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prometheus

Aeroshuttle

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I collected a week by week publication called the Star Trek Fact files for nearly 5 years. This built up into 18 ring binders containing information from everything in Star Trek. Most of the stuff was just from episodes but I remember one page was about the aeroshuttle built into Voyager's lower hull. This was originally supposed to be deployed and used particularly in atmospheric manouevers and so forth. Aparently it was never used in the series as to lose it would be to lose an integral part of the hull and you wouldnt want this so far away from home and so the Delta Flier came into existence. If you ever see schematics of Voyager you will see it's outline on the underside of the hull.

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I had always wondered why that never got used. I assumed it was the Captain's Yacht or something like that for the longest time. Thanks for the facts!

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Do you have any more information on this?

31367[/snapback]

 

:P Where can  I look for the schematics of this ship. Do you know a website that has them??????? :yucky:

32824[/snapback]

 

Found THIS

 

and this:

 

  One of the most asked about feature on Voyager is the ship-like outline under the saucer section. The craft is called the aeroshuttle, originally called an aerowing shuttle, it is designed after a runabout, with aerodynamic wings and vertical lift engines. The aeroshuttle has yet to be seen in use, as Sternbach explains possibly because not all of the necessary systems were installed when Voyager left Deep Space-9. Located in the same area are two curved rows of sensor pallets, deck 9 windows, and part of the defensive shield grid. It is a little known fact that the bridge is a free-flying module, complete with maneuvering thrusters.

 

http://www.lcarscom.net/fsd/art/voyager.html

 

and this:

 

The AeroShuttle was the only upgraded component to the Intrepid class that remained in the development cycle long after the other major systems had been frozen and released for fabrication and assembly. Based on the existing Starfleet runabout planform, the AeroShuttle was given a 450 percent increase in atmospheric flight and hover endurance over standard shuttlecraft. This was accomplished through the use of hybrid microfusion and EM driven airflow coil engines. Although the AeroShuttle spaceframe and basic systems were completed by Stardate 46875.3, final outfitting of mission-specific hardware was delayed until simulations and flight testing with the USS Intrepid could be completed. All seven Intrepid-class starships in the initial procurement were constructed at the Utopia Planitia Yards in Mars orbit, minus their  active and backup warp cores, and also lacking their final outer surface plating and distinctive coloration. Each vessel crossed the distance from Mars to Earth Station McKinley Spacedock under low impulse, recording systems performance data on the way

 

http://www.lcarscom.net/fsd/art/intrepid.html

 

and this:

 

The aeroshuttle "The bottom of the Primary Hull or saucer holds a single aerodynamic shuttle capable of atmospheric travel as well as interplanetary flight at speeds up to Warp 3. The AeroWing can carry various combinations of crew and cargo; the usual flight complement numbers four crewmembers." This is what the Star Trek Voyager Technical Guide V1.0 says about Voyager's version of the captain's yacht. The AeroWing, now called "aeroshuttle" was never mentioned, let alone shown on screen, though. Star Trek: The Magazine depicts details of Voyager's saucer bottom, showing the aeroshuttle which is quite obviously intended to be a runabout-sized shuttle with its own maneuvering thrusters. So why was the aeroshuttle never used in six years, although it would have been an option so many times, considering situations in which a standard shuttle would have been too small or too weak? There are four theories:

 

1. The aeroshuttle was badly damaged at the very beginning of the show. I think this statement is hard to maintain, since everything was always repairable on Voyager, and building the completely new Delta Flyer seems more difficult. Even if the aeroshuttle were actually damaged beyond repair, it should have been mentioned at least at the time when it happened and several more times, something like "too bad we don't have the aeroshuttle".

 

2. They actually didn't need the aeroshuttle, or they wanted to preserve it. I don't think there is any reason to believe that, since Janeway didn't do anything to avoid dangerous situations in six years, so why should she be concerned about this auxiliary vessel? It is especially valuable? If so, why didn't they use this supershuttle at least for safe missions, or is it merely for decorational purposes? I think we may safely discard this idea.

 

3. The aeroshuttle actually doesn't exist. The shape on the bottom of the saucer is something else which accidentally resembles something like an independent shuttle or captain's yacht. This is actually the best excuse for not using or only mentioning the aeroshuttle. On the other hand, the Enterprise-D captain's yacht was not mentioned in seven years of TNG either although it definitely exists, but the latter was only an oversized sublight shuttle supposed to ferry important diplomats.

 

4. The aeroshuttle does exist, but it wasn't aboard when Voyager left for the Badlands. The structure on the saucer underside is a hatch or some sort of cover that will be removed once the aeroshuttle will be installed. But why would this cover have something that definitely looks like maneuvering thrusters?

 

Now that the aeroshuttle hasn't been resurrected even in season 7, we can either say that it never existed, or it was just not installed when Voyager went on the short trip to the Badlands. Since we can't simply deny the shuttle-like structure on the saucer bottom, I like the suggestion that there was just a placeholder for the aeroshuttle or that the aeroshuttle was not yet finished at the time of "Caretaker".

 

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies3.htm

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That's really interesting. In my bedroom at my parents' house I had amodel of Voyager above my bed and it always intriged me what the shape was..

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It's weird how i started this post nearly two and a half years ago... so much has gone on since then but Star trekfans.net is still here... as always B)

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Thuis is interesting. It kind of challenges the old magic that keep the shuttles up in the atmosphere without wings.

 

I suspect that there is appropriate techno-babble that can explain, but it still irritates me.

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