Build the USS Enterprise

33 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2012-05-14 12:08

Catchfire

Quote:
An anonymous electrical and systems engineer going only by the moniker BTE-Dan has posted surprisingly detailed plans for a full-scale, functioning Starship Enterprise that he claims could be built in 20 years. Though it may be tempting to scoff at such lofty ambition, the Build the Enterprise website (up all of one week) includes specifications, costs, mission plan and funding strategies, all suggesting that a serious amount of thought has gone into creating a real world counterpart to the icon spaceship of the TV and movie series, Star Trek.

His website is slow to load: www.buildtheenterprise.org

Mon, 2012-05-14 12:51

Boom Boom

Beam me up, Scotty.

Mon, 2012-05-14 13:07

Caissa

That just might catchfire.

Mon, 2012-05-14 13:23

Slumberjack

Quote:
BTE-Dan has posted surprisingly detailed plans for a full-scale, functioning Starship Enterprise...

It'll be interesting to see the Heisenberg compensators in action.

Mon, 2012-05-14 17:22

Fidel

What a colossal waste of money. They should be thinking about sending more and sophisticated unmanned probes to explore space. Robots and/or self replicating von Neumann probes is the way to go where no person has gone before according to the science guys since 2001: A Space Odyssey. That film, they say, launched the space shuttle and several more NASA projects over the years. The Star Ship Enterprise makes sense for a long-running TV series but not to actually explore the galaxy. The crew would die of boredom or revolt at some point. They should get serious.

Quote:
HAL: I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.

Mon, 2012-05-14 19:51

Boom Boom

Money spent on space would be better spent here with all of humanity's needs.

Mon, 2012-05-14 19:58

Fidel

Boom Boom wrote:

Money spent on space would be better spent here with all of humanity's needs.

Governments can create all the money they need. They choose not to.

Mon, 2012-05-14 20:23

Catchfire

And what would you bleeding hearts have Captain Jean-Luc Picard do instead? Grow grapes for wine? What a waste.

Mon, 2012-05-14 20:52

Fidel

If I were PM I would monetize government spending and debts, and I would invest in high technology and medical research. And real medical research not what big pharma has been doing for decades. They say the human body. like space, is a relatively unexplored frontier. Centuries from now they will look back on this time as a bygone era and even the era of pre-genetic engineering. People today are wise for such a brief period in their lives before its time to return to star dust. Some scientists speculate that the average human lifespan could be prolonged. And some say we should be capable of living indefinitely with sufficiently advanced medical technology. We could reduce health care spending to somewhere between peanuts and extinction.

I also think there are many earth-like planets out there. It's time we found them and went there. People have always been curious and willing to go to remote places on earth. If we don't destroy this planet before we can leave it, there will be people who will go. But we need to know where to go and which planets can sustain us. The earth is not the centre of the universe.

Mon, 2012-05-14 21:16

#10

bagkitty

Theme musiic is called for, like Star Trekkin'.

(you can jump over the ad at the beginning)

Mon, 2012-05-14 23:33

#11

Boom Boom

Fidel wrote:
But we need to know where to go and which planets can sustain us. The earth is not the centre of the universe.

Why would you want to fuck up and poison other planets with the human race? Let humanity kill itself off and let the boids, fishies, and wild beasties live in peace.

Tue, 2012-05-15 04:51

#12

Fidel

Boom Boom wrote:
Let humanity kill itself off and let the boids, fishies, and wild beasties live in peace.

I think a possible future is that the planet will eventually become so polluted or global scenario so intolerable that there will be people who will volunteer for long voyages in seeking a better life. I imagine the first explorers to the new world had fears and worries of their own when boarding ships destined for anywhere beyond the horizon. We know that things were so bad in places like Ireland and England and other countries at various times in history that desperate people found hope in the idea for greener pastures elsewhere. Hope is a powerful thing for human beings and will cling to it when there is nothing else. I think people will gladly volunteer to go to the new world knowing that there will likely be great challenges and hardships ahead of them. They will be some of the most courageous and hopeful people to have ever lived. Eventually the earth will become green and teeming with life long after we are gone. And perhaps when the earth is bustling with life again, descendants of those first space explorers will visit this planet where it all began.

Tue, 2012-05-15 11:36

#13

Catchfire

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

Which Star Trek technology should we research first?*

1. Faster-than-light travel
2. Teleportation
3. Replication
4. Holodeck
5. Android/Artificial Intelligence
6. ???

*This assumes that these techs can be researched non-teleologically (i.e. The replicator and holodeck were developed from teleportation technology, and presumably the latter needs FTL, but in the interests of discussion, we will ignore this important fact).

Tue, 2012-05-15 15:24

#14

sknguy II

As a tool holodeck technology would have significant applications in research modelling, like weather modelling, star evolution, medecine, construction materials, all kinds of modeling.

I was curious why this BTE-Dan person chose the NCC-1701 and not the (next generation) NCC-1701D. But then, come to think of it, the original 1701 was a more practical ship than the others. No 10-Forward on that one.

Thu, 2012-05-17 09:30

#15

Fidel

Catchfire wrote:

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

Which Star Trek technology should we research first?*

1. Faster-than-light travel
2. Teleportation
3. Replication
4. Holodeck
5. Android/Artificial Intelligence
6. ???

*This assumes that these techs can be researched non-teleologically (i.e. The replicator and holodeck were developed from teleportation technology, and presumably the latter needs FTL, but in the interests of discussion, we will ignore this important fact).

Apparently they've been doing quantum teleportation for about 10 years now. Photons, atoms of cesium, terbium and rubidium. The record is 1800 feet across the Danube River. Scientists hope to transmit whole molecules at some point.

I think the Star Trek replicator would be a nice technology. Material poverty could be eliminated. Workers could own the means of production some day.

Thu, 2012-05-17 11:34

#16

Catchfire

I thought replicator was a slam dunk option too Fidel. My partner picked the teleporter. I'm surprised that you chose the holodeck, sknguy, since I'd rate that last--but you make a compelling case!

I've always wondered what happens to the waste of replicated objects. Can you de-replicate them? If not, how many damn tea cups does Jean-Luc have in his closet?

Thu, 2012-05-17 12:10

#17

Fidel

Imagine that a replicator's toggle switch is stuck in the on mode. It could be like that Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Ray's parents are angry with him for buying them a fruit of the month club membership. he regular deliveries of oranges, bananas and grapefruit became too much for them and felt it an oppressive situation.

I think the holy grail would be the ability to create water and other molecules important for life. A manufacturing plant for mass production of fresh water for instance. It would be nice to be able to create new matter from relatively little raw material input.

Thu, 2012-05-17 12:23

#18

kropotkin1951

The flux capacitor.

ETA: Then we can just go into the future and get the patents for all those Star Trekkie things.

Thu, 2012-05-17 12:53

#19

bagkitty

No one has mentioned phasers or photon torpedoes. I think it would be much easier to get the Pentagon (and Peter MacKay) to throw money at the project if you mentioned those. Of course, if the vessel were capable of transporting you to fishing camps, MacKay might still be interested in throwing some money at it.

Fri, 2012-05-18 09:08

#20

Fidel

Science Weekly with Michio Kaku: Impossibility is relative Michio Kaku tells Alok Jha that the science fiction of Star Trek is closer to reality than we might think (2009 podcast)

Quote:
Some 80% of the technologies portrayed in science fiction like Star Trek and Star Wars - including force fields, teleportation, telekinesis, mind-reading and invisibility - will become possible within the next century. At least that's according to futurologist Michio Kaku.

Children are the future.

Fri, 2012-05-18 11:42

#21

kropotkin1951

Just as soon as we solve the minor problems related to power sources to run those technologies I am sure we will all be teleporting instead of driving.

Fri, 2012-05-18 16:13

#22

Vansterdam Kid

Catchfire wrote:

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

Which Star Trek technology should we research first?*

1. Faster-than-light travel
2. Teleportation
3. Replication
4. Holodeck
5. Android/Artificial Intelligence
6. ???

*This assumes that these techs can be researched non-teleologically (i.e. The replicator and holodeck were developed from teleportation technology, and presumably the latter needs FTL, but in the interests of discussion, we will ignore this important fact).

Number 5, so they can figure out how to do the rest of it.

Fri, 2012-05-18 16:13

#23

Vansterdam Kid

Catchfire wrote:

And what would you bleeding hearts have Captain Jean-Luc Picard do instead? Grow grapes for wine? What a waste.

I bet the critics would probably insist on him following the Prime Directive more often too!

Fri, 2012-05-18 16:34

#24

kropotkin1951

My Prime Directive is medium rare.

Tue, 2012-05-22 13:07

#25

sknguy II

kropotkin1951 wrote:

My Prime Directive is medium rare.

My God man... you Klingons are the main reason the Prime Directives were created.

Catchfire wrote:

...I'm surprised that you chose the holodeck, sknguy, since I'd rate that last--but you make a compelling case!

There's nothing more annoying than curiosity.

Tue, 2012-05-22 13:12

#26

Catchfire

Tue, 2012-05-22 13:32

#27

MegB

It's all moot without dilithium crystals.

Fri, 2012-06-15 01:56

#28

macktheknife

I don't see how this could be done on the planet. The enterprise was massive, so massive that it would make the U.S. aircraft carrier enterprise look like just one of the engine nacelles. (sorry, geek coming out)

So in order to build this to scale it would have to be done in some massive earth orbiting dry dock. All that in twenty years huh. Oh, and there's no point in creating any space ship if it's gonna take decades just to reach the edge of our own freaking solar system.

Here's a quote from NASA:

" Cassini, launched in 1997, is a spacecraft that was bound for Saturn. It traveled towards Saturn at 18,720 miles per hour, or 5.2 kilometers per second. Using gravitational assists to aid it, Cassini still took 6.7 years to reach Saturn. If Cassini left Saturn and continued on to Pluto at a rate of 5.2 km/s, it would arrive there about 27 years later."

18,000 mph and it's still slower than molasses when it comes to space travel. Not to say space travel shouldn't be a goal for the human race but building the enterprise BEFORE the discovery of FTL travel speeds is bassackwards to me.

Sat, 2012-06-16 10:27

#29

Fidel

macktheknife wrote:
Oh, and there's no point in creating any space ship if it's gonna take decades just to reach the edge of our own freaking solar system.

This is what scientists said to Stanley Kubrick in preparation for filming 2001. Building a single Starship Enterprise to explore space would be inefficient. Better to build robotic probes to land on distant moons as moons are stable over long periods of time. There the intelligent robots would build other robots to send exploring the galaxy. Starting with just one robot there could be trillions made over time. It sounds fantastic, but this is happening in our bodies all the time. If we think of robotic probes as viruses, viruses can colonize trillions of our cells in a matter of weeks. When speed of light travel is eventually achieved, robotic probes could colonize this galaxy in 100,000 years. This is the basic plot underlying Kubrick's 2001 space odyssey and the most realistic encounter with intelligent life in outer space. Kubrick's original interviews with scientists were cut from the beginning of the film.

Thu, 2012-12-06 18:11

#30

Catchfire

Khan you guess who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the next Star Trek movie?

Thu, 2012-12-06 18:22

#31

Unionist

"I have and always shall be your friend" violates parallel structure.

Thu, 2012-12-06 19:06

#32

autoworker autoworker's picture

There must be more to look forward to (at least in our imaginations) than War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.

Fri, 2012-12-07 11:44

#33

sknguy II

"When your only tool is a hammer, all problems being to look like nails". I can't remember who's wuote that was but If I recall they were a social anthropologist?

There's a lot of annoying things about the Star Trek series (even though I'm a fan). But an exemplary one is how their court system seems no different than any you'd find here today. We need to step outside our conditioning I think.