I followed this math and agree with it. Everything after you determined a = 280 AU/yr^2 is just speculation about what if the augments modified the ship to go much much faster. The acceleration is probably lower than 280 AU/yr^2 because McGivers said it took years (plural).In "Space Seed":
By acceleratiing to 140 AU per year and then decearating down to zero during the voyage, a DY-100 class ship would use a total velocity change or delta V of 280 AU per year. And if the shp took along enough energy and propellant to mak e the return voyage without refueling it would have a total delta V capacity of 560 AU per year.
Weight = Drag. More energy to accelerate slower, and then more energy to decelerate slower.The Botany Bay looked to be missing cargo modules. Were they jettisoned enroute ordid the ship leave in a hurry?
I followed this math and agree with it. Everything after you determined a = 280 AU/yr^2 is just speculation about what if the augments modified the ship to go much much faster. The acceleration is probably lower than 280 AU/yr^2 because McGivers said it took years (plural).
If we use velocity = 560 AU/yr, which I agree with based on the math, then a 5 light-year trip would take over 500 years. Given all that can go wrong during that time, Spock's claim that the odds are on the order of 10,000 to 1 against them making it to another solar system.
The Enterprise came across their ship a few light years from earth. Thinking about these numbers makes me imagine Khan's people defeated and desperate. In a war-weary world correctly blaming them millions of deaths, they could not expect mercy. Their decision to steal a ship and head out in to the interstellar medium was one of extreme desperation and hubris. They could have come up with a plan to hide out somewhere and subsist. Instead they took a longshot chance of finding a new world they could take as their own.
Their ship's systems would probably fail over the centuries. Many of the life support chambers had failed by the time Kirk found them. But they really thought they were superheroes who could anything. That's why when Kirk revived Khan, it seemed reasonable to Khan that he might study up on the past 250 years and take over part of the galaxy. When Kirk was close to defeating him, Khan still thought he had a chance of getting Kirk to back down by threatening to blow up the ship.
Khan was so good, he didn't think he could lose, even when the odds were against him. He's a great villain for Kirk, who's also very capable and doesn't believe in the no-win scenario.
Were there interstellar journeys in 1996?
Zephram was identified as "Cochrane of Alpha Centauri" which has several explanations, including extra solar settlements in the 21st century.
I'd say no; the Botany Bay's flight was a wild desperation move, launched in extremis. But I'm excited to see what happens in 2018.![]()
It seems to me that "Zephram Cochrane of Alpha Centuri" must be like Lawrence of Arabia, Scott of the Antarctic, and Elaan of Troyius. It refers to the destination you're famous for.
As for the modules on the Botany Bay - yes, it was designed to have two full rings of them as a max load. I think the intention may have been that they were fuel pods, and the BB had been in space so long that she had used up and ejected all but the last five. Either that, or they're cargo/sleeper unit pods, and Khan only needed five for his people. There are models and schematics out there. You can clearly see the attachment points for more pods. Here's my 1/350 kit by REL:
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Cygnus X-1 has a set of plans. If you scroll down you can see the full load in the 2nd to last sheet:
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/ss-botany-bay.php
Well you know, that's interesting because I was just thinking that a lot of these systems haven't changed much in the last seventy five years. This transporter is basically the same system we use on the Enterprise. Subspace radio and sensors still operate under the same basic principle. Impulse engine design hasn't changed much in the last two hundred years. If it wasn't for all the structural damage, this ship might still be in service today.
I think Scotty was concerned about strain on the engines when they were going Warp 8 for a prolonged period. When the ship goes Warp 12 in That Which Survives, it's due to sabotage, which may have allowed the engines to go faster and may have made stress on the hull the weak link. Or it maybe have just put them in danger of damaging the engines.Warp Drive was just "going really fast." Scotty would panic at Warp 6 but the ship went to like Warp 15 without blowing up or turning people into iguanas.
I think the reason for this is the writers know that the speed of light is incredibly fast and is the ultimate speed limit according to real science. So you'd think that means going a quarter the speed of light, you could get places. But space is too fast. Starts are many light years apart.Regardless of what was stated in TMOST, on screen it was never more than "going faster than light" to varying degrees. And whether they used Impulse power or Warp Drive, the stars whizzed by the same way.
I think the warp drive bends space time similar to how mass does.In The Corbomite Maneuver, Kirk is making the ship pull against the tractor beam with the warp drive. Today, going to warp would shove them into hyperspace or shoot them across the system. Back then, it was "revving the engines in reverse" like two pickup trucks playing tug o' war. When he says "now, impulse power, too!" I get a little confused because if that's flimsy little sub-light, what extra are they getting? And any ship that can hit the warp speed button and jump into hyperspace would be hard to hold onto by a tractor beam unless that beam nullified the engines.
I thought the idea was the warp reactor produced plasma that services two functions:In Elaan of Troyius, when Scotty cuts in the Warp Drive, they ship just turns a little faster. Danged thing should be out of range of the Klingons in seconds. "We'll pivot at Warp 2!" It sounds dramatic as hell but it's nonsense. They're making a left turn at 10 times the speed of light???
For me the vastness of space compared to the speed of light gives me the idea of just how far Khan's ship was from any star system: hundreds of years away, a trip no normal person would want to take, but they were supermen.Honestly, trying to make sense out of speeds in the original series is a dead end. Khan's people got where they needed to be at the speed of plot.
What if they cracked cold fusion?
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