Icon under the Enterprise-D's warp engines

[David cgc]

It occurs to me that I've never seen an explanation for this, and I'm curious if anyone here has any ideas or information. On the bottom of the Galaxy-class's warp nacelles (and related ships like the Nebula and New Orleans and so on), there's a graphic between the pylon and the yellow grill behind the bussard collector. It looks sort of like a hand phaser or emitter of some sort, with a bubble in front of it. Here's a close-up of it on the studio model. Does anyone know what the deal is with this icon? The best I can think of is that the bubble represents hydrogen and the graphic is a sort of "this end towards interstellar gas" sign for the ramscoop, but that doesn't quite add up.

 

[B.J.]

Huh, hadn't noticed that before. Real-world, I'd imagine it's an echo of the red rectangle that was on the bottom of the original Enterprise's nacelles. As for in-universe, my guess is it's markings for some kind of internal serviceable machinery, but no idea really.

Perhaps if Rick Sternbach or Andrew Probert are around, they can weigh in on this?

 

[Albertese]

I always assumed they were markings for hatches or some such. But If Rick Sternbach has an opinion I'd likely side with him.

--Alex

 

[Rick Sternbach]

Huh, hadn't noticed that before. Real-world, I'd imagine it's an echo of the red rectangle that was on the bottom of the original Enterprise's nacelles. As for in-universe, my guess is it's markings for some kind of internal serviceable machinery, but no idea really.

Perhaps if Rick Sternbach or Andrew Probert are around, they can weigh in on this?

Yeah, probably. I had nothing to do with the markings on the D, and I imagine that the underside red bits are a reminder of the TOS nacelle rectangle. If there are access panels in those areas, they are likely connected to the plasma injector bed (see the TNG tech manual). Some kind of maintenance or replacement area. - Rick

 

[Gepard]

Tangentially related, but whatever that graphic is I first noticed it years ago when @Fuzzy Modem put a nearly identical design on the neck of his Enterpise-F concept.