TMP-Tech

[ST-One]

Daren Dochterman shows us the AirTram and the first test for the Tram Station:

http://blog.darendoc.com/?p=473

 

[Timo]

Those shots of the original model are interesting indeed. I just wish people stopped calling it a "tram"... It doesn't seem to run on rails or otherwise preset routes, and it doesn't seem to be a form of public transportation. If anything, it looks like an air limousine (with possible civilian applications, but here it's definitely a military limo for Starfleet top brass).

Those other two, matted-in vehicles look subtly different in size and in midbody window and door arrangements. Deliberate, or the result of work on the matte and the model proceeding out of synch? I like the variety, of course...

Any fun tech rationalizations for the fact that these things land on rails here? Is it just to streamline the logistics, so that people don't block approach paths etc.?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Santaman]

The explanation for them landing on rails is quite easy, you get out and the shuttle gets moved to back to the depot where it gets cleaned, fueled and checked out and then moved to the next customer who's waiting in the complex.

 

[Timo]

...Which would work fine if the rails actually led to somewhere. Instead, they are just a dead end in the middle of an empty floor - a way to block the first-arrived craft, preventing it from being the first to depart.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Santaman]

Hmm, maybe a lift then? aircraft carrier style?

 

[USS Jack Riley]

Any fun tech rationalizations for the fact that these things land on rails here? Is it just to streamline the logistics, so that people don't block approach paths etc.?

Timo Saloniemi

What about a guidance system for the thing to use as it is on final approach (similar to the Enterprise's green and blue lights under the shuttle bay)? Then it can use a lift of some sort (probably a crane or anti-gravity device of some sort) to lift it out of the way for the next vehicle.

TMMV

 

[TIN_MAN]

^^ I seem to recall reading somewhere that the these were called "air trams" because they were "locked on" to a laser-like guidence beam that was (theoretically at least) likened to a rail system?

 

[Timo]

Not bad. It might have been fun to see them follow something more akin to a set path across the skies; perhaps an almost congested "air traffic lane", as in Blade Runner, Back to the Future II et al.? The way the craft actually maneuvers makes it look as if there's complete freedom of movement - including stunt flying right next to Golden Gate.

I wonder about the propulsion system. Gravitics? Orbital capabilities?

Timo Saloniemi