Jeanway 0 Posted April 18, 2004 (edited) THERE HAS SOME DISCUSSION ON THIS ISSUE. Should a Starship be constructed in space or on the surface of a planet. If it can't land and take off from the surface, this could and is a problem. But if given these capabilities in the beginning it wouldn't be. The only Shipyard I'm aware of is on Mars, according to Startrek canon. Should they all be able to land and take off from a planet? Voyager could. Only being able to space dock seems counter-productive, doesn't it? Edited April 19, 2004 by Jeanway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WEAREBORG4102 0 Posted April 18, 2004 there's Mckinley Station, Spacedock, Mars, Utopia Planitia. It's better in space.... Landing takes a lot of energy... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeanway 0 Posted April 19, 2004 (edited) I don't think that's a good enough reason, Weareborg. You have to give the people what they want, that's good marketing. Think of the amount of energy it takes to build it IN space. Edited April 19, 2004 by Jeanway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Phaserman 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Final assembly in space is probably best, but I am sure most of the component parts are build on a planet. it might be a case like how they build seagoing ships. they build the hull on land, then launch it, and fit it out with a superstructure and fill it's interior with gear after launch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scaleman 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Jim's right, in fact, that's how all the space stations to date have been built, they make the required module on the ground and then launch it up to space where it's attached. But if the ship was of the right design and size, we could build the whole thing on the planet and then send it off (like if it's designed like a blended-wing body, only with a steeper angle of the wing, and only with 1 or 2 decks). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Phaserman 0 Posted April 19, 2004 The design I posted a while back, the submarine like one, could work like that. build the hull on the ground, then launch it and add any accessories to it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeanway 0 Posted April 19, 2004 WHAT? How do you launch a HULL into space?? Drag it? Tow it? It's just a hull. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Phaserman 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Same way we put Spacelab into orbit. Strap it onto a rocket, and fire it up. the design I had was a hull measuring 4 decks tall by 167 meters by 20 meters. that's about 60% larger than a Saturn 5, but with modern launching systems, including multi-stage rockets and reusable SRBs, we could put it up there, then attack some engine pods and other stuff in orbit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeanway 0 Posted April 19, 2004 That'll keep a Crawler-Transporter pretty busy, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
