Post by Veeck on Jun 26, 2008 0:49:26 GMT -5
This thread will be for useful notes on bits of random interesting technobabble or backstory about the Arkship itself, posted here as we come up with this stuff, so we can refer back to it later if need be. If this thread gets too long, bits will be indexed in some fashion or split into new threads.
Note #1: The Arkship has no traditional lifepods.
We're gonna be spending the vast majority of the journey years or even centuries away from the nearest star, let alone M-class planet, even at high warp. Lifepods will never reach anyplace they could land. Lifepods would be a waste of mass, space, and maintenance resources. Besides, in an emergency, moving hundreds of thousands of sentients dozens of kilometers to the surface of the arkship where lifepods would be may take hours, or even days, even with turbolifts and internal transporters (that, in an emergency, may not have power).
Instead, the Arkship's corridors and compartments have emergency lockers every few dozen feet, with "survival bubbles" inside. These are inflatable spheres, big enough for two or three large-framed humanoids, with enough air for several hours and enough battery power for heating and cooling for a similar period. These will allow refugees to survive even in vacuum for enough time for them to be, hopefully, rescued. If the Arkship's own systems are completely down, the rescue will come from the several warp-capable vessels of the "parasite fleet", ships ranging from small cloakable scout and survey vessels up to entire Romulan Warbirds and Starfleet battlecruisers, plus the various transports and freighters that will be needed to set up colony worlds once reaching Andromeda. Until then, they largely function as super-lifepods, to rescue the surviving population of the Arkship in the event of near-total disaster and, hopefully, reach the nearest galaxy or rogue globular cluster that might have habitable worlds.
We don't have enough such ships to evacuate the entire population of the Arkship, but any emergency requrirng the Arkship to be abandoned has probably already killed most of the refugees anyways.
Note #1: The Arkship has no traditional lifepods.
We're gonna be spending the vast majority of the journey years or even centuries away from the nearest star, let alone M-class planet, even at high warp. Lifepods will never reach anyplace they could land. Lifepods would be a waste of mass, space, and maintenance resources. Besides, in an emergency, moving hundreds of thousands of sentients dozens of kilometers to the surface of the arkship where lifepods would be may take hours, or even days, even with turbolifts and internal transporters (that, in an emergency, may not have power).
Instead, the Arkship's corridors and compartments have emergency lockers every few dozen feet, with "survival bubbles" inside. These are inflatable spheres, big enough for two or three large-framed humanoids, with enough air for several hours and enough battery power for heating and cooling for a similar period. These will allow refugees to survive even in vacuum for enough time for them to be, hopefully, rescued. If the Arkship's own systems are completely down, the rescue will come from the several warp-capable vessels of the "parasite fleet", ships ranging from small cloakable scout and survey vessels up to entire Romulan Warbirds and Starfleet battlecruisers, plus the various transports and freighters that will be needed to set up colony worlds once reaching Andromeda. Until then, they largely function as super-lifepods, to rescue the surviving population of the Arkship in the event of near-total disaster and, hopefully, reach the nearest galaxy or rogue globular cluster that might have habitable worlds.
We don't have enough such ships to evacuate the entire population of the Arkship, but any emergency requrirng the Arkship to be abandoned has probably already killed most of the refugees anyways.