Humanity can now build the Enterprise from STAR TREK - but it's gonna cost you

[derby378]

Engineer: Star Trek’s Enterprise ship could be built in 20 years at a cost of $1 trillion

Created by a systems and electrical engineer with 30 years' experience, the BuildTheEnterprise site sets out a very specific timeline for the research and construction of such a massive space-related undertaking. The first nine years are dedicated to research, component testing, and drawing up a number of possible blueprints. The following 11 years are dedicated to development, where components will be manufactured and launched into space for assembly.

On year 20, the ship would be ready for a "moon fly by" with full crew and supplies. The plan may seem overly ambitious, but consider that we're already using a number of gadgets that were all but predicted by the Star Trek television series.

The estimated cost of building the Enterprise: about $50 billion a year for the next 20 years — $1 trillion in total. That sounds like a lot of money (because it is), but considering that the United States spent nearly that much on the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bail out banks in 2008, putting a trillion towards making Star Trek a reality suddenly doesn't seem as ludicrous. Yeah, it's still pretty ludicrous, but in a really cool way.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/engineer-star-trek-enterprise-ship-could-built-20-173540774.html

Admittedly, there's still that pesky problem with circumventing Einstein and developing a working FTL drive, but here's the site for those who are interested:

http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/

[leveymg]

1. Just go see the Movie sequel. It'll cost you $10.

And, the technologies will appear to work.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. $14

[rox63]

2. First we have to discover a source of dilithium crystals

Then we have to figure out how to make the warp drive work.

[derby378]

5. The site proposes using three ion propulsion engines instead

Think of a more massive version of the power plant in a TIE fighter from Star Wars and stick three of them in the rear of the Enterprise. Might give us a little push until we find those pesky crystals - or invent some by ourselves.

[Cleita]

6. Not to mention the replicators to create food, clothing and other necessities. n/t

[IDemo]

13. We're making progress on that one

http://www.pcworld.com/article/212440/the_3d_printer_revolution_countdown_print_your_own_pc_coming_shortly.html

[longship]

9. Big problem! James Doohan is gone.

I guess Simon Pegg may be a suitable substitute. At least as long as he doesn't have to have that alien kids' toy product placement along with him.

"But Captain! The dilithium crystals are near puddles as it is. I canno get 'nother ounce outta them."

Without Cmdr Scott, the Enterprise wouldn't be the Enterprise and those dilithium crystals would be...

Now about that yeoman Rand...

Just kiddin'.

[LeftyMom]

3. That's a whole lot of steps past anything we can do.

Right now we couldn't even manage a trip to Mars, because we don't have ways to protect ourselves from radiation that aren't too bulky to get into space to begin with.

[tularetom]

4. How much to buy a delorean and fit it with a 1.21 gigawatt flux capacitor?

Seems like it'd give you more bang for the buck.

[xchrom]

7. I say - do it. Lots of cool applicable technology

Will be discovered along the way.

[WingDinger]

8. More alien religion. Scientists/God, aliens will save us from ourselves.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Now that's what I call a midlife crisis!

Don't buy yourself a sports car or Harley - tell people to build you an Enterprise!

Why does it remind me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=6m34s&v=qXGgLC0nmx8

[Politicalboi]

11. LOL!

That was a funny movie.

[jp11]

12. Gah!

[RZM]

14. Simple solution. Invent the holodeck first

And market it as a the next generation of interactive porn. The revenue from that could build 100 enterprises.

[Cave_Johnson]

16. ... as society collapses.

I am confident that the human race could not survive the invention of the holodeck.

There is an article about it somewhere...

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Actually they are in the process of inventing the holo deck

A lot of science fiction is currently in the process of becoming science, or already is.

Of course if we did the star trek humanity instead of George Orwell I'd be happier.

[Egalitarian Thug]

31. There's the key. +1 n/t

[daaron]

27. Oh yeah. That's what I call creative problem-solving.

If only teleporters were feasible.

[Cave_Johnson]

15. We dropped a trillion bucks on crap (i.e.) TARP

... might as well get something awesome for our money this time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Oh Miguel de Alcubierre has you covered (Warp Drive)

His latest set of equations now require dark energy (in theory it exists) and not more energy than there is in the universe, just close.

It used to be more energy that exists in the universe.

Actually there is a more pressing concern here...since this would be a...system ship...we need a space yard.... That alone would be that costly or more.

Side hobby, assuming we can find a way to beat FTL, or just a Gen Ship with solar sails, or nuclear or what have you... My BIL and I calculated the first ships are in the order of global GNP.

[Canuckistanian]

18. It's the dilithium crystals that's the killer cost

They're only available from Coridan or Elas in the Federation, and Rura Penthe in the Klingon Empire. And we all know what happened at Rura Penthe. Although Spock did develop a method of re-crystalizing dilithium.....

Ok, I'll shut up now.

[daaron]

28. Don't forget...

From Memory Alpha, Star Trek Wiki:

In 2372, the USS Voyager discovered a new form of dilithium in the Delta Quadrant that remained stable at much higher reaction rates, allowing a vessel to travel more efficiently at much higher speeds. This dilithium was installed aboard the shuttlecraft Cochrane to test an experimental warp 10 flight. (VOY: "Threshold&quot

[Christopher Robbins]

21. Idea

“Our parents did not do it, so now its on us”

-Christopher J. Robbins


Building a star-ship is possible using existing technology. Launching a star-ship within the next 20 years will benefit all areas of American life. It can rapidly expand the economy by bolstering employment opportunities as well as establish an entire new branch of industry. It can also improve education standards as children become inspired to become engineers and scientists. NASA has succeeded in many advances and innovations, but has failed to fully capture and ignite the American imagination. Major habitation of the solar system is the next logical step in human evolution and ought to be a national priority. It is my goal to gather public support for this movement and call our president, senate, and house representatives into action towards rapidly advancing American exploration. This petition is historical.

[link:https://www.change.org/petitions/build-a-real-star-ship-within-our-lifetime|

[PDittie]

22. Nobody will insure the thing

Talk about catastrophic loss. I didn't see anything mentioned about Defense Dept. cost over-runs, either.

Think we're best off concentrating on improving the quality of our existence right here. Before it's, you know, too late.

(I'll stop being Debbie Downer now.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. The technologies that were used to develop the Apollo project

well one of them, a few in fact, are what you are currently using to be Debbie Downer.

This little effort, and it is possible given current tech, though not at all FTL capable, would help us down here. And the sensors this thing would need, means better Satellites to monitor and help us down here.

[hunter]

24. Our Military Industrial Complex will build something like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato

But ten trillion dollars later it still won't fly because you can't make money fixing something that ain't broke.

The CEOs of the ship's primary contractors will be living in luxurious space mansions staffed with slaves.

When the earth is totally ruined and unprofitable these corporate titans will leave, seeking new planets to exploit.

[Starry Messenger]

25. Way better use of the money than bailing out banks.

Even if it never got off the ground, the R&D from that kind of project would be immense.

[daaron]

26. I don't care HOW much it costs!

Last edited Sat May 19, 2012, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

We must have one. It would change the world. Warren Buffet? George Soros? Can we have one?

ETA: Newt!! We finally found a use for you!

[AsahinaKimi]

29. sounds neat but...

Would Paramount allow it? (Or who ever owns the rights to it now..) and if built, who would console the Star Wars fans?

[gulliver]

30. I'm on strike against the Star Trek franchise...

...until they bring back the real universe and un-destroy Vulcan.

[Motown_Johnny]

39. Dallas flashbacks?

It was all a dream (aka alternate time line).

None of what we had invested in emotionally for decades really happened.


What moron wrote that #@$% anyways?



Edit to add: I think they should do a series on the alternate universe (dark universe) where Spock had a beard. They used it in "Enterprise" and even more in "Deep Space Nine". I think that after the new movie screwed the pooch that this is the only thing anyone could get into now. I really liked what they did with it in "Enterprise". IMO those were the among the best episodes of that series.

[gulliver]

40. They need to do something.

I can accept an alternate timeline, I guess. Something has to be done. I was actually grabbed by the last movie at first, but then they had to go all strange and destroy Vulcan and so forth. I have no idea what they were thinking unless they do plan on the current timeline wending its way through a wormhole or two in order to make it back to the real TOS-initiated universe. Otherwise, it was just a moronic. You don't have to destroy a whole planet to get a mournful scene or two. What is this? Star Wars? Just have someone's pet Tribble get stepped on by a bad guy. Twice the emotional impact, and you don't outrage (too many) fans.

And I think a "counter-Spock" in an evil Federation universe as in "Mirror, Mirror" would be good, although Republicans might object to it. There would be a lot of possibilities in that. And we already know that universe is legitimate.

Now don't even get me started about leaving Tom Bombadil out of LOTR.

[Motown_Johnny]

41. Tom should have his own movie

"The Adventures Of Tom Bombadil" could be turned into a movie much easier than "I Robot" was.

Almost nothing from that movie was directly from the writings of Dr. Asimov. One scene was close (when the robot hid in a room full of robots) and the creation of the Zeroth Law did happen but not anything like it did in that movie. Other than that they suggested that a robot could dream and they used some cover art as the scene of that dream. I can't think of anything else in that entire movie that Issac wrote.


Given what was done with Arwen in the LOTR movies I think Tom Bombadil could easily fill 2 hours on the screen.

[E-Z-B]

32. Creating artificial gravity would be tough, too

[Initech]

33. By comparison it cost $140,000,000 to make the last Star Trek film.

[Marrah_G]

34. This is my sons dream

I think someday that I will see hi go into space

[Rex]

35. What's the point?

Some asshole would blow it up.

[MrScorpio]

36. The only way that is was built in the ST world was because money didn't exist

No more capitalism in the world of Star Trek

Too bad no one pointed that out

[TheKentuckian]

37. Less than 2 years of the open military budget so it seems like quite a bargain to me.

[Motown_Johnny]

38. Without a transporter, replicator, warp drive, subspace communications, artificial gravity,

phasers, shields.......

just a life sized model of the Enterprise


Not worth a billion, much less a trillion. If it could reach even 1/100th the speed of light then I might be able to support a much smaller version (with a more practical design). This would make exploration and colonization of our solar system possible. Without that then forget it. This is just a nerd's wet dream.

I am all for unmanned exploration until technology drastically improves.

[Blue_Tires]

42. I'll take the center seat, thank you...

[Motown_Johnny]

43. I have a problem with the "Gravity Wheel"

Well, two really but one is more important than the other.


The lesser problem is that at 2 RPM this is gonna be like a merry go round. Trying to live like that could be a problem.

The larger problem is the law of angular momentum. You can't just spin a wheel like that. This would be like the early attempts to build the Helicopter. You need the tail rotor to compensate (or some dual rotor system). It would make more sense to have two wheels moving in opposite directions. Either of the same size, allowing for two areas with 1G. or having one smaller than the other. Then the one that is not 1G could be used for storage. Either way, the design on the site is flawed. I wouldn't trust them with a trillion for that thing.

[backscatter712]

44. Yeah, it's a fun thought-exercise, but not an ideal configuration.

The rotating section would have to be bigger in order to keep the RPM down. 2 RPM would be something most people could get used to, but 1 RPM is probably more comfortable.

But then the radius is so big that you might as well switch to a different configuration anyways to keep weight down to a reasonable level, say a bolo, dumbbell or bowtie configuration.

But at that point, the ship doesn't even sort of look like the Enterprise anymore.

[Motown_Johnny]

45. They also don't consider acceleration / deceleration

since there won't be any inertial dampeners.


The best way to do gravity on a ship is to accelerate at a rate that creates 1G. At a point about 1/2 way through the trip you would then need to "flip the ship over" and decelerate at a rate that creates 1G.

There would be a brief weightless period while that was being accomplished, but other than that the crew would have a very comfortable ride and you could have the entire ship experience 1G almost all the time. In that model the vast majority of the ship has no gravity at all.

Wasting a trillion on a life sized model of a TV prop is just silly. Form should follow function, not the other way around.

[backscatter712]

46. Hmm. And current VASIMR drive technology can't give 1G of acceleration with today's technology.

IIRC, you're talking at best about a few ounces of thrust, which isn't insignificant because as long as you have enough power (say from a nuclear reactor,) you can just leave the drive running for weeks, and the cumulative effect can cut months off a journey to Mars.

But you're going to need both a drive and something resembling gravity (probably spin-gravity) (unless you don't mind months of zero-G and the heath problems that eventually causes.)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

47. Just a suggestion: Don't put in the Auto Destruct function.