In theory, the structural loads placed on a Star Trek ship sitting on the ground or preforming a powered reentry are nothing compared to the ones inflicted by normal and warp travel. Remember that even half built, Enterprise was apparently supporting its own weight under 1g in drydock. The question isn't how big can a starship be and make a planetary landfall, but at what point to people delete that requirement from the design specifications? It's not so much a question of can it stay in one piece without falling apart, but more a question of can it land safely without lithobraking (Aerobraking taken to the next logical step, but basically crashing into the ground to stop your ship.) and then take off again. Preferably using some sort of engine that doesn't inflict massive damage on the surroundings every time you take off.
If you want to know what you ship can do, it's important to first define what you want it to do. How fast should it be, as a first responder? How much cargo is the design target, in mass and in volume? What surfaces is it supposed to land on, and how much cleared area will it need? For instance, a spaceship that carries 100,000 tons of cargo and is designed to make water landings by design must either constantly support its mass with some kind of engine or be less dense than water so it can float.
As for the location and size of the Orions I've got no clue, other then general notions that they don't have Klingons in the area but Boarders are even more complicated. Remember, space is three dimensional, so the border in this case isn't a line but a plane. And if the Federation has put the squeeze on a particular sector, you may actually wind up with a bubble of Orion administered space completely surrounded by Federation space. It's rare for obvious political and practical reasons-Mahn was never more relevant than he was on the interstellar stage, but it can happen. It all depends on how planets are related to each other, how much defensive depth you can afford, and how much pressure the neighbors are putting on your territory.
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Date: 2009-10-29 03:34 pm (UTC)If you want to know what you ship can do, it's important to first define what you want it to do. How fast should it be, as a first responder? How much cargo is the design target, in mass and in volume? What surfaces is it supposed to land on, and how much cleared area will it need? For instance, a spaceship that carries 100,000 tons of cargo and is designed to make water landings by design must either constantly support its mass with some kind of engine or be less dense than water so it can float.
As for the location and size of the Orions I've got no clue, other then general notions that they don't have Klingons in the area but Boarders are even more complicated. Remember, space is three dimensional, so the border in this case isn't a line but a plane. And if the Federation has put the squeeze on a particular sector, you may actually wind up with a bubble of Orion administered space completely surrounded by Federation space. It's rare for obvious political and practical reasons-Mahn was never more relevant than he was on the interstellar stage, but it can happen. It all depends on how planets are related to each other, how much defensive depth you can afford, and how much pressure the neighbors are putting on your territory.