Oh and one more thing about what 'real' future might look like. I actually think that TOS Connie has a better chance of being closer to real space ships
lol no
I really doubt that real space engineers would bother with organically arching pylons or sleek aerodynamic shapes, as such things won't matter in the space.
Every manned spacecraft in history has been designed with some accommodation for aerodynamics. Hell, even the TOS Enterprise looks the way it does because the saucer was designed to be able to enter an atmosphere and land on the surface, with the engineering section and the nacelles both being "bolt on" components and basically expendable. It's what a 1960s artist would extrapolate from 1960s spacecraft designs, and since space engineering hasn't changed much in 50 years, the basis of those extrapolations are still valid.
But the fictional universe in which Star Trek exists is far different than it was in the early days, prior to "The Cage" when the torchbearers of filmed science fiction were "Forbidden Planet" and "This Island Earth." Real technology has also evolved,
And it turns out that one of Jeffries most fundamental assumptions -- that all critical components would be hidden away behind a smooth shiny hull -- is something that has not been borne out in reality, and even Star Trek itself has moved away from this idea.
They'd use the simplest forms that get the job done and stick the part together most straightforward fashion possible.
Soyuz TMA, SpaceX Dragon, Shenzhou, Orion, the space shuttle, the Dream Chaser... these are 6 different spacecraft all designed to do approximately the same thing. But all of them have different shapes, structures and designs of both their crewed sections and their propulsion systems.
So it really isn't a simple matter of choosing simplistic shapes and geometries. Soyuz has that weird bell-shaped crew and service module because it interfaces better with its intended booster, and it uses a spherical orbital module to save weight and simplify construction. The Chinese Shenzhou uses the same kind of adaptor structure for its propulsion stage, but they use a cylindrical orbital module and a slightly larger capsule. Dragon uses a conical capsule with highly convex heat shield; Orion uses much more tapered conical with a flatter heat shield, designed for lifting trajectories; Dream chaser and the Space Shuttle are both orbiter/glider designs, but beyond that they couldn't be any more different.
I think if the Constitution class is going to represent a very advanced starship, it would have to look like it has actually incorporated and refined the design lessons of its predecessors. Much it may suck to admit it, those predecessors now include USS Franklin, NX-01, Shenzhou, Kelvin, and possibly even Discovery. It should look like a ship that took the very best features from all of them and combined them together into something Connie shaped.
