Vents vs Spheres.

The retractable sphere theory is a good "in universe " rationalization for what we saw onscreen and explains the occasional dialogue whereby impulse power is combined with warp drive to produce maximum "thrust"; but the "real world' explanation is that whenever we see the vents we are looking at the second pilot version of the 11 foot model and whenever we see the spheres we are looking at the production version of the same model, which was modified just before regular production began for the series. The reason we see both versions onscreen mixed together is that stock footage of the pilot version was used throughout the series, and the producers hoped no one would notice.

 

Don't get me wrong. This has all been, dare I say, fascinating but back on target which do you prefer? Vents or Spheres?

 

Spheres, I guess, for the ambiguity: are these really just cover domes for something inside, or does warp drive work by placing two dissimilar spheres of something at a given distance from each other?

Timo Saloniemi

 

I prefer the spheres. It makes me feel/think that this is not just a hollow tube with simple rocket propulsion, gasses expelling out of the back forcing the ship forward. I'm not sure what it makes me think, other than it's very advanced technology that I don't understand. I also think it looks nicer in a purely aesthetic way.

Your thread title is fine and it's a good question but it always makes me think of something else.

The San Diego Spheres beat the Ventura Vents 56 to 7.

 

Of course, I love the spheres (notice the resemblance). What do they do? Vents are easy, but spheres? My feeling is that the engine upgrade after the 2nd pilot improved emergency/maximum warp speed and warp endurance. The new engines required a much larger supply of antimatter, so, the two spheres are antimatter storage vessels.

 

You mean the nacelle domes, or end caps. Bussards weren't a thing until TNG era.

Considering they're not even the same ship, I don't see what that has to do with this.

That's true.

Which they're not.

That's interesting because in my design for the Phoenix warp system I made its rear spheres antimatter storage. In case of emergency it would be very easy to eject them if they are at the rear of the nacelles.

 

So if they weren't bussards what were they?

 

Twirly lights.

 

The spheres are fuel tanks designed to drop away at the first sign of trouble.

 

Good globes think alike. The antimatter is injected into the forward orange globe (M/AM reactor) which has an excess volume of matter, and it superheats and ionizes the matter into warp plasma. The fully ionized warp plasma runs the warp engines. Part of the warp plasma flow is routed into the secondary hull to be run through the dilithium crystal converter assembly to generate main power for the ship and convert the matter into antimatter to refuel the warp engines. "Regenerative Fuel Cycle".

You are seeing the glowing M/AM reaction with the internal electromagnetic field generator rotating inside the domes to keep the ionized gas confined, compressed and to cause the fully ionized warp plasma to separate for extraction. Trust me, I'm an expert on glowing globes with hot gas in them.

 

Why the change in TNG? Or just a mistake and they ran with it?

 

That concept got into the Star Trek zeitgeist long before TNG, just without the Bussard name. In Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual (1975), the front-end dome is labeled as "Space Energy / Matter Sink (Acquisition)."

Geoffrey Mandel's diagram of the nacelle interior followed closely in FJ's footsteps. This was first published in Star Trek Giant Poster Book, Voyage 13 (Sep 1977). He labeled the forward dome as "Matter Intake."

 

They are never directly addressed in the series, but we can surmise their purpose. For example we know that the antimatter was stored in the nacelles ("anti-matter pods" aka "pods"). We also know that the ship had were three (possibly M/AM) reactors. With the antimatter in the nacelles it would make sense for the m/am reaction to take place there. So to main reactor in the nacelles with probably a smaller controlling reactor in the secondary hull( ala "That Which Survives"). Additionally we have the Constellation which in its damaged condition had both nacelle domes exploded, indicating that there must be some large amount of energy at play. This is also emphasized by the fact that the nacelles are ou tthere on struts so that the huge dangerous energies our out there away from the main ship. Finally in TMP we see that there are no more swirly domes inside the ship. Instead we see a blue glowy dome on top and the swirly intermix shaft. It's as if the function of the domes was moved into the ship.

All of this circumstantial evidence indicates to me that the nacelle domes were not interstellar vacuum cleaners, but instead were m/am reaction chambers. They were glowy and swirly because of the intense reactions going on there.

In Universe:
Well, with the M/AM reactions now going on inside the ship. This left the front of the nacelles free. You'll notice very little in this area on the Enterprise refit/A, Excelsior, and Enterprise B. By the Enterprise-C time they added Bussard collectors into the nacelles.

Reality:
Probably to draw visual similarities between the Original Enterprise and the Enterprise-D they kept the glowing elements on front of the nacelles. Just look at the early Ent-D sketches. Then during TNG they devised that those red glowing areas were bussards. That was then retroactively applied to the original Enterprise, even though there is zero evidence to support that they were bussards in that series. As mentioned by ZapBrannigan I'm not sure if the fandom had accepted them as bussard-like devices before TNG and the TNG production drew from that fan based knowledge, or if the TNG production devised it on their own. Probably the former.

I was referring to on screen references, but you are correct in pointing that out.

You can see my creation here:

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/flight-of-the-phoenix.296684/

Interesting that you have warp plasma going to the dilithium crystal converter assembly? Because if I remember correctly the dilithium crystals themselves provided power without warp plasma. But energy from the m/am reactions was what was used to recharge the dilithium crystals when they were depleted. But I guess my comment might be too far off topic and there already is the separate thread for it

 

To be sure, "sink" or "acqisition" does not necessarily mean a vacuum cleaner, even if Mandel already decided these things clean vacuum. Rather, "sink" is the opposite of "source", the word FJ used for the other end of the engine. In his mind, the nacelle apparently was a linear magnet with sink and source poles...

Some of that is lost if only the sink is a sphere half the time, I guess. Symmetry would be nice for pole magnets.

Timo Saloniemi

 

Sorry but I still can't see what these spikes are?
JB

 

Maybe they were lightning rods for when they go into ion storms. If a bolt hits when they're going 88 mph...

 

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x04hd/mirrormirrorhd0064.jpg

The nacelle spikes were probably a nod to the "needle nose" seen on some military jets. They are especially seen on prototypes, because the little pitot tube has been calibrated on the production version of the jet plane, and the long needle nose is no longer necessary. Those things were for air probes that gave speed info and so forth.

 

Since they retract they are probably control rods for the M/AM reaction. And M/AM reactions need control rods, becasue reasons.

 

When you push the rod in, the thingamabob inside the red dome starts to spin. And to make a humming noise.



Timo Saloniemi