Excelsior class lack Bussard Collectors?

[I Am Spartacus]

It seems to me based on images of the class, including the above, that they lack bussard collectors of any kind. Can anyone offer some insight?

[Teaos]

Well originally maybe they weren't needed for the Transwarp drive but after that was scraped I have no idea.

[Mikey]

Maybe the new, more integrated style of deflector dish includes some sort of hydrogen collector?

[Bryan Moore]

Maybe the new, more integrated style of deflector dish includes some sort of hydrogen collector?

Possibly, however I'd always assumed the new blue lit surfaces on the front of the upgraded nacelles on the Enterprise-B were Bussard collectors.

[Sionnach Glic]

Thats probably the most likely explaination.

[Captain Seafort]

This image of the Excelsior from TSFS shows the front of the starboard nacelle clearly. No collector.



Whereas this image of the Lakota (Enterprise-B subtype), while somewhat indistinct shows the glow of the collector clearly.



It's obvious that the original Excelsior lacked collectors, and that they were added to the E-B design. It is therefore clear that while collectors were omitted from the Excelsior (possibly a design decision related to the transwarp drive as Teaos suggests), they were considered important enough that when the class was resigned to produce the E-B subtype collectors were installed. Interestingly only two ships of the E-B subtype have been observed (possibly only one given the occasionally floated theory that the Lakota is the E-B), compared to dozens of the original design. The redesign was apparently not a success, as the collectors, engineering hull fairings and additional impulse engines of the E-B did not feature in subsequent Excelsior-class ships. While the reason for omitting the extra impulse engines and hull fairings is open to speculation, the likely reason for the lack of collectors is the position of the Excelsior's nacelles. AFAIK, the Excelsior is the only class to have the nacelles level with the saucer rather than above or below it. It is possible, likely even, that given this placement the saucer interferes with the operation of the collectors, making them either inefficient or useless.

[I Am Spartacus]

That seems like an okay theory, except that the nacelles of the Excelsior class have a clear view ahead; the saucer section slopes downward and by the time they get to the nacelles, they're sufficiently sloped so as to be below and ahead of them as opposed to just ahead.

Still might interfere though. How critical is hydrogen collection anyways?

[Captain Seafort]

As close to a head on view of an Excelsior-class ship as I could find on MA.



Note that the lower two thirds of the nacelles are behind the saucer.

As to the feasability of the collectors, I'm not sure. We've only seen them used to drawin matter once (Insurrection), and seen them backflushed three times (Insurrection again, Samaritan Snare, and Night Terrors). Their main purpose appears to be to frighten aliens and provide matter for chemical explosions significantly more powerful than photon torpedoes. Other than that they're never even mentioned, so they can't be a critical system. Maybe they're just there to bump fuel efficiency up a fraction - increase time between refuellings by a few fractions of a percent/

[Mikey]

The necessity or desire for bussard collectors, and the lack of them on the Excelsior design which limits line-of-sight from the nacelle past the saucer, may be one explanation for Roddenberry's design rule requiring unobstructed views of the nacelles from the front.

[Tiberius]

It's quite possible that the bussard collectors are behind the silver grill that goes around the nacelle. Not all wap engines have the blue glowy bit either...

[Captain Seafort]

It's quite possible that the bussard collectors are behind the silver grill that goes around the nacelle. Not all wap engines have the blue glowy bit either...

Possible, but all other ships either have a glowy bit or, in the case of the refit-Connie, Miranda, etc, a pair of long vertical slits in the front of the nacelle.

[Mikey]

I don't recall where I heard this, but I thought the blue (in the case of Fed ships, other colors for other races) glowy strips were supposed to be for venting plasma.

[Bryan Moore]

I think you're right on the plasma vents.

[Teaos]

Makes more sense to.

[Tiberius]

yeah, the blue bits are where the energy is released to create the warp field.

Anyway, if the bussard collectors in the movies were behind the grill at the front, we can say the same thing for the Excelsior. It would still work just as well if the grill was going laterally instead of vertically.