Near-casual interplanetary travel. Human factionalism transposed over a solar scale. But Humans also aware of their own evolutionary limits (brain is still based on surviving in the savannah) and at least some aiming to form a greater union.
Interstellar Travel, The Acceleration is of importance what the going appears such as. It might be a good idea to build base around first and then send deep in space am thinking as well. Interesting...
Interstellar travel requires speeds that are way beyond what we can hope to achieve in a foreseeable future, even if we begin by building a base from which to depart.
From TAS, The Slaver Weapon: SPOCK: Stasis boxes and their contents are the only remnant of a species which ruled most of this galaxy a billion years ago. Their effect on science has been incalculable. In one was found a flying belt which was the key to the artificial gravity field used by starships.It's a shame that our government withheld this discover in our reality. In the Star Trek alter-reality, they exploited the discovery to build atomic powered, gravity field drives in interstellar spaceships complete with artificial gravity in the 1990's. In Space Seed, the Botany Bay was atomic powered with artificial gravity launched ~1996. Since it was found many lightyears (hundreds?) from Earth, it must have had a FTL drive or at least a high-STL drive, perhaps an early gravity drive which propelled the craft until its atomic fuel was exhausted.
Artificial gravity probably. Atomic power based on what? Or it was found in the outskirt of our solar system. All Spock said was that it in a place that didn't get much traffic.
Based on the fact that chemical rockets would have put it somewhere between Pluto and the Kuiper belt. What would Enterprise (a deep space exploration starship) be doing so close to Earth?
Based on Scott's technical expertise: SCOTT: Definitely Earth-type mechanism, sir. Twentieth century vessel. Old type atomic power. Bulky, solid. I think they used to call them transistor units. I'd love to tear this baby apart.
I'm pretty sure one of the older Trek novels or perhaps the novelization of this episode established that it was found on Earth's moon. ...or maybe I'm thinking of a Known Space story, the universe "The Slaver Weapon" draws from.
The point that this Star Trek "writer" makes is that the basis of all of our advanced space technologies came from an alien artifact (the anti-gravity belt) found on the moon in the late 1960's or early 1970's moon landings, and not from our own ingenuity. The angle is that some advanced ancient civilization left "gifts" to lesser civilizations. Once you venture off your planet and land on the moon, you are now ready for the cosmic secrets to be revealed to you. They gave Earth a leg up. I see the cosmic logic of these ancients. Once you have the technology to reach to moon, you probably have nuclear technology that can threaten the entire civilization of the planet. If you haven't nuked yourselves into extinction, you are probably on the technical verge. How best to unite a world? Show them they are not alone in the cosmos, and there are "they" out there. Now, you are going to start a new age of space exploration then colonization. Eventually, you will discover new worlds and civilizations on your own terms. Another saved civilization. Wise. The Federation just made the requirements harder by waiting for interstellar technology (like warp drive) to be demonstrated. Hypocrites!
It bothers me that they put a WWIII sometime around 2053. It means that today's babies will be in the middle of a worldwide nuclear war when they are 33!!! Talk about a bummer!
Sorry about being a selfish, but it is better than 1992 during the Eugenics War (when I was 33). That would have been more of bummer to me.
WWIII is different because they say that it's from the consequences of that war that rose a type of utopia, which makes about as much sense as Picard becoming a super captain from being stabbed through the heart, IE none whatsoever.
Because of the 1990's Eugenics Wars, Carbon Creek, PA not being a town in this universe, no DY100 or Mars launches so far etc, I think the best way to view trek as a very alternate timeline from our own, unless the entire franchise is ever rebooted.
Not the way I remember First Contact. It was a combination of Cochrane building the warp drive and contact with the Vulcans that created the Trek future. The war didn't have anything to do with it.