Mysterious orange square
- Thread starter Burley
- Start date
The small orangish area at the front corner of the secondary hull, here?
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x01/farpoint1_006.jpg
That's one of the small clusters of rockets that the ship uses for steering. Andrew Probert introduced those things for Kirk's ship in ST:TMP, drawing on the real-world precedent of such rocket clusters used in various spacecraft for "attitude control" or "reaction control". He thought that giving the cluster a distinct "warning color" would be a good idea, considering that these things belch out hot gases and whatnot.
Personally, I always thought that rockets were an anachronistic and unimaginative way to steer a starship. Then again, the TNG episode "Booby Trap" shows one of these babies firing, and the rocket plume is quite a fireworks display - so from the fact that such displays are not visible in other episodes, we can deduce that the rockets are in fact almost never used, and seem to be some sort of a backup system for extreme emergencies only!
We might then hazard a guess that Kirk's TOS ship had these, too - but they were behind neat covering panels because they were normally not needed. FWIW, Archer's older ship from ENT has prominent "RCS clusters" as well, this time marked in bronze hues...
Timo Saloniemi
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x01/farpoint1_006.jpg
That's one of the small clusters of rockets that the ship uses for steering. Andrew Probert introduced those things for Kirk's ship in ST:TMP, drawing on the real-world precedent of such rocket clusters used in various spacecraft for "attitude control" or "reaction control". He thought that giving the cluster a distinct "warning color" would be a good idea, considering that these things belch out hot gases and whatnot.
Personally, I always thought that rockets were an anachronistic and unimaginative way to steer a starship. Then again, the TNG episode "Booby Trap" shows one of these babies firing, and the rocket plume is quite a fireworks display - so from the fact that such displays are not visible in other episodes, we can deduce that the rockets are in fact almost never used, and seem to be some sort of a backup system for extreme emergencies only!
We might then hazard a guess that Kirk's TOS ship had these, too - but they were behind neat covering panels because they were normally not needed. FWIW, Archer's older ship from ENT has prominent "RCS clusters" as well, this time marked in bronze hues...
Timo Saloniemi
Or perhaps not. After all, our heroes often call for thrusters to be used, while those yellow clusters only belch visible fire in "Booby Trap".
Although to be sure, the first jet of flame that Picard's keypress triggers in that episode (specifically called "thruster firing") does not come from a designated and marked RCS cluster at all. It seems to sprout from the docking port in the ship's neck...
Timo Saloniemi
Although to be sure, the first jet of flame that Picard's keypress triggers in that episode (specifically called "thruster firing") does not come from a designated and marked RCS cluster at all. It seems to sprout from the docking port in the ship's neck...
Timo Saloniemi
They're RCS thrusters. But they're not so much for "steering" as just for fine, minor, maneuvering control. Mostly in tight spaces where more dynamic moving is needed. (Like the aforementioned "Booby Trap.")
...Perhaps starships are a bit like seagoing ships, and can steer using a "rudder" of some sort if they move at sufficient speed or have their impulse fields cranked up to sufficient power - but need to use "maneuvering thrusters" at low speeds or when impulse engines are down?
Still, the starships are often shown maneuvering in the vicinity of spacedocks and whatnot, and we never see rocket plumes from the RCS system. Never.
Should we perhaps speculate that the plumes only become visible when the RCS system is used at higher power than recommended? Say, fifty times higher? Picard did do some pretty major maneuvering in "Booby Trap", moving the vast ship at high linear and angular accelerations, at a time when any "mass reducing fields" or other such trickery were likely to be unusable.
Timo Saloniemi
Still, the starships are often shown maneuvering in the vicinity of spacedocks and whatnot, and we never see rocket plumes from the RCS system. Never.
Should we perhaps speculate that the plumes only become visible when the RCS system is used at higher power than recommended? Say, fifty times higher? Picard did do some pretty major maneuvering in "Booby Trap", moving the vast ship at high linear and angular accelerations, at a time when any "mass reducing fields" or other such trickery were likely to be unusable.
Timo Saloniemi
It's possible that's why we see the rocket plumes from the quads. Though I doubt any propulsion or maneuvering system on the ship is using rocket blasts or any type of conventional propulsion systems. I doubt the thrusters even do that. The "rocket plume" is likely put there simply as a visual reference for the viewer. (And note that we don't see rocket plumes each time Picard uses a thruster.)
Even the impulse engines aren't "strictly" using rocket thrust and are using some level of mass-reduction in order to work. (Though they were used as strict Newtonian "rockets" in this episode due to the circumstances they were under. It's never been implied that when an engine is fired on the ship it has to be maintained to overcome Newtonian physics.)
I think the "rocket plume" is best ignored in the same way we ignore the phaser-blast from the torpedo tube in "Darmok."
Even the impulse engines aren't "strictly" using rocket thrust and are using some level of mass-reduction in order to work. (Though they were used as strict Newtonian "rockets" in this episode due to the circumstances they were under. It's never been implied that when an engine is fired on the ship it has to be maintained to overcome Newtonian physics.)
I think the "rocket plume" is best ignored in the same way we ignore the phaser-blast from the torpedo tube in "Darmok."
Speaking of which, I hope they'll fix the missing thruster "exhaust" that is missing at one point during that sequence. I'm sure they will.
maybe the reason we saw the "fireworks" as one poster put it is because it was chemical thruster backup system that had firing nozzles in the rcs thruster pallette. didn't the booby trap drain fusion/antimatter power sources? maybe chemical engines were the only way to maneuver a ship the size of the enterprise while still maintaining low enough power to escape? Though it would have been kinda stupid for it to take a whole episode to figure that out. I kinda figure that starships would have backup chemical thrusters to maybe scoot them out of the way of an asteroid or at least give them a chance of getting out of a bad orbit in the event of major failure/damage?
I cant remember the episode boobytrap in detail as it's years since I watched it. But if it was a close up shot of the reaction control thrusters then most other times they were used we never saw a close up. Perhaps they work the same way each time but we see it farther away.
Which is why it's a bit annoying that we see a rocket flame at the neck, because that's the one place where they aren't. That is, they are indeed "mysterious orange squares", visually quite distinct, and the neck is the one place where no mysterious orange squares can be found.
But perhaps the neck has this single almost unnoticeable sideways-thrusting rocket? This would be a logical place for one, at least in attached flight mode.
In that case, we could well argue that the entire RCS assemblage is a "backup system". After all, visible nozzles are a dominant characteristic of these mystery squares, and visible nozzles and rockets would seem to go hand in hand, whereas other means of Star Trek propulsion do not involve conventional nozzles, with or without flames.
One other thing we could argue is that those flames are all "errors". That is, the ship is strugging so much that the thrusters fail and the burst pipes burp out some gases that never should have gotten out in normal operations...
Timo Saloniemi
I think of it as a sort of contingency to move the ship about if there's no power, especially when there's stuff like asrteroids near by.
^^, Yes, that might be where "real life" engineers would probably insist on having such equipment on board for some precision docking, manuevering etc.
There are numerous points in the show where someone directs the helm to proceed on "thrusters only." In STVI, Valeris reminds Kirk that regulations prohibit ships from using anything except thrusters inside spacedock.
Did a little research in the TNG tech manual to freshen up on the RC thrusters. For the Galaxy class it lists two sets of six engines but in the diagram I can only find 10... four on the saucer, two on either side of the main deflector dish and two on the aft end of each of the two warp nacelles.
From Memory Alpha (where they also cite the episode Booby Trap): The reaction control thrusters are the standard thrusters used by the Federation for low-velocity propulsion, station-keeping and maneuvering control in space.
Does that take all the mystery out of the orange squares??
There are numerous points in the show where someone directs the helm to proceed on "thrusters only." In STVI, Valeris reminds Kirk that regulations prohibit ships from using anything except thrusters inside spacedock.
Did a little research in the TNG tech manual to freshen up on the RC thrusters. For the Galaxy class it lists two sets of six engines but in the diagram I can only find 10... four on the saucer, two on either side of the main deflector dish and two on the aft end of each of the two warp nacelles.
From Memory Alpha (where they also cite the episode Booby Trap): The reaction control thrusters are the standard thrusters used by the Federation for low-velocity propulsion, station-keeping and maneuvering control in space.
Does that take all the mystery out of the orange squares??
IIRC each warp nacelle has four RCS on it. Two on the top of each nacelle and two on the bottom.
Uh-oh... that pushes the RCT count up to fourteen! Can anyone clarify this... or should we check with Michael Okuda?
Checking my own Tech Manual and other diagrams of the enterprise:
There are four RCS thrusters on each warp engine (two on top, two on bottom.) There's the two on eitherside of the deflector and four around the saucer. For, yeah, a total of 14.
From the Tech Manual:
The diagram points to one of the warp nacelle thrusters with a call out labeled: "Nacelle thruster (1 of 8)", a call out pointing to one of the deflector quads ("Engineering Hull Thruster (1 of 2), and a call out on a saucer quad (Primary Hull Thruster (1 of 4).
For a total, according to the diagram, of 14 thrusters. I don't know what to make of the text.
There are four RCS thrusters on each warp engine (two on top, two on bottom.) There's the two on eitherside of the deflector and four around the saucer. For, yeah, a total of 14.
From the Tech Manual:
The diagram points to one of the warp nacelle thrusters with a call out labeled: "Nacelle thruster (1 of 8)", a call out pointing to one of the deflector quads ("Engineering Hull Thruster (1 of 2), and a call out on a saucer quad (Primary Hull Thruster (1 of 4).
For a total, according to the diagram, of 14 thrusters. I don't know what to make of the text.
NebulaClassGuy
Lieutenant Commander
The RCS thrusters, as stated upthread, are used for delicate maneuvering and docking. This kind of exhaust presumably always comes from them (the RCS thrusters), but we just never saw it with every single use, because the show's VFX budget most likely wouldn't have allowed it, and aside from treating space less realistically than nuBSG did, TNG also didn't have the access to CGI VFX that nuBSG did, either.
And RCS thrusters can indeed be used like a ship's rudder, as evidenced by this dialogue from TUC:
00:18:19 Kirk: Right standard rudder. Bring us alongside.
00:18:21 Valeris: Right standard rudder. Z plus 5 degrees.
And RCS thrusters can indeed be used like a ship's rudder, as evidenced by this dialogue from TUC:
00:18:19 Kirk: Right standard rudder. Bring us alongside.
00:18:21 Valeris: Right standard rudder. Z plus 5 degrees.
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