Thursday 8 July 2021

Starship Design

Starfarers, 7.

I am coming to grips with the size and shape of Envoy. Size-wise, it is a large zero-zero drive ship, a single one-hundred-meter axle with a four-spoked, four-hundred-meter wheel spinning rapidly at each end. The cylindrical plasma drive accelerator extends aft while "...the wave-guide mast for the shielding force field..." (p. 49) reaches forward. The fifty-meter-diameter outer hull of the axle is covered with "Turrets, bays, dishes, tracks, ports, hatches..." (p. 50) while the twenty-meter-diameter inner hull extends slightly at both ends, holding the magnetic bearings of the wheels. The aft wheel carries machinery, supplies and equipment whereas the forward wheel, simulating gravity by means of centrifugal force, holds the crew. We must forget gravity control and FTL.

We are familiar with the Star Trek logo accompanied by an image of the Enterprise. Imagine a screen series of Kith/Starfarers with an appropriate logo and an image of Envoy. 

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I wish a drawing or diagram had been included at this part of STARFARERS, to help us picture what "Envoy" looked like.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I have problems with which way is up and which way is down.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Exactly. I think I get the general gist of the description in the text, but a diagram would have helped.

Ad astra! Sean