A REAL starship USS ENTERPRISE in 20 Years?

Part spaceship, part space station, and a mobile spaceport; a engineer thinks that a version of the famous Star Trek TV and movie iconic starship can be built to fit the bill.  Going by the handle BTE Dan, he has a website that has caught the attention of thousands of fans (including this blogger).

The ship has to be functional and still looks like the famous spaceship.  And while it would not be equiped with a real Warp Drive, this mobile starbase would be powered by a 1.5 GW nuclear reactor that can supply power to the ion drive engines to give a constant acceleration to any point in our solar system.  Three additional nuclear reactors would supply all the electric needs of the ship.

The saucer section of the ship would be 536 meters (.3 mile) diameter.  Within this section would be a ratating, magnetically-suspend gravity wheel that could create 1G of gravity for a crew that could go as high as 1000 people.

The key to anything getting done in outer space is funding. And if Congress doesn't give out the bucks, then there is "No Buck Rogers!" (Sorry, could not resist that quote from the movie "The Right Stuff.")

BTE Dan has worked out a spending plan that uses tax increases and spreading out budget cuts to defense, health and human services, housing and urban development, education and energy.  These are cuts to areas of discretionary spending and are not large, and the tax increases could be small.  A personal note here. I don't see the current crop of congressmen and women having the gonads to do this.  Including the tax increase proposed here.  Even if the next administration and congress are successful in getting rid of the so-called "Obamacare" plan, this nation will still be trillons in debt for the near future.

Quoting BTE Dan, "These changes to spending and taxes will not sink the republic," says the website. "In fact, these will barely be noticed. It's amazing that a program as fantastic as the building a fleet of USS Enterprise spaceships can be done with so little impact." end quote.

BTE Dan also added this bit of news, quote:  "The only obstacles to us doing it are the limitations we place on our collective imagination," BTE Dan adds, and his proposal says that NASA will still receive funding for the science, astronomy and robotic missions it currently undertakes.


But he proposes not just one Enterprise-class ship, but multiple ships, one of which can be built every 33 years –- once per generation –- giving three new ships per century. "Each will be more advanced than the prior one. Older ships can be continually upgraded over several generations until they are eventually decommissioned." end quote.

As for who BTE Dan is, lists himself as a systems engineer and electrical engineer who has worked for a Fortune 500 company for the past 30 years.



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Ref.
1.  io9.com. "Engineer thinks we could build a real Starship Enterprise in 20 years" by Nancy Atkinson. May 12, 2012. ( http://io9.com/5909774/engineer-thinks-we-could-build-a-real-starship-enterprise-in-20-years?tag=startrek ).  images from same article.
2. Build The Enterprise.org website. ( http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/ ).

There Shall Always be a U.S.S. Enterprise

There shall always be a U.S.S. Enterprise - with your help.

Check out this link and online petition to have one the new Gerald R. Ford class nuclear aircraft carrier named Enterprise.

(http://ussntrprs.epetitions.net/).

It must be done. There must be a replacement to carry on this tradition!

I say, "As long as the US Navy sees fit to have aircraft carriers in its inventory - there shall be at least one flattop to carry on with the name Enterprise."

Here is the NEW starship USS Enterprise

First image of the new starship USS Enterprise was released recently to Entertainment Weekly in November by J.J. Abrams. This new design is kinda ungainly looking.

It looks like a cross between the Enterprise from the first movie and a ship from Star Trek – The Next Generation. And for the life of me, those warp nacelles remind me of the headlight clusters from some 1950s Ford or Chevy automobile! And the engineering hull, while beefier than the original, it just doesn't quite look right. The shuttlecraft bay is still inbetween the two warp nacelle/pylons, but from the angle shown, the rear half of the ship appears to be cut “short” from the original TOS Enterprise. The deflector dish is too far forward, while the main hull pylon (between the saucer hull and the engineering hull) is thicker. Lots of improvements there that were taken from the first movie as well such as the proton torpedo launchers and the side airlocks.

Now all that might appear as criticisms. But to look at it from a modern day engineering angle – this does appear to be a better design than the original. The main problem was weight distribution in the original design. This one seems to have taken care of that by moving the saucer backwards a bit and moving the bulkiest part of the warp nacelles forward in order to have a better stabilized center of gravity.

Ref. ( http://trekmovie.com/2008/11/11/first-full-image-of-new-star-trek-enterprise/ ) and ( http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/11/star-trek-first.html )

Star Trek Movie Buzz

This week, Paramount Pictures released some production stills from the new J.J. Abrams production of "Star Trek." Set for release in 2009.

MTV, as one of several website, received from Paramount Pictures, some new production stills from the new J.J. Abrams' “Star Trek” movie to be released in 2009. In an article published by Rick Marshall and Shawn Adler. MTV was given permission to show the new bridge design of the starship Enterprise. Before getting to that, I like to add the following. Can anyone say “Battlestar Galactica”?

Now, Do not get me wrong on this – I like the new “Battlestar Galactica.” And it look like that J.J. Abrams is doing the same thing to Star Trek as what had happened to BG. A totally new look and revision to the franchise. Co-producer Damon Lindelof (known for “Lost”) added some additional information in the interview.

The Bridge:
In the photograph on the MTV site, it shows actor Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk sitting in the Captain's chair. Hes all in black which Mr. Lindelof tells MTV is a important story hook in the movie. Behind him we see the new Doctor McCoy (Karl Urban) deep in thought. Now he is wearing the classic blue shirt/black pants combo which is the Starfleet uniform. Zachary Quinto as Spock. Kirk and Sulu are both ragged since “they” have just come out of a fight before this scene.

As for the bridge itself; its very bright looking – think Apple Store. Quoting from the article: Abrams was insistent that every piece of equipment on the bridge serve a legitimate purpose – that they all have “functionality.” According to Lindelof, the maps we see in the background near the top of the communications desk were based on the generally accepted layout of the Star Trek Universe. Lindelof also confirmed that the film would be two hours long running time.Now other pictures that were released show the film's bad guy as a Romulan with facial tattoos.

The movie will open with another starship U.S.S. Kelvin (NCC-0514 ) getting hammered by the bad guys. The Kelvin looks alot like the old destroyer class that was included in the original Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph (the leatest version of which you can get for yourself here (http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Fleet-Technical-Manual/dp/0345340744). It jsut has the warp nacelle on top of the saucer section instead of below it. Then again, from the above picture, there just might be a second nacelle below the hull as well ( the upper/lower twin engine designs that crop up from time to time in (Star) Treknology circles.




(Ref. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/10/15/exclusive-new-star-trek-movie-photo-with-kirk-spock-sulu-and-the-uss-enterprise-bridge/ and http://trekmovie.com/2008/10/15/exclusive-image-from-star-trek-the-uss-kelvin/ )