TOS Enterprise - function of warp nacelles' caps?

[blssdwlf]

Albertese wrote:

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This makes less sense to me, seeing as how those are obscured by the dish... I always imagined those to be part of the sensor/deflector hardware.

It's mostly a pet idea of mine. But, I'd also argue that the intake grills on the TOS Enterprise nacelles have a similar issue in that they have the spinning caps obscuring them. The angle for stuff to come into those intakes from the side is roughly the same as that to clear the sensor dish.

[Robert Comsol]

Timo wrote:

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I guess the relevant question is, does impulse have its own power source in addition to enjoying "warp power" whenever the latter is available?

Good point. According to "The Immunity Syndrome" Scotty added impulse power to the warp drive to create a bigger forward thrust.
The question thus should be, IMHO, if he used "normal" impulse power (fusion energy channelled through dilithium crystals?) or auxiliary/emergency impulse power (like in "Mudd's Women" or "The Doomsday Machine", possibly battery-powered laserfusion).

@ blssdwlf & Albertese

I'd like to turn your attention to the gridded frame structures on the TOS Enterprise's "port", starboard and "bottom" engineering hull bow. This is essentially the same kind of structure seen on the "Phase II" Enterprise nacelles (before she got her front "sinks") and on top of the sled of the Oberth Class.
If the protective screening of the main deflector adjusts near the engineering hull just to cover the extending parts interstellar matter could be taken in there, too (in addition to the ring segments behind the forward caps of the nacelles).

And an ion pod lowered from the bottom would instantly be able to take ion storm readings outside the shield protection of the main deflector. (this is NOT an invitation to restart the ion pod location debate, just an idea).

Bob

[Robert Comsol]

Albertese wrote:

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I've always thought this too. In fact, due to this, I think it's fun to assume that the majority of that wing structure is devoted to the functioning of the warp drive on the D-7 and not just the pylons and the nacelles.

Yes, considering Klingon technology is assumed to be not as advanced as Federation technology, it would be quite a scandal if their warp drive components would actually take up less space.

Thus, the Klingon warp engines are most likely only the warp coils, while the nacelles of the Enterprise also include the matter-antimatter reactors and the antimatter pods. Would be fun to visualize how much of the Klingon Battlecruiser's engineering hull would need to be a part of their warp drive to match the volume taken up by the nacelles of the Enterprise.

Designwise it's fun to assign a jet intake design, very common in the UK in the 1950's, to the Klingon (or - in Hornblower context - Spanish) antagonists, while we may be looking at a Soviet jet intake design (e.g.: Mig-21) that has been adopted for the warp nacelles of the TOS Enterprise (don't dare to imagine the rec room discussions Pavel Chekov might have had with Scotty regarding such a design influence ).

Bob