Are They Bussards?
- Thread starter uniderth
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I'm a fan that the TOS orange domes are matter-antimatter reactors. I also like the idea of Bussard Collectors, but I put them as the circumferential vents behind the orange domes...I can see my cake and eat it, too.
I am pretty sure I saw some illstrations online where, on the E-D, the actual hydrogen intake was done by tiny inlets near the front of the nacelle, wrapping around the domes, just like you imagined. And a scene from Insurrection of the E-E venting gasses seems to confirm that set-up.
But the lights are just supposed to be the ionizing beam emitters (which were a feature of Bussards real-world designs for a Ramjet)...but I kinda also like the idea that what we are seeing in energies in the engine - which I think was the original intent on the glowy endcaps in TOS (well that, and to look cool and sparkly on camera.)
Interesting I never saw those intake vent diagrams.
For the Enterprise E, the intake and venting of the gases looks like it takes up the whole of the red area not just the edge.
I prefer the TMP-era name for them - space-energy/matter acquisition sinks. 
I prefer the TMP-era name for them - space-energy/matter acquisition sinks.
Those were supposed to be a component from FJ’s vision of warp drive.
Great video - points made clearly and effectively.
Ideally, I'd love to believe that the front domes are showing the M/AM reaction or somesuch - it really adds to the feeling of incredible power that the nacelles generate and is exactly what Matt Jefferies had in mind when he was designing the ship.
However, then John Meredith Lucas came along with The Changeling, Elaan Of Troyius and That Which Survives - all point towards a single, centralised power source (with perhaps several reactors operating as a single unit). These episodes have specific references to the ship's power layout which is why I tend to give them more credence over the more generalised dialogue about reactors being in the nacelles.
I do like your tying of the red domes (TOS) to the TMP "impulse crystal" dome though - given that both are directly connected to the main drive systems, this makes a ton of sense!
Great video - points made clearly and effectively.
Ideally, I'd love to believe that the front domes are showing the M/AM reaction or somesuch - it really adds to the feeling of incredible power that the nacelles generate and is exactly what Matt Jefferies had in mind when he was designing the ship.
However, then John Meredith Lucas came along with The Changeling, Elaan Of Troyius and That Which Survives - all point towards a single, centralised power source (with perhaps several reactors operating as a single unit). These episodes have specific references to the ship's power layout which is why I tend to give them more credence over the more generalised dialogue about reactors being in the nacelles.
I do like your tying of the red domes (TOS) to the TMP "impulse crystal" dome though - given that both are directly connected to the main drive systems, this makes a ton of sense!
Thanks for the feedback. I'm actually making another video specifically about the original Enterprise's warp drive and power systems and I'm citing each point. I'll have to make sure I don't miss the info in those episodes you mention. My working hypothesis right now is that the third smaller reactor in the engineering hull is sort of like as primer reactor, meaning the output of the two big reactors is directly controlled by the smaller one. So if the smaller one overloads the trigger ones go too.
Thanks, various versions of that theory have been floating around the BBS for a while now but I've never been fully persuaded by any of them. For a long while I was fully in the "aviation model" power setup but then I went and noticed just how widespread those JML references were. Not to mention the stuff in One Of Our Planets Is Missing
However, as an honest skeptic I look forward to being convinced otherwise!
Makes you wonder how TMP -> Refit Enterprise didn't constantly glow Red/Orange
The Excelsior Class Bussard Collectors looks so different and doesn't glow.
Then TNG era and beyond, they went back to glowing Bussard Collectors.
And of course, The Borg, they never have any distinct Warp Field Grilles, Bussard Collectors, etc.
Makes you wonder how they gather interstellar matter.
The Excelsior Class Bussard Collectors looks so different and doesn't glow.
Then TNG era and beyond, they went back to glowing Bussard Collectors.
And of course, The Borg, they never have any distinct Warp Field Grilles, Bussard Collectors, etc.
Makes you wonder how they gather interstellar matter.
Through those little tiny holes of course:
It's also possible that the glowing "suck in stuff" duties were taken over by the glowing deflector on the refit and Excelsior classes
As for the Borg? Eh, they're weird
I've long accepted that TNG era had those Tiny little slits suck in stuff / eject out matter.
That's not my issue for TNG era and beyond, but before that era, technology could've been different.
They didn't have Dilithium Crystal Re-Growth technology during Kirk's Era. It wasn't until the ToS movies did that tech become standard.
I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't Bussard Collectors, but those spinny orbs on the original Constitution Class could've been something else.
That's not my issue for TNG era and beyond, but before that era, technology could've been different.
They didn't have Dilithium Crystal Re-Growth technology during Kirk's Era. It wasn't until the ToS movies did that tech become standard.
I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't Bussard Collectors, but those spinny orbs on the original Constitution Class could've been something else.
From the Technical Diagrams I have of the TMP Warp Nacelle, the front Baffles hide the Bussard Collectors, quite the different way of doing things.
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