Landing a Starship

[Brell]

All hands report to code blue stations! Take the warp core off line, vent all plasma from the nacelles, and divert all available power to the atmospheric thrusters. Bring the landing struts  online and set inertial dampers to maximum.

 

Starship landing, it was something rarely seen in the star trek universe. Many Klingon ships had the capability to land as well as many smaller Federation vessels and shuttlecraft. Grand Starfleet ship classes like the Galaxy, Sovereign, and Odyssey are all simply too large. However Intrepid and Nova class ships were both shown to have the ability. Voyager landed only a few times throughout the show’s seven year run and each time was impressive.

 

Our questions this week are; Do you feel that starship landing is underused in Star Trek storytelling? & Do you think more Starfleet ships should be able to land on a planetary surface? Discuss in the comments!

This poll comes from Trek Technology and science category. Where we ask questions relating to the technology and science seen in Star Trek. Often the questions will relate to how the lines between modern tech and trek tech blur more and more each day. Other times questions from this category will ask about your favorite gear or uses of the futuristic tech we enjoy seeing on the big and small screen.

Edited April 1, 2017 by Brell

[Solaris]

I do think its under-utilized as a story telling mechanic. Voyager landing was fun, and should have been used more. Of course some ships it just wouldnt be feasible on, but I could seem smaller ships being able to do it.

 

Were I ever to make Captain, (which would never happen), Id love to have an Intrepid-class just to use that particular ability.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

It is surprising to me that, of all the ships we've seen, we didn't see Voyager land more. Considering that the poor crew never gets shore-leave, and that they're so starved for resources, it seems like any uninhabited planet with an M-Class environment would be an opportunity for Janeway to kick everyone off the ship for a few hours to collect berries and anything else they can get their hands on, with a healthy dose of fresh air. 

Just on the story-telling side, seems like there would have been lots more opportunities – in that case – for all kinds of crazy situations. The ground threatens to swallow up Voyager when it causes local earthquakes from setting down! Unexpected locals see Voyager and cause a prime directive crisis! Passing aliens blockade Voyager from lifting-off again! The entire crew gets sick from local pathogen! 

[Randal Shayne]

Quote

Just on the story-telling side, seems like there would have been lots more opportunities – in that case – for all kinds of crazy situations. The ground threatens to swallow up Voyager when it causes local earthquakes from setting down! Unexpected locals see Voyager and cause a prime directive crisis! Passing aliens blockade Voyager from lifting-off again! The entire crew gets sick from local pathogen! 

Precisely why I'm rather glad (at least from an in-universe perspective) that it wasn't done more often. On the ground, a starship is incredibly vulnerable, and any number of things could end a crew's mission with an unceremonious finish. Starting up the warp core takes time, and the sheer size of most of these ships makes them unwieldy in a Class-M gravity field, regardless of who the pilot is. Essentially, it's a good thing to have, but it should be used with great caution, under strict circumstances, and the ship should not be on the ground longer than necessary.

On the other hand, it could have made Voyager a bit more interesting- that's for sure!  

[Piravao sh'Qynallahr]

I loved seeing Voyager land and I do wish that they had done it more often, and with other ships. It always looked so awesome when any ship was flying inside a planets atmosphere. Some of my favourite episodes of all time were ENT: Storm Front and VOY: Future's End, purely because we got to see some ships flying through the atmosphere of a planet. (And I like time travel)

[+ Taelon]

TBH while it would make in-story sense for Voyager to want to land, I don't think Starfleet ships of the line are (or should) be designed to do so. The strains of gravity and travelling through an atmosphere are considerable, and honestly, even as a small child my eyebrows went up when Voyager managed it. 

Basically: From a design standpoint, ships being able to land places a much higher limit on development, without adding a balanced benefit in a universe where shuttles, transporters and other forms of surface-to-orbit travel exist. It just doesn't make sense to me to try to land the capital ships when smaller craft exist.

 

[Kendra Eberhart]

I thinking I am going to be a bit of the black sheep here by saying, I am glad that Voyager didn't land all that often. I mean they said time and time again that getting home was all that mattered so having random episodes of them landing doesn't particularly serve that goal from a OOC perspective. 

I also tend to think that this technology is in the same vien of saucer separation. Sure its cool and occasionally useful but not prominent. And nor should it be, I mean like because I can't think of a long term mission where a starship is better off on the ground rather then in space with the aid of transporters and shuttles. Yes these instances could happen which allows for some potentially great storytelling for us, but these are really the fringe cases.

It is also worth pointing out that it seems the trend is for bigger and bigger ships, so this technology probably has been or about to be discontinued in terms of starship design.