Would Voyager tip over?

[Gingerbread Demon]

Just looking at the ship I love this ship.

But isn't the nose a bit too big and then when she lands there's those tiny little feet? Or are the nacelles heavy enough to stop it tipping over?

The very first time I saw the ship land that is the first thing that I thought of even though I knew it wouldn't happen.

 

[Lance]

Could be some kind of gravity compensation in effect?

I seem to recall the technical advisors struggled with this very problem, as they had problems figuring out how to create 'landing legs' that were sturdy enough to hold the weight of an entire starship. In the end I do think they suggested that as well as the legs there's also some kind of other anti-grav support system holding it up.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Could be some kind of gravity compensation in effect?

I seem to recall the technical advisors struggled with this very problem, as they had problems figuring out how to create 'landing legs' that were sturdy enough to hold the weight of an entire starship. In the end I do think they suggested that as well as the legs there's also some kind of other anti-grav support system holding it up.

Seems a real waste though. I thought the nacelles were filled with heavy metal and that also countered the weight. That's how I explained it in my head.

 

[scotpens]

^^ Doesn't matter. With a weight of 700,000 metric tons concentrated on those four tiny footpads, some kind of gravity compensation field would be needed to keep the landing legs from buckling or sinking into the ground.

 

[DavidGutierrez]

I had always reasoned that the stardrive section was heavier than the saucer because the stardrive is where the deuterium tanks are, as well as the antimatter storage pods, the warp core, and the shuttlecraft. Plus, yes, I think the nacelles are meant to be heavy as heck, too.

As for the old four-spindly-legs-versus-700,000-metric-tons argument, I submit that in the 24th century, they would have the ability to manufacture a substance stronger than materials we are familiar with today. In the 24th century, they wouldn't have designed a starship to land if they weren't capable of making it happen.

Don't forget that the Intrepid class isn't the only class of starship capable of routine planetfall. Landing struts are also apparent in the Defiant and Nova MSDs.

 

[Tosk]

As for the old four-spindly-legs-versus-700,000-metric-tons argument, I submit that in the 24th century, they would have the ability to manufacture a substance stronger than materials we are familiar with today.

It doesn't matter. The landing area is still only as strong as a bunch of dirt and rock. That kind of weight on those little legs would drive them into the ground.

 

[Timo]

With a weight of 700,000 metric tons..

..I think the nacelles are meant to be heavy as heck, too.

This is pretty much saying the same thing. That much mass located anywhere else in the ship would be unrealistic; there's no reason the walls of the ship ought to be made of a material as dense as that. The best place to put all that mass is the most magical part of the ship, that is, the warp coils!

The same goes for Kirk's ship with its reputed mass of nearly a million gross tons. About 200,000 tons of it per nacelle would allow the rest of the ship to remain realistically dense...

Now, the surface pressure of 700,000 tons per what looks like 100 square meters at most (four pads of five by five meters or so) would be nothing to sneer at. Seventy megapascals is in the ballpark of units used for calculating tectonic stresses! But bedrock takes those very stresses...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[hux]

I don't see why it would tip over. The struts are obviously built to take the weight of the ship. The only question would be the surface; is it also capable of taking the weight?

Presumably they have sensors to verify that sort of thing

 

[Melakon]

Last year, Rick Sternbach answered a similar question about the landing gear.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=9783937&postcount=34

 

[Lynx]

I guess there is a gravity compensation field available. It's called the BBGCF, short for Berman-Braga Gravity Compensation Field.

A new invention, created by two famous scientists before the ship was built. .

It was mentioned in the episode "The 37's" when Tom is landing the ship:

Tom Paris: "Let's see now, BBCGF activated.......now!"

Oh dear, that scene was lost in the final editing.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I would have loved a scene with the ship tipping over

 

[Disco]

I would have loved a scene with the ship tipping over

It falls over, gets stuck in the ground and Voyager turns into Lost

 

[Lynx]

I would have loved a scene with the ship tipping over

It falls over, gets stuck in the ground and Voyager turns into Lost

Then Admiral Eric Pressman (from the TNG episode "The Pegasus") shows up from nowhere, reveals his real identity as John Locke and become the main character of the series.

 

[Melakon]

Locke/Pressman reveals he has gone under many names, among them Henry Morrison, Jerry Blake, and Bill Hodgkins, often as a real estate agent, who married divorced or widowed women and became the stepfather to their children.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Locke/Pressman reveals he has gone under many names, among them Henry Morrison, Jerry Blake, and Bill Hodgkins, often as a real estate agent, who married divorced or widowed women and became the stepfather to their children.

LOL you devious people that actually rocks

 

[Long Syntax]

Maybe Voyager has junk in her trunk?

 

[Rick Sternbach]

I guess there is a gravity compensation field available. It's called the BBGCF, short for Berman-Braga Gravity Compensation Field.

A new invention, created by two famous scientists before the ship was built. .

It was mentioned in the episode "The 37's" when Tom is landing the ship:

Tom Paris: "Let's see now, BBCGF activated.......now!"

Oh dear, that scene was lost in the final editing.

Very close. The actual name for keeping Voyager upright is the Ground Hover Footpad System (GHFS), a combination of the touchdown pads and the Impulse Propulsion System (IPS). The pads are mainly to keep the ship from moving around once the IPS gently lowers it but still supports ~99% of the mass. Rationale being, if the IPS normally kicks the ship along in space at many tens of gees, countering a 1g field is nuthin'.

Rick

 

[f14peter]

this would send Voyager ass-over-teakettle ...

Spoiler: the kiss of death

x

x

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'd love to see Deanna drive Voyager.... hehe. I wonder if Voyager has that neat joystick the Enterprise E has..

 

[Corran Horn]

Last year, Rick Sternbach answered a similar question about the landing gear.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=9783937&postcount=34

He's mentioned in other posts that there was an anti-grav component as well.