Why saucers?

[Christopher]

Is it known why the sphere design was rejected, or was it simply not the right shape for the era when saucers were seen as the peak of space traveling?

I don't think it was anything as on-the-nose as that. Pato Guzman and Matt Jefferies went through dozens of design sketches with Roddenberry supervising, and the version they settled on was just the one that looked best to them. Aesthetically alone, regardless of any social trends at the time, the saucer design looks sleeker and more dynamic than a sphere. It also probably worked better as a model in terms of lighting and camera angles, because it looks different from different angles in a way that a sphere doesn't.

 

[Prax]

Would Star Trek have carried on if it had been a sphere?

 

[Timo]

As long as it had colorful uniforms and transporters and Spock, it would be distinct enough... Saucers, phasers, Kirks and Klingons are sort of optional.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Henoch]

Would Star Trek have carried on if it had been a sphere?

I'd give it three seasons, tops.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

[...] the Enterprise was pretty much the first filmic spaceship I know of that was something other than just a rocketship or a saucer, though it had elements of both.

Well, yeah, but the major innovation is that the TOS Enterprise was a fusion of both of these fundamental elements, rocketship and saucer.

(The Martian War Machines from The War of the Worlds don't count, since they weren't spaceships but ground-effect vehicles -- essentially tripod walkers with force rays in place of the legs.)

The Martian war machines from Pal's 1953 film were not ground-effect vehicles. A ground-effect vehicle is a vehicle that generates lift via the aerodynamic ground effect. The Martian war machines were explicitly described as lifting themselves by other means, namely their three electromagnetic legs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(aerodynamics)

 

[Greg Cox]

Except that '50s and '60s sci-fi never limited its use of saucers to alien craft. Prior to the Enterprise, essentially every filmic spaceship, whether human or alien, was either a rocket or a saucer. The C57-D and the Jupiter II were mentioned above, but there were others. For instance, The Twilight Zone had plenty of human-made saucer ships (usually reuses of the C57-D footage and miniature).

Yep. See, for example, THE TWILIGHT ZONES "The Invaders" in which the "alien" saucer turns out to be a ship from Earth.

 

[Christopher]

^Spoilers, man!

 

[Henoch]

Yep. See, for example, THE TWILIGHT ZONES "The Invaders" in which the "alien" saucer turns out to be a ship from Earth.

Wasn't that also a Batman story?

The Joker's Flying Saucer, S3E24, 1968.

 

[tavor]

just as well they didnt go with a saucer only
think about it
nx-01 enterprise ,1701,a to e deepspace 9 uss defiant ,uss voyager plus all other ships ships with the exact same saucer
(collecting would be easy just change decals)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

See, for example, THE TWILIGHT ZONES "The Invaders" in which the "alien" saucer turns out to be a ship from Earth.

Wow, an episode of The Twilight Zone had a twist ending? I did not see that coming!

 

[publiusr]

Saucers make sense as an aeroshell
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/o/otvtrtl2.jpg

Look at figure 12 on page 6 here:
https://www.aiaa.org/docs/default-s...ttlevariationsfinalaiaa.pdf?sfvrsn=b8875e90_0

Not far from the Enterprise--that launch vehicle.

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=41644

Another reason for saucers:

The specifications for the proposed DAMS called for an air-launched defensive missile, capable of engaging incoming missiles at relative speeds of up to Mach 7, surviving a rate of acceleration between 60 g to 250 g, and being able to undertake rapid terminal-phase guidance changes in any direction.

Following initial studies and wind-tunnel testing at the Air Proving Ground Center and Arnold Engineering Development Center, a radically unconventional design emerged that featured a lenticular, wedge-shaped airframe. The lenticular design was considered to have the best handling characteristics at extremely high angles of attack, and would theoretically possess ideal mass distribution, giving the missile outstanding terminal agility. In addition, the lenticular design allowed for omnidirectional launching from the carrying aircraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pye_Wacket
http://www.astronautix.com/l/lenticularvehicles.html

Here is a wind tunnel sim

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http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/lp/lasdiag/enterp.php
An actual ERTL metal mini seemed to avoid "shock/shock interactions--can't find the link...

 

[Sgt_G]

Yep. See, for example, THE TWILIGHT ZONES "The Invaders" in which the "alien" saucer turns out to be a ship from Earth.

Hey! Use SPOILER tags, for crying out loud!!!!

 

[BK613]

An actual ERTL metal mini seemed to avoid "shock/shock interactions--can't find the link...

This one?
http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/lp/lasdiag/enterp.php

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Or then it's the obvious thing: a saucer has a smaller silhouette in the standard encounter between two starships, which is nose-to-nose. A sphere presents a maximal silhouette to the enemy from all directions; a clever captain can minimize the silhouette of a saucer by maneuvering right, and it takes even less effort to minimize the silhouette of one of 'em Vulcan spindles. So spheres are preferred when the assumption is that nobody is firing at you much (and the other attributes of a sphere, such as possible ease of shielding or ease of construction or whatever, thus dominate), and saucers when you need to dodge death rays and hide from targeting systems.

I have to agree, this makes a lot more sense then most other reasons. With the standard Saucer + StarDrive + Nacelle configuration, you really limit the largest Silhoutte to the Ventral / Dorsal views with the second largest usually being the Port / StarBoard profiles.
The Fore / Aft is the worst profile for targeting.

With a sphere, it's just bad regardless of direction you look at it, it's just a big target all around.

And with a Saucer, you still get plenty of volume and relatively short pathing arrangements for humanoids to walk around in to get where they need to go efficiently, and in a emergency scenario.

 

[Christopher]

I took a different view in my first Rise of the Federation novel, in explaining why Federation Starfleet ships ended up looking so much like Earth Starfleet ships instead of having elements of the Vulcan or Andorian designs seen in Enterprise. I explained that it was because those nations' long, narrow ships were designed with combat in mind, with minimal forward profiles, while Earth Starfleet's ships were more exploration/multifunction craft, where the efficiency and flexibility of the internal configuration was more important than the target size presented to an enemy, favoring sphere or saucer designs over long, narrow cylinders/boxes. So the choice to go with the Earth-style ship design symbolized Starfleet's choice to embrace an exploratory and diplomatic role over a strictly combat-oriented one.

Although the Vulcan and Andorian influence was still present in less visible ways, e.g. the deflectors and tractor beams. And the Andorian Kumari bridge seen in "Proving Ground" introduced features later adopted by Starfleet bridges, e.g. outward-facing wall stations and paired helm/navigator stations.

 

[publiusr]

That makes sense as well. Roomy...lots of space for labs.

This one?
http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/lp/lasdiag/enterp.php

That be the one.

The image shows that the designers certainly knew their stuff - at this speed, the bow shocks pass comfortably outside the other sections of the vehicle

 

[Kaiser]

Ive always thought it was to help people get used to the idea of Saucer shaped space craft if its ever officially stated Alien crafts are real and are saucer shaped.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Ive always thought it was to help people get used to the idea of Saucer shaped space craft if its ever officially stated Alien crafts are real and are saucer shaped.

Say what?

 

[Kaiser]

Say what?

I dunno how to respond without the thread turning into a big argument bout Aliens and What the Government and NASA really know =/

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I dunno how to respond without the thread turning into a big argument bout Aliens and What the Government and NASA really know =/

Oh, OK....