 2010-2015
Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Proteus: What ship is this? The one we only see the back of in the intro? I think your chrono fits just fine, although I'd place the venture star 1 around 2010-2015
No, what your thinking of is the locally dubbed "Lunar Orbiter".
The locally dubbed "Iceland Class" is the ship from "The Expanse" and "Twilight" that has a pointed saucer reminiscent of the Norway Class seen in the movie "First Contact" and as a schematic on the wall of a Species 8472 Earth Simulation of Starfleet Command bar in the Voyager episode "In the Flesh"
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posted
The flying wing. I'm thinking this would more appropriately be called the Iceland-type, as Iceland would be the name of the ship. It's class would probably be N-Something
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Was it only Warp Two they were trying to get to in "First Flight?!" Must have forgotten that. Ugh. I hate the idea that in. . . how far in the past was that ep? Ten years? Five? However long it was, they built two separate types of ship while planning a third.
The next question is, how many of each type of ship have we seen? One of each in "The Expanse," one of each in "Twilight." There might only be the Intrepid and the Iceland out there. A culture that has only reached Warp 2 recently isn't going to build huge fleets of ships, especially when they're demonstrably slower than their mentors the Vulcans' ships.
Especially if they never had a ship to spare to pop over to Terra Nova and see what happened there. But then that episode gets more crap the more you think of it - the Vulcans could have checked it out for them. . .
posted
Come to think of it... why the hell *didn't* the Vulcans check it out for them? Even the Novans thought of that. People's lives were at stake... I'm sure the Vulcans would've chipped in.
I'm guessing there are only 10 or so classes of Star Fleet ships before the NX... 10 tops. I'm counting the Lunar Orbiter from the credits as one. It's obviously a warp ship.
Plus you've got at least a couple of civvie ships.
posted
This also calls into question again how old Starfleet really is. "First Flight" offered a minimum date but gave no real hint about how long the organization had been in service.
My personal theory? That the big Warp Five Project� was supposed to develop an antimatter-powered warp drive. Earlier ships were all powered by fusion, and some could break the Warp Two Barrier� -- but the antimatter reactor offered greater potential over the long run.
The only potential contradiction there would be the execrable "Friendship One" -- but my explanation there is that the probe itself wasn't actually powered by antimatter, it just had the scientific research that Earth had done up to that point.
(I know; lots of people disagree with that, and TPTB aren't likely to use that explanation. I still think it's the best one possible...)
At any rate, that would make the Iceland a fusion-powered ship. But either way, I think that that ship type should have a max of Warp 2. (That was about as fast as the "Twilight" convoy was traveling, anyway...)
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Registered: Nov 2000
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"The flying wing. I'm thinking this would more appropriately be called the Iceland-type, as Iceland would be the name of the ship. It's class would probably be N-Something"
Well, considering the name "Iceland" was simply invented by someone around here, anyway, I don't think there's any reason to get particularly technical about it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
In "The Expanse", there was Intrepid plus two of the Icelands. I'm willing to bet that Starfleet really doesn't have all that many ships. I mean, who knows how long they'd been building NX-02, and they still had fourteen months to go on what was most likely an accelerated completion schedule.
Regarding the only other Starleet ships we've seen, I think it's likely they were capable of warp three, tops. They were looking for STABLE warp two flight only a decade before, and early in the first season they mentioned that they could upgrade a gigantic Y-class freighter to a warp three engine in the immediate future. I don't think that widespread antimatter-powered warp flight is all that inconceivable for this era. Regardless, merely by the physics alone we know that no Starfleet ship looks capable of humping that much deuterium for any real endurance...
posted
GAHH!!! I hate it when these unofficial names stick. I always felt the same way about people calling the Curry-type/Raging Queen the "Shelley-class" too...damn you MARRRRRRRRK!!!!!
P.S. Regarding the age of Starfleet: According to the series bible, it is "less than 20 years old in 2151..." and a Berman/Braga interview stated that Archer had been a SF officer for 15 years. So it was founded sometime between 2132 and 2136.
[ January 13, 2004, 07:10 PM: Message edited by: The Mighty Monkey of Mim ]
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Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I would have to agree with the idea that the Iceland is a fusion-powered vessel. The squat, barrel-shaped structure at the rear center of the ship is not like any M/ARA we've seen. I propose that it's one of two things.
1. A warp field stabilizer, in which case the fusion power source is completely internal
2. An outboard fusion power system, in which case all the warp mechanics are handled inside the nacelles. This would be safer, as the reactor could be easily jettisoned in case of emergency.
Right now, the Iceland is looking like a four-deck ship, design clearly hints at military usage (ultra-smooth lines with no protuberances, slick planes for reflecting oblique particles and beams in lieu of polarized hull plating).
More and detailed views later.
-------------------- This is just fun...it's not life...keep this in mind and we'll all enjoy it much more
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
Well, there are apparently enough ships to draw potential crew away from Cargo service, per "Horizon", and for Star Fleet to have a number of standing regs regarding service on their ships per "Broken Bow".
I'm gonna assume that SF has about 50 ships, but maybe only 5 types of ship, excluding civvie designs.
Registered: Oct 1999
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