Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is it

[DumbDumb2007]

What is the Transparent Dome at the bottom of the Enterprise's Saucer hull for ? Are sensors supposed to be behind it ? Is it supposed to serve as a viewing gallery for the crew to see the planet under the ship as the Enterprise orbits a world ?
Would it house a circular catwalk ? It would be interesting to finally see it. It would be a cool place to see on the ship. Maybe a good fight scene could happen there and someone could fall down onto the dome? What a way to dispense with the villain !

 

[Christopher]

It's where they keep the koi pond.

 

[shipfisher]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Yeah! Another thread I can use to go off on a tangent.

It strikes me that on ships with the classic connie layout, the focal point, such as it may be, of the deflector dish is probably directly under the vertical centerline through the ventral "sensor dome" in question here. We know the dish is a multi-purpose bit of kit in TNG - used to direct an energy burst in "Best of Both Worlds", so maybe it's always performed other functions, like perhaps enhancing planetary scans directed down through the dish focal point.

The premise here is a bit of a reach, granted, but I've always tried to justify the somewhat dynamically unsound design of the connie we all like so much. For the lads, there's probably a subliminal element at play here - I'll never forget the day I helped an old girlfriend move into her college apartment. She was lying on her back with her head under a round coffee table she was assembling and her legs splayed up and over the adjacent couch, bent at the knees. At that moment I realized why Kirk probably loved his ship so much, and why that ol' rascal Matt J. put the shuttlebay where he did. (yup, I know - "sick" doesn't begin to cover it )

 

[HRHTheKING]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Some kind of sensor device most likely.

 

[Forbin]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Planetary sensor array.

 

[SonicRanger]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

It might not be transparent. It might just glow instead.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

What is it? It was described as a "planetary sensor array" by Franz Joseph. Prior to that, I don't know that it was ever described. I do know that I believed, 'til I saw the "official" F.J. explanation mentioned above, that it was the emitter for the weapons systems. Most people who aren't Trek fans still believe that to be the case, based upon watching the show rather than reading the tech manuals.

I'd be interested to know what Matt Jeffries thought about this. Of course, he's not really available to ask right now... :\

Given all the existing evidence and documentation, plus the fact that it's been accepted by fandom (and based upon the fact that, however blurry, the FJ diagrams HAVE been seen on-screen!), I tend to accept the F.J. explanation.

The dome is an enclosure for some mysterious sensor equipment we simply can't see. Just like the dome above the bridge isn't a window, but is a sensor array ("The Cage" notwithstanding).

 

[USS Excelsior]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

We see weapons fire coming out of it.

 

[Garibaldi O'brien]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

^ So you're saying it's an angry sensor array?

 

[Outpost4]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

It's not angry. Just misunderstood.

Phasers fire from right above it.

 

[Albertese]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

I pretty much accept it as the planetary sensor array. It seems like Probert's TMP stuff called the corrosponding features on the refit sensors as well. And his callouts for the TNG Enterprise placed a ring of square sensor pallets in a similar location on the center of the dorsal and ventral saucer (surrounding the bridge and the captain's yacht).

Also, given certain moments such as McCoy's beam-down to the Guardian of Forever, i would suppose that the TOS equivalent of the transporter emitters were tied in with this feature as well. After all, why would the transporters have been focused on the center of the time disturbance? It would seem to me that if the transporter beam was focused useing the same mechanism as the planetary sensor array, it would only be a side-effect that both beams would happen to be focused on the same area. As there is a similar dome on the bridge (variously refered to as the "space sensor dome" or "proximity sensor dome") this would make the emitter coverage nearly a full 720 degrees. And without any other sort of emitter pad like on TNG+ ships.

On the subject of sensors, I've also speculated that the three rings on the ventral saucer were positions of lateral sensors, but I've heard other interesting ideas for those too (my second favorite being a crumple zone for emrgency landings.... kinda cool.)

 

[Peacemaker]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

It's a giant nightlight. They turn it on for planetary populations that are scared of the dark.

 

[Timo]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Also, given certain moments such as McCoy's beam-down to the Guardian of Forever, i would suppose that the TOS equivalent of the transporter emitters were tied in with this feature as well. After all, why would the transporters have been focused on the center of the time disturbance?

One could simply argue "because what better target for focusing them was there?". As the ship's attention was so explicitly centered on this thing, surely the transporter crews would already be a few steps ahead of Kirk's "beam us down" orders, with preset coordinates and prewarmed demat coils and whatnot. Transporters aren't generally seen set at "null" anyway - if you activate one, you end up somewhere, even if it's just empty space as in "And the Children Shall Lead".

The close spatial relationship between these glowing domes and weapons fire was made all the more intriguing when ENT "In a Mirror, Darkly" showed the above-shuttlebay dome to be close to a weapon port, too. Perhaps a major role for these domes is phaser targeting - or even phaser emission?

TOS VFX left that latter point ambiguous enough, but high res examination of TOS-R and "IaMD" suggests the actual emitters are a short distance away from the domes after all. Still, fire control might be a significant function, and a dorsal weapons suite (never seen in use) might exist in concert with the bridgetop dome.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Patrickivan]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Just my two cents- it's a planetary sensor platform... That glows!

 

[Green Shirt]

DumbDumb2007 said:
What is the Transparent Dome at the bottom of the Enterprise's Saucer hull for ?

Milk dispensing.

 

[Uptightgirl]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

It is used to used to destroy planets by focusing the energy into a very tight narrow beam.Also as a vertical take off impulse engine cover for the saucer when it has landed on a planet.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Uptightgirl said:
It is used to used to destroy planets by focusing the energy into a very tight narrow beam.Also as a vertical take off impulse engine cover for the saucer when it has landed on a planet.

Well, shit. I'm definitely convinced!

TGT

 

[Uptightgirl]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Are expletives allowed here?

 

[Squiggy]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Hell yeah!

 

[Dac]

Re: Transparent Dome under Constitution Class Saucer,what is

Wow...just, wow. XD