First off, I just wanna say, that if you think that Matt Jefferies designs are perfection, you're probably going to hate this.
Now that that's out of the way, to my design. Currently just a bad kitbash done in MSPaint, but hopefully I'll clean up the design in the not too distant future.
http://johnnymuffintop.deviantart.com/art/Revised-Botany-Bay-Concept-131753205
Now, to the logistics of it. I wanted to keep the basic rounded nose, raised battleship like bridge, bulky cargo bay (it's about twice as wide as it appear here) skinny corridor and clunky engine layout but make it look like no other Star Trek ship. Halo, Battlestar Galactica, and Stargate were obviously an influence but hopefully not TOO obvious. I wanted something clunky and primitive with hints of ENT designs.
She would have been used by everybody, civilian or otherwise. She was also built to be able to take glancing hits from asteroids, hence the 3 plasma cannons.
Unlike the original version, I doubt she would have been built on Earth and sent up with 4-6 rocket boosters. (Doesn't seem practical to me)
With that in mind, I figured she could be a bit bigger than the classic one since they don't have to deal with getting into Earth orbit, her approximate length is 114 meters from the top of her front antennae to her stern. Also, I was trying to design something I thought could look good against the JJPrise so she kinda HAD to be at least a little bit bigger.
What I'm thinking, keep in mind, this is an alternate history:
During the early 1970's, when Richard Nixon was approached by NASA for funding, they proposed several concepts (which IRL happened, he said that they could only afford the space shuttle). Nixon chose 3 projects, a reliable/reusable low orbit spacecraft (the shuttle), a moderately large, low/mid orbit orbital station with small shuttles for higher orbit travel, and a small moon base which could be access from the station's shuttles.
During the 80's, Regan expanded the moon base to serve as his base of operations for the Star Wars program. During which factories were built to mine material from the moon.
After the Cold War, President Bush repurposed the lunar factories (by this time there are up to 20) to build exploration vehicles. Which eventually evolved into the DY series during the late 90's.
Her initial design was an all purpose craft, no variation between military and civilian variants, aside from slightly less powerful weapons.
Personnel for these vehicles would take a spaceplane (like the Spaceship One design on steroids) which would then dock at the newly created ISS, then take another transport to the fleet yards above Lunar 1 and board their ship.
Now that that's out of the way, to my design. Currently just a bad kitbash done in MSPaint, but hopefully I'll clean up the design in the not too distant future.

http://johnnymuffintop.deviantart.com/art/Revised-Botany-Bay-Concept-131753205
Now, to the logistics of it. I wanted to keep the basic rounded nose, raised battleship like bridge, bulky cargo bay (it's about twice as wide as it appear here) skinny corridor and clunky engine layout but make it look like no other Star Trek ship. Halo, Battlestar Galactica, and Stargate were obviously an influence but hopefully not TOO obvious. I wanted something clunky and primitive with hints of ENT designs.
She would have been used by everybody, civilian or otherwise. She was also built to be able to take glancing hits from asteroids, hence the 3 plasma cannons.
Unlike the original version, I doubt she would have been built on Earth and sent up with 4-6 rocket boosters. (Doesn't seem practical to me)
With that in mind, I figured she could be a bit bigger than the classic one since they don't have to deal with getting into Earth orbit, her approximate length is 114 meters from the top of her front antennae to her stern. Also, I was trying to design something I thought could look good against the JJPrise so she kinda HAD to be at least a little bit bigger.
What I'm thinking, keep in mind, this is an alternate history:
During the early 1970's, when Richard Nixon was approached by NASA for funding, they proposed several concepts (which IRL happened, he said that they could only afford the space shuttle). Nixon chose 3 projects, a reliable/reusable low orbit spacecraft (the shuttle), a moderately large, low/mid orbit orbital station with small shuttles for higher orbit travel, and a small moon base which could be access from the station's shuttles.
During the 80's, Regan expanded the moon base to serve as his base of operations for the Star Wars program. During which factories were built to mine material from the moon.
After the Cold War, President Bush repurposed the lunar factories (by this time there are up to 20) to build exploration vehicles. Which eventually evolved into the DY series during the late 90's.
Her initial design was an all purpose craft, no variation between military and civilian variants, aside from slightly less powerful weapons.
Personnel for these vehicles would take a spaceplane (like the Spaceship One design on steroids) which would then dock at the newly created ISS, then take another transport to the fleet yards above Lunar 1 and board their ship.