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XCV-330 - Alternate Concept

K

Kahloke

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
Hi all,

I'm toying around with the notion that the XCV-330's design might be better suited to a small, two-crew. The shape of the crew module, the wild disparity in size between it and the "Warp Ring", the length of the connecting spine... They all scream "testbed" to me.

What if Zefram Cochrane wasn't the first to experiment with warp technology? What if an "XCV Program" (Experimental (X) light (C) Vehicle (V)) was in progress during the 2030-40's, and was dropped during the Third World War? What if the program was a partnership between government and corporations like Virgin, Space X, Planetary Resources, Boeing?...

This is just a rough sketch.

74ec2ccf.jpg


XCV-330 Lightspeed Vehicle
1. Viewport
2. Crew Module (Crew of two, Life Support, Command Computer)
3. Thruster Pack
4. Emergency Transmitter
5. Micrometeoroid Deflector
6. Force Generator
7. Sensor Cluster
8. Transmitter Assembly
9. Service Module (Inertial Dampening system, Supplies, Warp Computer)

The Service Module consists of three separate component modules, assembled in orbit, attached to the rest of the spacecraft.
The Crew Module would be launched from Earth and would dock with the XCV-330. The crew module is the only component of the spacecraft capable of reentry.

Thoughts, anyone?
 
Interesting concept and good back story. You might be on the right track. Great work. I would love to see ther rest of your concept.
 
I've seen someone else do a very similar take on this and i like it. I, too, tend to think of this as smaller test-bed craft and not a big-time ship of the line or whatever...

--Alex
 
A small crew could be a possibility. Sort of like the same crew that operated another deep space experimental vehicle. Of course I am referring to XD1, or as it better known DISCOVERY-1, from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Although, a possibility I would suggest that an odd numbered operational crew would be a better route to go. Two people can have a disagreement over decision on which way to proceed. This could leed to problems of rivalry, especially in a non-military hierarchy. I would suggest at least three, or preferably five as an ideal crew size.
 
Going with @templerman here: if you can increase the overall shape to accommodate a crew of about 5, I think you'd be on a safer path. This would also be an interesting angle for which personnel to add to the mission: one from every corporation / country. Even Cochrane's Phoenix, being practically a solo endeavour, had crew spacing for three. I can imagine a ship like this would have a bigger crew, also to deal with problems that might arise during its operation.
 
I am not sure if I have ever seen any image of the XCV-330, "DECLARATION" Class ship, with some object to provide a relative scale size comparison. ST:FC presented us with ZF's PHOENIX which seemed to be about ten meters in length. I am not an engineer nor a physicist but frankly, just in terms of radiation from the ring, I would hazard a guess that it would have to be larger than the Phoenix was. Perhaps anywhere from 25 to 120 meters in length. However, it might be a good deal larger, and almost certainly built in space.
One wonders what powers the warp "Ring" coil? Is it a M/AM reactor, or an advanced fusion reactor. The ring itself might be part of the power generation mechanism. With so many variables involved, the ship could be as large as 300 to 500 meters in length. Finally, and again dependent on size, I would speculate that such a ship would have to include some form of manned, or teleoperated maintenance vehicles. I envisioned an early early star flight in the same time period as yours, though mine was not a warp drive ship. It is part of a trilogy set in the Star Trek universe. Though much of it was based on dates and events stated in TOS. Much to my exasperation ST:FC altered that cannon and made years of research and writing useless. I think your work on this project is really very good, and quite imaginative. Best of of luck in your future endeavours.
 
Brilliant concept! I love what your proposing.
I'm with Borgman, in that you might need/want a larger crew (might). I think the 2-man crew is daring and harkens back to prototypes flown by solo test pilots, but I think the level of technology might require more monitoring, as space at that time would have been still very much considered an extremely dangerous environment to "work" in. But I still love your envisioning of her... Especially since this has always been a favorite of mine since I first saw her in TMP.
 
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