Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Organization: mailEnteringNews at Honeywell SRC

The file of updates is 20K, so there are more changes a-comin'

	      PERIODIC LIST OF "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"
	     in REC.ARTS.STARTREK.TECH (last updated 11/12/92)

This posting is intended to cut  down on  the "often  asked questions" that
seem to pop up  every few  months in  the rec.arts.startrek.tech newsgroup.
It is one of a number of periodic postings posted to  r.a.s.*.   For a full
list of informational postings, please read the "LIST  OF PERIODIC POSTINGS
IN THE  REC.ARTS.STARTREK.*  HIERARCHY" in  rec.arts.startrek.misc, and the
"ACRONYM LIST",  which  has  a list  of acronyms  used in  this (and other)
articles.

This FAQL is basically a list of answers to commonly  asked questions about
technical aspects of StarTrek.  It  includes (but  is not  limited to) warp
drives, transporters,   phasers,   photon   torpedoes,   telepethy,  saucer
separation, view screen technology, ship  models, communicators, holodecks,
food replicators,  special  effects,  shuttles,   computer  memory,  Data's
storage capacity, satellite uplink times, etc.

Most of  these questions  have been  brought up  and discussed  to death in
rec.arts.startrek.tech, and a lot of  people would  be happy  if they never
resurfaced.

For the serious trekologist/treknician, pick up a copy of:

    "ST:TNG Technical Manual" by Richard Sternbach and Michael Okuda (1991)
    "ST:TNG  Writer's Technical Manual" (new edition each season)
    "Star Fleet Technical Manual" by Franz Joseph (Ballantine/Del Ray 1975)
    "Ships of the Star Fleet"

===========================================================================
 1) Top Speed
 2) TOS Warp
 3) TNG Warp
 4) Transwarp/Ultrawarp
 5) Impulse Engines
 6) TOS/TNG Enterprise Saucer Separation
 7) TNG Computers and Viewscreens
 8) Ships and More Ships
 9) Models/Computer Animation
10) Transporters
11) Replicators/Holodecks
12) Communications
13) Phasers
14) Photon Torpedoes
15) Shields (Deflector and Combat)
16) Artificial Gravity
17) Emergency Fueling
18) Auto-Destruct
19) Data's Data (and Positronic Brain)
20) Geordi's VISOR
21) Cloaking Devices
99) Misc Trivia
===========================================================================

1) ===== TOP SPEED =====

The fastest the original Enterprise has gone (not counting "off the scale")
was 14.1 in "That Which Survives".

The Enterprise-D  seems to  have a  top speed  slightly less  than 10, (and
coming *very* close to this (whatever "close"  means with  J-curves) on the
occasions when Q flung it a great distance).  Riker mentioned  that warp 10
instigates time travel.  In "Where No One Has Gone Before"  it is mentioned
that the Enterprise has reached or passed warp 10.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) ===== TOS WARP =====

For TOS, speed is (warp ^ 3) * c, which yields:

      warp    c 
      ----  ----
       1       1
       2       8
       3      27
       4      64
       5     125
       6     216
       7     343
       8     512
       9     729
      10    1000
      11    1331
      12    1728
      13    2197
      14.1  2803.221

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) ===== TNG WARP =====

The ST:TNG  Writer's  Technical Manual,  third season  edition contains the
following table:

      warp    c   comment
      ----  ----  -------
       1       1
       2      10
       3      39
       4     102
       5     214
       6     392  normal cruising speed.
       7     656
       8    1024
       9    1516
       9.6  1909  maximum attainable speed for E
       9.9  3053  maximum speed for E under any circumstances
       9.99 7912
      10    infinite

    Notes not from the guide:

For warp speeds 1 through 9, the formula  w ^ (10/3) * c  provides the 
numbers shown, rounded to the integer.

Note that with these figures, the  TOS warp  14.1 translates  to about warp
9.7 for TNG.

The RS/MO Tech Manual mentions that Starships can cruise at any warp factor
-- integral or fractionary -- as long as the  powerplant's operating limits
or warp 10 is not exceeded.  However, at  integral warp  factors the amount
of energy necessary to produce the desired field effect lowers drastically.
The implication is that it  requires more  energy expenditure  to cruise at
warp 3.5 than it  does to  cruise at  warp 4.   This  is due  to the nested
nature of the warp field.

Also, the efficiency of the engines drops  dramatically as  the warp factor
increases.

TNG "Where No One Has Gone Before":   After the  Enterprise jumps 2,700,000
light years it is mentioned that it will take 51 years for a message to get
back to SFC via subspace, and that it will take the Enterprise 300 years to
get back.  Their next jump takes them over a billion light years away.

Warp drive is based on CDP (Contimium  Distortion Propulsion).   This means
that the Enterprise's warp coils distort the space-time  continum enough to
drive the vessel.  This is analogus to  moving a  bowling ball  on a rubber
sheet by bending the sheet.  Warp is powered by a violent matter:antimatter
reaction.  This power is regulated by the Dilithium crystals  (they are the
only known  material  to  Federation   science  which   is  transparent  to
antimatter when  subjected to  a high-freqency  electro-magnetic field), so
that the reaction occurs within certain bounds.  This energy is then fed to
the warp coils, in a carefully predefined sequence, from fore to aft.  They
energize in this pattern more  rapidly (with  more power  also required) to
drive the ship at higher warp  factors.   Each energy  "band" produces some
force on the next-innermost field,  the closest  of which  pushes the ship.
When enough energy is applied, the Enterprise  tunnels through  "c" in less
than Planck time (the smallest possible amount of time measureable).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) ===== TRANSWARP/ULTRAWARP =====

>From Richard Arnold:  The story on transwarp drive:  it doesn't  work.  The
warp drive that we see on TNG is not transwarp or ultrawarp or whatever you
want to call it.  It is an improved version of the same warp  drive that we
saw on  TOS  (at  least  the  fifth  generation  warp  drive  according  to
Goldstien's Spaceflight Chronology).   The Excelsior  proved that Transwarp
wouldn't work by being destroyed by it during a test flight.

FASA has another category system which TPTB don't acknowledge.

Both ST4 and ST6 have bridge graphics on the NCC-1701A showing a profile of
the ship  labeled  "Transwarp  Geometry".    "Mr.    Scott's  Guide  to the
Enterprise" has bridge photos which seem to verify this.

The novelization of ST6 explains that the events of the  story occur before
the Excelsior blew up.

Basically, they haven't explained much about it on film, so  they can still
do pretty much what they please with transwarp.

There's an  explanation of  it (somewhat)  in the  Timescape novel "Battle-
stations".

"The most dramatic and promising development in many years is the discovery
of what  has  come to  be known  as transwarp  drive.   This new propulsion
technology is  based  upon a  discovery made  several years  earlier by the
U.S.S.  Enterprise  while  in  an  area  which  borders  on  Tholian space.
Enterprise's sensors  recorded  a  natural  phenomena  never  before known;
Science Officer Spock carefully documented a "doorway" between two parallel
planes of existence, which he labelled an "interphase."  This "tear" in the
fabric of  three-dimensional  space-time  was  found  to  create, following
prolonged exposure, an imbalance in the chemical composition  of neural and
muscular tissues in  human beings,  causing insanity  and ultimately death;
this effect killed the crew of the starship Defiant,  which drifted through
the interphase  ahead  of  Enterprise.    This  natural  "tear"  proved  to
Federation scientists that travel between dimensional  planes was possible,
and research  began  into  the  possibility  of  generating  an  artificial
interphase for travel  purposes.   Enterprise's sensors  recorded that time
flowed at  a  different  rate  in  parallel space,  and that  that plane of
existence was devoid of all matter  and energy,  providing an obstacle-free
course of travel.  Theoretically, a starship could drop into parallel space
and move on a preset course for a predetermined  period of  time, then drop
back into normal space once the  destination coordinates  had been reached.
Because of the time differential, shipboard travel time  would vary greatly
from the  passage  of  time  in  normal space;  a vessel  might undertake a
three-week voyage to a distant star system, only to find after arrival that
four days had passed in  normal space.   While  the ship  actually moved no
faster that  was  possible  with standard  warp drive,  the relative effect
would be that of making a three-week trip in four days, giving the same end
result as would be  provided by  vastly increased  warp speeds.   Such warp
speeds would  create  stresses  beyond  the  tolerances  of any conceivable
structural design or building material, destroying any ship which attempted
them.  So,  it  was  concluded,  a "shortcut"  existed which  could open up
entirely new areas of space for exploration.  After nearly  twelve years of
intensive research and  development, two  drive system  producers felt that
they had  each  designed  the  most  feasible warp  field configuration for
interphase travel.   Both designs  combined intricate  warp and transporter
field matrices to generate a momentary "doorway" through which the equipped
vessel could enter parallel space.  This artificial interphase  would be of
such short duration that even  repeated exposure  would be  harmless to the
ship's crew, avoiding  the effects  suffered by  Defiant."   --Mr.  Scott's
Guide to the Enterprise (Shane Johnson)

"When the official  start for  the [Galaxy]  project was  announced in July
2343 much of the original theoretical  work had  already been accomplished,
particularly in the  propulsion field.   While  the attempt  to surpass the
primary warp  field  efficiency  barrier  with  the  Transwarp  Development
Project in the early 2280s proved unsuccessful, the pioneering achievements
in warp  power  generation  and  field  coil  design eventually  led to the
uprated Excelsior  and  Ambassador  class  starships.   Both vessels served
Starfleet in exemplary fasion.  They continue to  do so,  even beyond their
original design lifetimes.  The Galaxy class is expected to  remain true to
its predecessors."  --Star Trek The Next Generation  Technical Manual (page
14)

This seems to be saying that the transwarp drive concept was a failure, but
they used the  information from  portions of  that project  to increase the
efficiency of  standard  warp drives.   As  for the  original Excelsior, it
isn't made clear whether it was destroyed using Transwarp drive, or whether
it simply didn't work, so they re-installed standard warp drives on it.  In
STVII we see it was put into Starfleet service.  Thus it  obviously did NOT
blow up while it was still experimental.  Also,  it is  clearly stated that
the uprated Excelsior CLASS starships used normal, but more efficient, warp
drives.  The  only question  is whether  or not  the Excelsior's trans-warp
engines blew up at  some point  and destroyed  that particular  ship, or if
they just  failed,  and  were  replaced  in  the  Excelsior  by normal Warp
engines.

"The third  Enterprise, NCC-1701-B,  was an  Excelsior class  ship built at
Starfleet's Anteres Ship Yards.  Although the  decision to  model this ship
on the   failed   original   experimental   Excelsior   was   at  the  time
controversial, the   economics  of   using  the   existing  (and  otherwise
successful) engineering of the basic spaceframe was compelling.  The wisdom
of this decision has been borne out by the large number  of Excelsior class
starships that still serve Starfleet in a variety of  capacities.  (Indeed,
the Excelsior herself ultimately proved to be  a distinguished  part of the
Starfleet.)"  --Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual (page 4)

Again, this seems to indicate that the original Excelsior was NOT destroyed
by a  failure of  the Transwarp  drive.   Instead, the  drive simply didn't
work, so they replaced it with a standard warp drive.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) ===== IMPULSE ENGINES =====

The impulse engines on the Galaxy class  starships are  different in design
from the  Constitution  class  vessels  in TOS.   The  Galaxy class impulse
propulsion system (IPS) generates a subspace distortion field,  as does the
warp propulsion  system, but  the IPS  field is  induced by  an energy flux
several orders of magnitude smaller than that of the warp engines.  Because
of this, the warp  field produced  by the  IPS does  not have  the power to
propel the ship faster than light.

Starfleet operational  guidelines  restrict  impulse operations  to a small
fraction of the speed of light to reduce relativistic effects.

So impulse engines are true Newtonian (non-warp) engines.  Ignore what this
posting used to say.  :-)  They are  powered by  sequential fusion reactors
that fuse the slush detuerium into helium,  and the  high-energy exhaust is
expeled out  the back,  utilizing a  vector-controllable nozzle.   This was
added to the TNG ships (the impulse thrust  alone was  no longer sufficient
to propel the larger ship).  Thus, fusion exhaust products from the impulse
engines are  used  to  energize  a  small   warp  coil   which  produces  a
non-propulsive warp field.  This field effectively lessens the  mass of the
ship and means the impulse engines have less work to do.

There actually is a warp field generated, but it is  a non-propulsive field
which only reduces the  effective mass  of the  ship and  gives the impulse
engines less of a job to do.

Some sources say that impulse engines must  be used  near inhabited planets
and other systems, because the field created by the warp  drives would tear
the area apart.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) ===== TOS/TNG ENTERPRISE SAUCER SEPARATION =====

Yes, the TOS Enterprise could separate; just that it would take  a lot more
work (and a bigger effects budget) to  put it  back together.   Kirk orders
Scotty to  "disengage  nacelles,  jettison  if  possible"  in  "The  Savage
Curtain" and "discard the warp drive nacelles if you have to  and crack out
of there with the main section, but get that ship out  of there!"   in "The
Apple".

According to the fourth season ST:TNG  Writer's Technical  Manual, when the
Enterprise-D separates,  only  the  battle  section  has  warp capabilities
(earlier we were told that the saucer could only go as fast  as warp four).
According to the 1991 TNG Technical Manual, the saucer section can actually
land on a planet.  Sternbach and  Okuda suggest  that such  a landing would
damage the saucer section beyond  feasibility of  repair--it is  only to be
used as a last resort, sort of as a "life raft".

Although there were countless episodes where the Enterprise-D *should* have
separated for  safety  reasons  (entering the  RNZ, for  example), the only
times we have seen them decouple were in "Encounter  at Farpoint", "Arsenal
of Freedom", and "The Best of Both Worlds II".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

7) ===== TNG COMPUTERS AND VIEWSCREENS =====

The main viewscreen in supposed to be 3-D.  When you see a side view of the
bridge crew looking at the screen, the view  on the  screen is  a side view
(like the sides of faces when talking with people).

Nearly all of the graphics displays were designed on Macintoshes.  Not only
that, but the "living" displays on  the show  were also  being generated by
Macintoshes.

Picard's workstation in the Ready Room is just a plastic-molded model.  The
display screen has been  replaced with  a blue  screen, so  that any action
that needs to be shown can be overlayed later.

Most of  these  workstations  don't  have  the  Blue  Screen  because their
displays are not normally shown.  Instead, they have some static graphic on
the display (known internally as "Okudagrams").

The storage capacity of the Galaxy Class Exploration Cruiser is 125,575,500
terabytes, 1  terabyte  being  1  quadrillion  bytes,  according  to FASA's
(non-canon) Star Trek TNG Officer's  Manual.   In the  twentieth century, a
terabyte is still approximately 10^12 bytes (one trillion).

According to  FASA's STTNG  Officer's Manual,  the storage  capacity of the
Enterprise's main   computer   (not  counting   random-access  memory)  was
575,000,000 terabytes (or was it 575,000,000,000?).

There are  three  principal computational  units ("cores")  on board Galaxy
class starships.    Two  are located  in the  saucer section,  abeam of the
centerline.  The third is in the battle section abaft the connecting pylon.

Non-propulsive subspace   field   generators  enable   signals  within  the
principal units to propagate at FTL speeds.

Each unit consists of  2048 modules,  each module  containing 144 isolinear
optical chips.  The capacity of each module  is 634,060.8  kiloquads, for a
total per-unit capacity of 1.29e09 kiloquads  (Tech Manual/page  53).  This
is roughly the same as the figure given on page 49  for each  *module*.  [I
could not find  a reference  explaining what  a "quad"  is.] Each isolinear
chip contains a small onboard processor to accelerate data access rates.

There are 380 optical subprocessors distributed throughout the  ship.  Most
are available to the main units for offloading  of computational  tasks.  A
few are dedicated to certain critical operations such as the bridge control
cluster, transporter  operations,  and  engine  control.   Signals in these
devices do not propagate at FTL speeds.

The computational units are connected by an optical data network.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) ===== SHIPS AND MORE SHIPS =====

STARSHIPS NAMED ENTERPRISE:

NCC-1701 Constitution   class.     Commanding  officers   -  Robert  April,
Christopher Pike, James Kirk.  2245 - commissioned, San Francisco Starfleet
Yards, Earth.  2284 - assigned to training  duty at  Starfleet Academy, San
Francisco, Earth.  2285 - destroyed in combat, Mutara sector.

NCC-1701-A Constitution class.   Commanding  officers -  James Kirk, Spock.
2286 - USS YORKTOWN renamed USS ENTERPRISE, Earth.

NCC-1701-B  Excelsior class.  Commissioned Antares Shipyards.

NCC-1701-C Ambassador  class.    Commanding  officers   -  Rachel  Garrett.
Commissioned Earth Station McKinley.  2344 - destroyed  in combat, Narendra
sector.

NCC-1701-D Galaxy class.   Commanding  officers -  Jean-Luc Picard, William
Riker.  2363 - commissioned, Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Mars.

Six Galaxy  class starships  have been  built.   The first  was the Galaxy,
second was the Yamato (destroyed), third was the Enterprise,  one to appear
sometime during season 5, and two more for the writers to use later.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) ===== MODELS/COMPUTER ANIMATION =====

TNG is shot on film in the studio.  Final editing is done  via video before
being beamed out to the satellite.  The film  shooting is  done for quality
purposes...  you get better pictures and  sound by  using film.   The video
editing is  done  for  practical  purposes...   it's  fast and (relatively)
cheap.

TNG:  ILM did the "Encounter At Farpoint" FX and a bunch  of stock footage.
They NEVER did the bulk of the effects work.  They are credited  at the end
of the  show  because  their  stock  footage  (which  means  shots  of  the
Enterprise flying by, etc.)  is still used.  I  noticed in  TBOBW2 that the
Enterprise fly-by looked a lot better, so maybe the TNG  folks have ordered
new stock footage from their special effects people (The Post Group).

TNG:  There are  two separate  contractors.   The model  work is  done at a
motion- control shop and the compositing is done at The Post  Group.  There
are many specialist shops invovled with TNG visual effects.

TNG "Q Who":  The model for the Borg ship is 8'x8'x8',  with the underlying
cube being 6  feet on  a side,  with lots  of tubes,  models, toy soldiers,
R2D2s, parts from airplanes, etc to build the outer layer.

TNG:  In the opening credits (and occasionally in the same  shot during the
show) you  can  see  a  man walking  by the  large vertical  windows of the
observation lounge.  It  is the  slow flyby  of the  Enterprise (from lower
left to upper right) after all the quick flybys.   There  are large windows
just beyond the bump in the saucer section, and if you look closely (and it
helps to have a giant screen TV)  you can  see a  man walking  from left to
right past the windows, then someone walking from right to left behind him.
NOTE:  It's harder to catch it with freeze-frame since pausing  a VCR loses
half the resolution, so just watch it at normal speed a few times until you
figure out where on the ship you're supposed to be looking.

TNG:  Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach have said  that they  still use models,
not computer-generated ships.

TNG:  Richard Arnold has said they haven't used the  captains yacht because
low bid for it is something like $50,000.   Though according  to Mike Okuda
they've stretched the envelope  on this  so far  that it's  now pretty cost
effective to throw in new ships  (witness the  Klingon cruiser).   Even the
leap into  warp  space is  non-computer-generated.   It is  an incamera job
using slit scanning.

TNG:  Thus far, STTNG has shown  us Shuttle  Bays Two  and Three.   We have
never seen the main bay:  Shuttle Bay One.  That's because  Shuttle Bay One
is the size  of a  football field,  and would  cost too  much to construct.
Writers are under orders to  use the  smaller shuttle  bays where possible,
when writing their stories.  Well, actually I  guess we  see part  of it in
"Final Mission" since the blip on  data's console  representing the shuttle
carrying Wes and Jean-Luc is shown leaving the *main* shuttle bay.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

10) ===== TRANSPORTERS =====

The Galaxy class contains 4  personnel transporters,  8 cargo transporters,
and 8  emergency  transporters.   Personnel transporters  are configured to
transport at  the  quantum  level.    Cargo  transporters  operate  at  the
molecular level and as such cannot  transport living  beings.   They can be
configured to operate at the quantum  level with  considerable reduction in
transportable payload mass.

The effective range of the transporter is 40,000 kilometers.

Transported matter is not converted to energy,  but is  disassembled by the
transporter (at the appropriate resolution) and is conveyed via an "annular
confinement beam"  as  a  "subatomically  debonded  matter  stream."    and
reassembled at the destination.

Both the source and destination sites, if in motion, must be  moving at the
same integral warp factor for transport to occur.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

11) ===== REPLICATORS/HOLODECKS =====

The replicator  functions  at  the molecular  level, hence  is incapable of
replicating living beings.  Raw material from a  central storage facitility
is dematerialized by  transporter.   Before being  materialized, the matter
stream is perturbed by a transformational  matrix whose  values are derived
from computer storage.

Food materials  are replicated  using a  sterile organic  suspension as raw
material to reduce the  amount of  processing the  replicator must perform.
This resource is supplemented by solid waste materials as necessary.  Thus,
the phrase  "flush twice,  it's a  long way  to the  cafeteria" has special
meaning on Starfleet vessels.

Holodecks use replicator technology for small objects (Wes  falling in real
water, Wes hitting Picard with a real snowball), but  uses force-fields for
more complex  objects  (Picard riding  a holo-horse,  Worf sparring against
holo-partners).

It was mentioned by someone (Richard Arnold or Okuda  or someone)  at a con
shortly after the Moriarty episode aired that there were a scene that ended
up on the cutting room floor (due  to time  constraints) that  made it more
clear that Geordi was showing the paper to Data to  show him  that it could
leave the holodeck and therefore Moriarty could also leave the holodeck (if
he had only known) and not just showing him  the picture  of the Enterprise
(which was upside down as well, I believe).

Stewart told a slightly different version of  this at  a Creation  Con.  It
wasn't just for time that they cut out the implication  that Moriarty could
leave.  Remember  that Picard  did not  defeat Moriarty,  but persuaded him
that he had no possible independent existance (outside the holodeck).  Then
Moriarty consented to let Picard  store his  program until  he could really
live at some future date.  According  to Stewart,  a cut  scene showed that
Picard knew Moriarty could leave, because of  that paper.   However, Picard
didn't trust  the  sweetness, light,  tea &  crumpets that  he was showing.
Picard deliberately  lied,  because  he  would  not  free one  of the worst
villains in English-language fiction.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

12) ===== COMMUNICATIONS =====

Onboard communications  are  routed  through  the  central  computer.   The
communication software  listens  for  communication requests,  and when the
recipient has been identified activates his or her personal communicator or
nearby speakers.  There may be  a slight  delay in  communication while the
recipient is located, but subsequent transmission proceeds in real time.

I assume there are checks made (and delays (though we don't seem to see any
on TNG)) when a crewman is on a planet or starbase.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

13) ===== PHASERS =====

The term stands  for PHASed  Energy Rectification.   It  capitalizes on the
"rapid nadion effect."  [It appears  that Roddenberry's  explanation that a
phaser is a beam of "phased light" has been retconned.]

The saucer  section  is  equipped  with  a dorsal  and ventral "collimeter"
emitter array.

The battle section has emitters on the dorsal  docking area,  the upper and
lower fantail, and the underside of  the nacelle  pylons.   Isn't it ironic
that the "battle section" has no phasers  which bear  directly forward when
the ship is separated?   [If this  is incorrect,  can someone  point to the
page of the TNG Tech Manual that talks about this?]

Phasers may  be  fired  while  the ship  is moving  at FTL  speeds, but the
discharge would have no effect.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

14) ===== PHOTON TORPEDOES =====

The saucer section has a forward launcher.  The battle  section has forward
and aft launchers.  The launch tube induces a warp field  in receptor coils
in the torpedo casing.  A sustainer coil  augments the  induced field using
warhead matter/antimatter  components   as  propellent   and  provides  for
midflight course and speed corrections.

According to  the  TNG  Tech Manual  the saucer  section has  an aft facing
launcher.  It  can  only  be used  (hence seen)  when the  two sections are
seperated.

The warhead consists of a few kilograms of  matter and  antimatter.  Before
launch the  reactants  are  stored  in  different  areas   of  the  casing.
Approximately one second after successful launch, the warhead  arms and the
reactants are  brought  into  proximity  separated  by   forcefields.    At
detonation, the fields drive the reactants quickly together.

Minimum safe  target  range is  15 kilometers.   Maximum  range for nominal
warhead yield is 3.5 million kilometers.

Galaxy class starships carry 275 torpedo casings.

Up to 10 torpedos can be launched as  a single  unit.   After traveling for
150 meters, they separate into distinct delivery systems.

Starfleet tactics include simultaneous  discharge of  phasers and torpedos.
The phasers  locally  weaken  the  target's defensive  shields allowing the
torpedos to  penetrate  and detonate  within the  shield perimeter, usually
resulting in complete destruction of the target.

A "Photon" torpedo is  a torpedo  casing (with  a *very*  small warp engine
which has enough fuel for a few seconds of  "power-assisted" flight), fired
from a huge rail-gun.  The casing carries a warhead of a  few hundred grams
of antimatter in  a magnetic  "bottle".   Upon impact,  the magnetic bottle
disintegrates, and the anti-matter impacts with  the inside  of the casing,
providing a  *very*  powerful  explosion,  with a blast  of  mega  doses of
broad-spectrum radiation,  with "extra"  energy in the X-ray  and Gamma ray
range...  *THAT* is what does all the damage.

So why is it  called a  PHOTON torpedo?   When  electrons and antielectrons
(positrons) collide and annihilate each other photons are emitted.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

15a) ===== DEFLECTOR SHIELDS =====

Deflector shields are focused spatial distortions resulting in a deflective
graviton field.  This field effect is generated by waveguides  on the outer
hull of the ship.

Deflector shields have a significant fratricidal effect on the warp fields.
Neither system  can  be  operated  at optimal  efficiency when  both are in
operation.

By definition of the Star Trek Technical Manual (STTNG):

Like most forcefield devices, the deflector system creates a localized zone
of highly  focused  spacial distortion  within which  an energetic graviton
field is maintained.  The deflector field itself is emitted and shaped by a
series of  conformal  transmission   grids  on   the  spacecraft  exterior,
resulting in a field that closely follows the  form of  the vehicle itself.
This field  is  highly  resistive  to  impact due  to mechanical incursions
ranging from relativistic  subatomic particles  to more  massive objects at
lesser relative velocities.  When such an intrusion occurs, field energy is
concentrated at the point of impact, creating an intense, localized spacial
distortion.

Basically all this says is that the shields are  a set  of reversed gravity
screens.  if anything 'hits'  the screens,  the shield  system reverses the
gravitational acceleration  in  that zone,  counteracting the  force of the
photon torpedo  or  whatever.   To the  torpedo, it  will seem  like it hit
something solid.

          (Force of Torpedo)---><---(Force resisting from shield)
                               OR
   (Energy from beam weapon)---><---(Counteracting energy at opposing 
                                     frequency and power level)

15b) ===== COMBAT SHIELDS =====

The shield  frequency  is  modulated  at  random to  prevent opponents from
matching a  weapon  frequency  to shield  frequency.   During the frequency
change, sensor operations are  performed.   Chief O'Brien  referred to such
deflector "windows" in "The Wounded" as the explanation for  his ability to
transport to a ship whose shield were operating.   Normally the transporter
requires more bandwidth than the window allows.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

16) ===== ARTIFICAL GRAVITY =====

Artificial gravity  and  inertial  damping  is achieved  by machinery which
function according to  the same  principles as  those used  in tractor beam
technology.  A controlled graviton field is projected  by devices dispersed
throughout the habitable sections of the hull.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

17) ===== EMERGENCY FUELING =====

The forward sections of the warp nacelles  are Bussard  ramscoops which, in
an emergency  situation, can  be used  to collect  interstellar hydrogen by
means of  a  magnetic  field.    This  hydrogen can  be used  as the matter
component of  the  warp  and  impulse  engines.    When the  ramscoop is in
operation, the  navigational  deflector  shields  are   modified  to  allow
interstellar hydrogen to reach the collectors.

The Enterprise also carries a device capable of generating small amounts of
antideuterium, the antimatter component of the warp and impulse engine fuel
mixtures.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

18) ===== AUTO-DESTRUCT =====

Each section has provisions for scuttling.  Normally, self-destruct entails
deactivating the magnetic fields which  keep the  antimatter fuel component
from coming  into  contact  with  the  ship.    If  the  computer should be
non-operational, ordnance packages placed  at key  structural locations can
be manually detonated.

TOS "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield":  They attempted self-destruct.
TOS "By Any Other Name":  They attempted self-destruct.
ST3 "The Search for Spock":  They self-destruct the origianl Enterprise.
TNG "11001001":  Picard and Riker try to self destruct.
TNG "Where Silence Has Lease":  Picard tries to self destruct for Nagilum.
TNG "Contagion":  The virus from the probe initiate a self-destruct.

The self-destruct sequence from "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield":

	Kirk:	1-1-A
	Spock:	1-1-A-2-B
	Scott:	1-A-2-B-3
	Kirk:	0-0-0-Destruct-0 Initiate

Abort:	Kirk:	1-2-3-Continuity Abort Destruct Sequence

The self-destruct sequence from "Star Trek III:  The Search for Spock"

	Kirk:	1-1-A
	Chekov:	1-1-A-2-B
	Scotty:	1-A-2-B-3 (possibly 1-B-2-B-3)
	Kirk:	0-0-0-Destruct-0 [ Initiate ]

Auto-Destruct Sequence in "11001001":

	Picard and Riker place their hands on the computer terminals for
	finger scan.

	Computer: Recognized - Picard, Jean-Luc, Captain.
	Computer: Recognized - Riker, William T., Commander.
	Picard:   Set auto-destruct sequence.
	Computer: Does the first officer concur?
	Riker:    Yes, set auto-destruct sequence, now.
	Computer: Auto-destruct will detonate in four minutes and
		  fifty-nine seconds.

De-Activation:

	Picard places hand on bridge computer console.

	Picard:	  Cancel auto-destruct.
	Computer: Does the first officer agree?

	Riker places hand on computer console.

	Riker:    Affirmative.
	Computer: Auto-destruct cancelled.

While the auto-destruct  can be  activated in  Engineering, it  can only be
deactivated on the bridge.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

19) ===== DATA'S DATA (AND POSITRONIC BRAIN) =====

Data is NOT Asmovian and does NOT obey Asimov's Laws of Robotics.  The only
connection is that Data has a positronic brain.

Data has  100,000  terabytes  of memory  (equiv to  100,000,000 one-GB hard
drives).  When on trial, he stated that  he had  a storage  capacity of 800
quadrillion bits (100 quadrillion bytes).

Data processes 60 trillion operations per second. ("Measure of a Man")

If you'd like to compare  Data's 100,000  terabytes of  storage capacity to
something real-world,  someone  mentioned  a  chart  that  set  the maximum
storage capacity  of  the  human brain  to approximately  3 teraBITS, which
would mean  that Data's  brain could  contain everything  from over 260,000
human brains.

Anyone with more  info to  put here,  feel free  to email  me.   Be sure to
mention that's it's for the r.a.s.TECH FAQL.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

20) ===== GEORDI'S VISOR =====

Geordie said that his VISOR  covered the  range 1  Hertz to  1 Terahertz (I
think).  This seems unlikely.  Although it covers radio, microwave, and far
infrared frequencies,  it  does NOT  include near  infrared, visible light,
ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

21) ===== CLOAKING DEVICES =====

Why doesn't the  Federation have  a cloaking  device, even  after all these
years they've had to study Romulan/Klingon designs?  Some say it is because
they don't want to appear like  a military  organization.   Others say that
the ships shape doesn't lend to the  use of  a cloaking  device (seems like
I'd change the shape then).  Still others say that it sucks too much power,
and since it hinders one's ability to fire on other ships they have decided
it isn't worth using.  One might still think they could keep  one around in
case of grave emergency, however...

The novelization of ST6  hints around  with cloaking  devices on Federation
ships, but doesn't say anything explicitly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

99) ===== MISC TRIVIA =====

TOS:  The Klingons and  the Romulans  had a  trade agreement  of sorts, for
technology.  The  Klingons  got  cloaking  devices  (according to non-canon
sources), the Romulans got Klingon warships (ref "The Enterprise Incident")
and warp  technology  (from non-canon  sources).   It's been  said that the
trade agreement originated when someone stepped on the  Romulan ship model.
:-) Also, there is some speculation (again, non-canon) that the BoP as seen
in TSFS  and  TVH,  plus  several  times in  TNG, was  originally a Romulan
design.

TNG:  On  the  topic  of  the  Enterprise-D  having  dolphins  involved  in
Guidance/Navigation:  "In  the  Galaxy  class starship,  ongoing G&N system
research tasks are handled by a mixed consultation crew  of twelve Tursiops
truncatus and  T.    truncatus  gilli,  Atlantic   and  Pacific  bottlenose
dolphins, respectively.  This crew is overseen by two additional cetaceans,
Orcinus orca  takyai,  or  Takaya's  Whale.    All  theoretical  topics  in
navigation are   studied   by   these   elite    specialists,   and   their
recommendations for system upgrades are implemented by  Starfleet."  --Star
Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual (pages 44-45).   I believe Geordi
mentioned in one episode, "have you seen the dolphins?"  as  he's trying to
get rid of someone (Twain?)

If you have  technical comments  on what  you believe  are technical errors
that show  up frequently  on ST:TNG,  the following  is an  address to send
comments to tech.   consultants  for the  show (only  responses from people
with sufficient  backgrounds  in  science   or  engineering,  please...e.g.
physicists, EE's, etc.):
				Attn: Technical Consultant
				Star Trek The Next Generation
				Cooper Bldg  c/o Paramount Pictures
				5555 Melrose Ave.
				Hollywood, CA  90038

TNG satellite uplink times:
	Sat 1800 EDT T301-9
	Sun 1400 EDT T301-9

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Again, if you know of any other topics that should be included in 
this list, feel free to email me at one of the addresses below.

		--Otto "HACK-MAN" Heuer
 _____  _________  _                         _____   _____   _____   _____ 
|  ___||  _______|| | Otto E. Heuer, CEO    ||___|| |_   _| |_   _| ||___||
| |__  | |___  ___| | FSD, Inc.             |  o  |   | |     | |   |  o  |
|  __| |___  ||  _  | "The innovator for    |__O__|   |_|     |_|   |__O__|
| | _______| || |_| | software solutions."            C, Pascal, Fortran, BASIC
|_||_________||_____|         Assembly Language, Snobol, Ada, APL, Prolog, LISP
Unix, MS-DOS, ProDOS       .  .   .   .... .  .   .   .   .   .   . Audio/Video
ottoh@cfsmo.honeywell.com  :..: .:.:. :    :.' .. :`.': .:.:. :`. :   Star Trek
hackman@pnet51.orb.mn.org  :  : :   : :... : `.   :   : :   : :  `:  Apple IIgs
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech