Space Station K-7

[Robert Comsol]

Timo wrote:

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"Indeed. But transporters are such a convenience in the 23rd century already that hard dockings might in fact be extremely rare events."

Most likely not in "The Ultimate Computer" - 400 members of the Enterprise crew had to leave the ship.

Remembering the queues in "This Side of Paradise" they probably got faster off the ship by doing it the old way. And it tells us something about the accomodation capability of the space station seen in this eposode.

Bob

[blssdwlf]

They could've hard docked in "The Ultimate Computer" but I think they would've stayed away in "Trouble With Tribbles" to maintain the ability to fight given the disputed space and Klingon presence.

[Wingsley]

I would say any kind of TOS-era space station would have to have built-in hard-docking-ports. What if there are technical difficulties with the transporter? Space stations, just like any other space vessels, would have to be designed to handle any contingency including an "abandon ship" option of shutting the place down and leaving it. And if you ever had to come back and reactiviate it, a starship might need to re-power it and board it using a docking port.

"The Ultimate Computer" (non-remastered version) makes it clear that an entire Federation starship's crew can (somehow) be disembarked from ship to station, and that the crew can (apparently) stay there. This, combined with the presence of Starfleet brass and V.I.P. Daystrom, should make it clear that such a station has plenty of room and creature comforts. It also seems (to me, anyway) to at least swing the door open a little further about the existence of 22-person transporter rooms. (The ones standing in line for "This Side of Paradise" were likely the last crewmembers after everything else had been shut down.)

I'm not too sure I agree on the discussion about K-7 and the grain. Whether K-7 was being used to temporarily hold the grain until the weekly freighter came to pick it up, or it was being held there for some procedural reason (needed to be subject to some kind of treatment, needed to be check and approved before being released to Sherman's Planet, whatever) K-7 may be serving a purpose it was designed for: to harbor valuable cargo until it can be either processed or traded or simply picked up. It could be a standard use for stations like this. This would seem to be backed up by the station's obvious personnel uses: shore leave, shopping/trade, a platform for official business, etc.

I suppose that either K-7 or the unnamed M-5 war games station could be located just about anywhere in Federation space, from inside a star system to an interstellar void. If such a station were located in orbit around a planet or moon, how difficult would it be for a station of that size to keep the orbit from decaying? The only advantage I could see to a station being in-system is quick access to a nearby planet and free photovoltaic power from the star. (But if your station is using transporters and subspace transmitters all the time, wouldn't that kind of usage demand the same kind of power generation that a starship uses?)

[Timo]

Most likely not in "The Ultimate Computer" - 400 members of the Enterprise crew had to leave the ship.

Yet this very feat was achieved in emergency conditions in "The Doomsday Machine", explicitly with transporters.

That is, unless Decker lied about this rather unlikely twist of events...

Remembering the queues in "This Side of Paradise" they probably got faster off the ship by doing it the old way.

But that was a bunch of mutineers abandoning not just the ship but all discipline as well. And being in no hurry.

In "11001001", the E-D with its explicit 20+ transporters was clearly benefiting from the availability of a physical gangway when evacuating up to a thousand people. But this was done in minutes, and Kirk would have had hours to offload his personnel. Then again, Kirk's ship would sport an explicit gangway after the TMP refit, and there's no good reason to argue against the use of such a means of disembarking in TOS.

At most, it could be argued the gangway would not be on the saucer rim, because we see no evidence of it there, and that a staircase or ladderway (and/or turbolift connection) through a dorsal hatch is the likelier means, just as you postulated.

What if there are technical difficulties with the transporter?

Then people freeze to death.

Would physical means of disembarking be a "contingency plan", a "primary means", or perhaps "Plan C if both transporters and escape pods fail"?

K-7 may be serving a purpose it was designed for: to harbor valuable cargo until it can be either processed or traded or simply picked up. It could be a standard use for stations like this. This would seem to be backed up by the station's obvious personnel uses: shore leave, shopping/trade, a platform for official business, etc.

The curious thing is that the readiness for such operations includes grain silos. What else is waiting in the wings? Pools for genetically enhanced shrimp? Storage racks for Douglas firs? At some point, diversity and capacity would start competing, and the station would either lose the less likely capabilities, or then have insufficient capacity for each capability.

If such a station were located in orbit around a planet or moon, how difficult would it be for a station of that size to keep the orbit from decaying?

Good question. Terok Nor, a decidedly planet-tied station, wasn't exactly on "low" orbit, and would have experienced little air resistance at the apparent height of perhaps a thousand kilometers. It was generously provided with thruster capacity, though - and Cardassians seemed to have dedicated a lot of effort to sabotaging that particular system when they abandoned the station, perhaps in hopes of having the station crash.

K-7 doesn't have obviously visible thrusters. But the thing is, neither does Kirk's ship!

(But if your station is using transporters and subspace transmitters all the time, wouldn't that kind of usage demand the same kind of power generation that a starship uses?)

Are those high energy systems, though? We never quite learn about transporters - but they seem to work in rather fancy situations, such as when all power supposedly is shut down yet Dona Ragar manages to fire up a platform by using a hand phaser battery. And "terawatt" communications amaze Riker in "The Dauphin", yet the main power systems of his starship appear capable of significantly greater power output, perhaps indicating that communications in general don't require all that much power.

Miscellanea:

When our heroes in "Tribbles" approach K-7, Kirk asks how close the course will take them to "the Klingon outpost". This sort of suggests that the Klingons have a direct counterpart to K-7, with both stations quite possibly dedicated to the same task, namely, staking a claim for this "disputed quadrant".

Of course, it may also be that K-7 is the "Klingon outpost" they are talking about, and that's what the K stands for there. When Chekov speaks of smelling "them", he might not be making a racist remark after all, merely a generally humorous one.

When Nilz Baris takes charge, he is taking charge of the Sherman's Planet project. Kirk seems to think this should in no way be connected to placing the entire quadrant on alert. But Sherman's is the only quoted point of conflict in the quadrant in Chekov's analysis... All the dialogue might be taken to indicate that Sherman's is the raison d'etre of K-7.

Timo Saloniemi

[Forbin]

http://www.inpayne.com/models/kitbash/trekpage_51.html

[Robert Comsol]

Wingsley wrote:

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"It also seems (to me, anyway) to at least swing the door open a little further about the existence of 22-person transporter rooms."

I don't think so at all. The station manager's office can only receive two visitors at a time beaming in, already three visitors will be a 'problem'.

Unlike the Enterprise the station does not appear to have the capability to warp space and take in interstellar matter as fuel or to simply be refueled like a starship at the earliest next convenience - at a station or starbase!

Thus, most likely, you have to bring everything to the station (compare to an oil drilling platform) and energy saving should be a major issue where the corporeal transfer of people to the station appears to be the favorable means, IMHO.

@ Forbin

Nice link and visualization. Thanks

Bob

[Timo]

While bringing in goods was something of an issue for DS9, we never heard of risks or difficulties associated with delayed fuel shipments. It appeared that the onboard power generators were quite capable of operating systems such as personnel transporters (for apparent daily commuting of large numbers of Bajoran laborers, back in ye olden days), shields and phasers (for fighting multiple starships), even in a siege situation...

Where the comparable powerplant of K-7 might be located is an interesting question, with many possibilities. K-7 is significantly smaller than DS9 regardless of what exact size we choose for the two ill-scaled structures, within the apparent limits. It's not smaller than Kirk's ship, though, and could plausibly mount a "starship-category" powerplant or three in, say, the hangar section, with significant fuel tankage along the booms.

The station manager's office can only receive two visitors at a time beaming in, already three visitors will be a 'problem'.

Which is a very good limitation to have for a station manager's office! The mall transporter might be quite capable of receiving parties of 58 people at one stroke, though.

This is assuming that the platforms on the station handle the transport, of course. Kirk could have beamed in with at least five friends if he didn't bother with Lurry' platforms - and with twenty-one if the larger units are assumed to exist. A problem, definitely, but only for Lurry...

Timo Saloniemi