Impulse Engines,Can they be blown off the Ship ?

[DumbDumb2007]

Can the entire Impulse Engine assembly be jettisoned off the ship in case of a catastrophic emergency ?
It would seem that since modern ships today like the Queen Mary 2 are built in sections that starship components from the Entire Navigational-Deflector array to the Shuttlecraft deck ,the warp pods and the whole Impulse Engine area could simply be independent assembly that are attached to the frame of the ship.
Would it be wild to see the entire Impulse Engine Deck blown off the ship nd detonated right before it explodes while it is still part of the ship.

 

[KDoug]

It seems likely enough to me.

 

[SonicRanger]

You should see the emergency ejection of the main shuttlebay!

 

[GodThingFormerly]

DumbDumb2007 said:
Can the entire Impulse Engine assembly be jettisoned off the ship in case of a catastrophic emergency ?

Why not simply cut off reactant flow to the engines instead? Whatever malfunction that caused them to go critical may actually turn out to be fixable, which would come in rather handy for starships that are on exploration or combat missions hundreds of light-years from the nearest starbase.

TGT

 

[Nightfall to-Ennien]

Theoretically, yes it is possible. Yes, the fusion reactors which power the impulse engines can presumably be ejected, almost every technical manual, noncannon although they may be, ascribes this ability to almost every starship of either Federation or almost any other origin. The reactants, as well, can presumably be vented. What you need to think about, is what purpose would it serve beyond a dramatic special effect? If your carburettor catches fire, do you let the car burn to the ground or do you put out the fire?

 

[Ronald Held]

In principle, but we have not seen any onscreen evidence, AFAIR.

 

[Timo]

We did find out in "Doomsday Machine" that a Federation impulse reactor can be made to go boom like an H-bomb. But that was by deliberate effort; in an accident, any fusion reactor could probably still be expected to be stable, and easily shut down by squeezing shut the fuel valve. Fusion reactors can't "go critical" and explode for real..

..although they may have malfunction modes that will hurt the ship. But those would happen in such an eyeblink that ejection wouldn't help any. (In contrast, it's halfway plausible that an antimatter reactor might malfunction in such a way that there's the necessary split second available for ejection. At least if we really, really wish that it is so.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nightfall to-Ennien]

Also, I would mention that although modern seagoing vessels are constructed in sections and joined together, the fact remains that they are welded together. Given the presumably far more advanced construction methods of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth century, yes, it is theoretically possible that the ship is essentially bolted onto a frame and the hull constructed around it. However, it needs to be remembered that each point at which one 'module' connects to another module distributes the structural stress load of the entire vessel when it is placed under external, or even internal, forces. The consolidation of attachment points that would make such modular construction possible would also make the vessel much weaker under dynamic load.

 

[Timo]

Then again, the multi-thousand-gee accelerations that impulse propulsion supposedly inflicts on the ship would in practice mean that the magic forcefields of Trek take the brunt of the dynamic loads. Thus, in theory, Trek starships could be made of cardboard, with each hull panel independently ejectable and every section of the ship severable if necessary - just shut down the structural integrity fields at the desired location, and that part of the ship falls off by itself.

But like TGT says, there's something unappealing about the idea of spewing ship components left and right when they are in short supply to begin with. Most probably, ejection of components is a last-ditch option for a select few critical items, and is not provided at all for most items. For all we know, even lifeboats might be only occasionally provided, as the engineers and admirals in Archer's or Kirk's time might believe that abandoning a starship, no matter how crippled, would not significantly prolong one's life...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

Timo said:
Then again, the multi-thousand-gee accelerations that impulse propulsion supposedly inflicts on the ship would in practice mean that the magic forcefields of Trek take the brunt of the dynamic loads. Thus, in theory, Trek starships could be made of cardboard...

I can't recall the book, but I read a military sci-fi story (probably a David Drake story) wherin some marooned soldiers salvaged the drive and structural integrity field generator from their ship, and knocked together a rickety starship from logs and thatch. It worked long enough to get them into orbit for rescue, or to another part of the planet to attack the enemy (can't recall exactly). The point the author was making was that (in his universe anyway) it was the fields that made a ship spaceworthy, not necessarily the structure.

 

[Forbin]

The God Thing said:

DumbDumb2007 said:
Can the entire Impulse Engine assembly be jettisoned off the ship in case of a catastrophic emergency ?

Why not simply cut off reactant flow to the engines instead? Whatever malfunction that caused them to go critical may actually turn out to be fixable, which would come in rather handy for starships that are on exploration or combat missions hundreds of light-years from the nearest starbase.

TGT

Don't be silly, when were they ever more than a commercial break away from a starbase?