Why process Ore in Space on Terok Nor?

[TenLubak]

So the asteroids were replaced by a charged particle plasma field. I remember the episode when Jake and his father built a old Bajoran solar sailship and they went through some rock. Maybe that was a different asteroid field, than the D Belt. It's been almost 15 years or so since I've seen that episode so i cannot recall.

 

[Christopher]

No, there were no asteroids in "Explorers." The sailship plotline was mostly an opportunity for character interaction between Sisko and Jake, not an action story.

 

[TenLubak]

I guess I missremembered.

 

[Worf'sParmach]

-Slaves can't escape once they are there
-Rebels can't (easily) infiltrate and sabatoge it
-Last stopping point before the ore is shipped to Cardassia
-Plot Device

 

[The Old Mixer]

Gul Dukat liked the view.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think a much bigger question than why they process ore on the station is why the Cardassians didn't blow up the station when they left.

 

[Christopher]

I think a much bigger question than why they process ore on the station is why the Cardassians didn't blow up the station when they left.

I always figured it was for the same reason Sisko didn't blow it up when Starfleet abandoned it to the Dominion at the end of season 5: Because they intended to reclaim it at some point.

Although the Millennium novel trilogy by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens offers a rather more complicated explanation for it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Remember what happened with Empok Nor? Cardassians like to leave behind booby traps on stations or other structures that they abandon. They must like the idea of raiding parties getting blown up, killed, maimed, etc. in the process. Can't happen if the old station is simply blown up. Nobody could get hurt in the subsequent attempts to raid or reuse it.

 

[JD5000]

Maybe the real question is 'Why not?' They've got the slaves, they've got the ore, they've got the space station. It's possible that once you get to that point, there's no turning back. Processing the ore using slave labor on the space station is the next logical step.

What else would the Cardassians do with a setup like that?

 

[Lance]

Another possible reason for building Terok Nor in orbit rather than on the surface could be precisely because of fears of terrorism. Perhaps the Cardies believed that it would be a lot easier to fortify a space station against a possible Bajoran insurgence.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe the real question is 'Why not?'

Because unrefined ore is presumably significantly more massive than refined uridium, and lifting mass off of a planet surface takes energy. It would be more efficient to refine it on the surface and then launch the purified metal into space.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

^Why would the decesion to process ore--whether from the planet or from an asteroid--be entirely logical?

 

[Christopher]

^The question was "Why not," i.e., is there a reason why it would be less desirable to refine the ore in space. I was simply offering such a reason. That's not to say it's impossible that someone would make the more wasteful choice, because sometimes people do make bad choices -- it's simply to say that there is a reason why it's not an equally good option.

 

[Jono]

Maybe just because it gave the Cardassians a reason to house a significant population of Bajorans on the station and give them something to do to exhaust them and help keep them under control. Terok Nor is a much more tempting target if it is only full of Cardassians and possible collaborators.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe just because it gave the Cardassians a reason to house a significant population of Bajorans on the station and give them something to do to exhaust them and help keep them under control. Terok Nor is a much more tempting target if it is only full of Cardassians and possible collaborators.

Ooh, you have a devious mind. That's disquietingly plausible.

 

[JD5000]

I don't think Bajorans had the ability to launch any sort of attack on Terok Nor during the occupation. I haven't seen anything that would indicate they have access to any sort of weapon that could inflict damage on the station. Bajor's native defenses would have been the first thing the Carassians destroyed. Granted, the stations weapons systems were upgraded, but DS9 defended itself against an entire fleet of state-of-the-art warships (errr....'Dogs of War'? The specific episode name isn't coming to mind, but the awesome space battle is).

Christopher, in an earlier post I suggested that the ore processed on Terok Nor didn't come solely from Bajor, but also from other planets in the system. So the station could have functioned more like a hub. That, combined with other factors, might be a reason why it makes more sense to have the processing facility in space.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Christopher, in an earlier post I suggested that the ore processed on Terok Nor didn't come solely from Bajor, but also from other planets in the system. So the station could have functioned more like a hub. That, combined with other factors, might be a reason why it makes more sense to have the processing facility in space.

This, plus, it might also be that most warp-capable or antigrav capable civilizations have reached a point where the cost-to-orbit difference between 10kg vs 10,000kg is negligible. So they can do it where they want, and doing it in orbit keeps concentrations from building up on the surface (potential industrial accident, potential easier theft by Bajoran rebels), and being able to vent the refining chamber to a near vacuum makes a mighty fine way to cool it off in a big hurry if there is an emergency need to do so.

 

[Jono]

I don't think Bajorans had the ability to launch any sort of attack on Terok Nor during the occupation. I haven't seen anything that would indicate they have access to any sort of weapon that could inflict damage on the station. Bajor's native defenses would have been the first thing the Carassians destroyed. Granted, the stations weapons systems were upgraded, but DS9 defended itself against an entire fleet of state-of-the-art warships (errr....'Dogs of War'? The specific episode name isn't coming to mind, but the awesome space battle is).

We know the Bajoran Resistance had small impulse ships and given that they were also able to raid Cardassian outposts beyond the Bajoran system suggests they had access to warp capable ships as well. The Resistance also destroyed an orbital drydock and while that probably wasn't from an attack by starships it shows they were capable of quite destructive strikes that could kill hundreds. They might never have had the capability to pull of a successful attack, but the threat is there.

 

[JD5000]

^
Reference please? You're talking about the Maquis, not the Bajoran Resistance.

Also, there's nothing there that could justify even a suicide attack on Terok Nor.

 

[doctorfoto]

^
Reference please? You're talking about the Maquis, not the Bajoran Resistance.

I believe the reference is from Waltz:

DUKAT: ....Now how did the Bajorans react to all this? On my one month anniversary they blew up an orbital dry-dock, killing over two hundred Cardassian soldiers and workers.