posted
Ever wonder why the NX-01 and Intrepid look like they share so many common components and design elements? I did. It spurred me to think the possible unspoken design lineage here. The Intrepid obviously is a predecessor to the NX-01 as is, but that doesn't seem like it was originally the plan. Intrepid doesn't have Warp 5 capability, and is a demi-saucer style, probably a crew of 40-odd ppl. They look like they were designed together, part of a unified plan to create 2 or perhaps 3 classes of ships to fill various needs within Earth Starfleet.
What if, and bear with me here - what if the NX-01 was originally designed to have the same warp capabilities as the Intrepid? What might this class of ship have looked like before the Warp 5 Project began?
posted
It's a cool looking design, but why does this have to be in any way connected to the NX Class? Make it the NW Class. If it's somewhat smaller than the NX, it could easily be a direct predesessor. We know from the dialouge in the show that the NX Class was specifically designed to house the Warp 5 engine project. Archer's pop was working on the engine, but Jonathon asked his dad how big "his ship" would be, implying that the engine and the ship design were being developed concurrently. The NX would logically need to be bigger, with more space for crew and supplies seeing as the new engine would allow them to go farther and stay out longer than slower, existing engines.
quote: What if, and bear with me here - what if the NX-01 was originally designed to have the same warp capabilities as the Intrepid? What might this class of ship have looked like before the Warp 5 Project began?
The one thing I would say about this idea, interesting though it is, is that the implication from 'Broken Bow' (possibly later episodes as well- can't remember) was that the warp 5 project had been in development for quite some time. If that was the case, I doubt an existing design would've been used, although it's certainly plausible that similar vessels were in use, I suppose.
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posted
Yah, they played Zephram Cochrane's speech dedicating the start of the Warp 5 Complex, which would be the facility used to create a warp 5 engine. And that was recorded... what? 70 years before the episode? However many years ago it was, the project had been planned for awhile.
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posted
It's also possible that the Intrepid has undergone a refit to those new nacelles and components but that NX-01 is the only one with the Warp Five engine itself (the long tube thing Trip is always working with (insert masterbation joke here).
Besides, the NX-01 is geared for exploration in ways the older ships are not: enhanced sensors, more shuttlepods, beagle, deployable communication relays, gel rubdowns, etc.
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posted
Both can be true. Pop's comments about the NX-01 being designed for the engine, and vice versa, AND my above schematic can co-exist. Having a design remain constant and unchanged for 70 years from the time of Cochran til 2151? Don't you think there were some gross redesigns as the team learned more about the technologies and materials needed to reach Warp 5?
My drawing is an idea of what one of those earlier designs that never left the drawing board could have been. Nothing more. I'm certainly not suggesting that the above was built. The Intrepid could be a rung in the ladder up to Warp 5. Certainly it was not the only planned rung. And if the design ultimately led to the NX-01 as we see it now, then certainly 10-15 years before the NX-01's dedication, I can easily see several such ships at least being represented at various points along the design phase. If Starfleet's been pursuing the Holy Grail of Warp 5 since Cochran, then could every warp engine slower than that be considered a failure along that development tangent? Or were there multiple such development teams? Which still begs the question I asked before:
Why do the NX-01 and the Intrepid look like they were designed by the same team?
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quote:Originally posted by Irishman: Why do the NX-01 and the Intrepid look like they were designed by the same team?
Uhhhh....because they were? It's not as though Pops designed the whole ship: just the engine. There must've been a design team that was working together for years to get the NX-01. Back in the "space race" days of NASA, there were teams that worked together from the organization's founding through the launch of the first Space Shuttles.
Healthcare being what it is the Trek, I think a career designing ships could span 50-60 years easily.
So: the Intrepid might be 5-10 years older but still look very simmular (and recall the Vulcans had been holding back progress for some time).
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