Science fiction technology: light engines and systems (Star Trek)

Last time we looked at the warp , even if it was not very deep, this time we will look at the main light engines, which are also pulsed.

Anyone who is interested in science fiction, I invite rolled.

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In the series there are many types of light engines, the main ones are reactive, atomic, ionic, ionic-plasma and sailboat.



The federation uses all types except sailing ships, which are mainly found in Bajorans.
It so happened that the Track covered not only social and national events through its futuristic prism, but also trends in various technological ideas and breakthroughs. Jet engines acted as reserve and emergency engines until the 2300s, but they were still present on ships and subsequently, as a backup acceleration and deceleration system. Also all jet engines are reactive.

Jet engines in the track are made in the style of futurism, added alloys that do not exist in the known range of materials, rocket fuel is also often made using new types of materials, except for the “First Contact”, where the rocket was derived on roughly modern fuel, the exact composition of which not specified, but it clearly does not go beyond the achievements until 2060.


Ion and ion-plasma engines, in principle, have today not only analogs in technology, but also real samples of devices equipped with them.
It is akin to them and atomic, since both the power of the ion and the power of atomic engines does not allow for a sufficiently fast and powerful acceleration.

Ask why the federation uses atomic and ionic engines as the main and most powerful engines of ships?
Here is the trick of Roddenberry and his colleagues - all these engines are low-power, but their low acceleration is compensated by the mass change generator, which is the main part of these engines.

Yes, this is fantastic, yes, this is not realistic, but we consider these technologies from the point of view of the track, so we will explore the advantages and disadvantages:

Benefits:

engines equipped with mass control coils are two devices at once - the motor itself and the system of artificial gravity and inertia suppression
one type of device controls the entire standard system of gravity and inertia (except for certain very important compartments)
engine reactor works on dilith (an exotic material from lithium with a special crystal lattice, very unstable under certain conditions)
the reactor itself feeds part of the ship support systems, which parallel to it makes a more powerful warp core

Disadvantages:

the cost of the power of such engines depend on the power of the coils (about 90% of the energy supplied to them)
risk of exposure when in the engine compartment, which is why staff must wear protective suits
low acceleration, danger of reactor overheating
requires expensive dilithium crystals or other unstable materials, up to uranium and plutonium
directly connected to the computer and the sensor array both inside the ship and outside, which is required for accurate and uninterrupted control of gravity and inertia on the ship

Since, in principle, all the shortcomings of these engines are already more than covered by the computing power and technological development of the federation, federal engines are almost always atomic.

Another thing is ionic.

Many other races use ionic ones, having or not having achieved a sufficient breakthrough in technologies and resources, like humans, which changes the design of an engine only in one plan - reactive force. The federation can afford nuclear engines, but the ion engines are more economical in terms of money and resource plans, since they do not require dilithium crystals and can run on simple hydrogen or other gas suitable for ion engines.
Ionic ones are also low-powered and use a gravitational generator together with computing powers for their functioning. In principle, the engine itself has long been known for its design and many parameters, and even plans to use it, but the main reason why we have not yet switched from reactive to atomic or plasma is their small specific impulse, due to which it is impossible with its help to lift the ship from the earth with the speed necessary to achieve even the minimum orbit. Here is an example of such plans for the use of a particular plasma (same ion) engine .

Most often, the design of the federation ships has to accommodate the engines on the "neck" of the ship, since this is usually the fulcrum and center of mass of the ship. The same “neck” is made of a thicker layer of frame materials and with a thickened skin, since this is also the weakest part of the ship (except for the warp gondolas).
Previously, (approximately until the 22nd century), ships were built with a classic engine layout behind the ship (example: Akira class and NX-01 class), but then the ship design, like the nacelles (due to the power of the warp field and other factors) has changed. The residential compartment (plate) and the gondola began to be placed away from the engineering compartment.


Ships of other races are often a reflection of what becomes fashionable to discuss in astronautics, at the time of writing the script, for example, Bajoran ships equipped with either atomic engines or solar sails reflected the interests of the time to an interesting concept of sailing ships, which has already been tested .

The concepts of all engines in the RFP are directly related to real engines, and also indicate significant disadvantages and advantages of certain types of them. The only sci-fi factor in them is the generator of mass change, which we may never create.


Separately, I want to note that in some ships, for example, Borg, the engines are not visible and are located inside the hull. There are different concepts of their engines, but in principle their engines are based on the creation of radiation of this type, which can pass through matter or pass through certain channels of a ship and is ejected from any point on any face of their cubes, spheres and other ships. The same applies to other ships with hidden engines.