The new Starship Operator's Manual is here!

[Longboat]

Really you still shouldn't see any visible beams in a vacuum like space, whether or not the laser is firing at a wavelength in the visible spectrum.

My space opera suggestion above is that they've come up with a way to make lasers visible in space akin to how tracer ammunition was developed for slug throwers. If lasers need atmospheric particles in which to see lasers, then maybe the laser photon has been manipulated so that it sheds excess particles of X, and the photon behind that one interacts with it as normal lasers in atmoshere.

Or, whatever. It's a handwave.

 

[rinku]

Even combat grade lasers aren't especially luminous compared to a galaxy or a red supergiant.

 

[Condottiere]

1. What is eyeball range in space?

2. Have the laser crystals vibrate.

 

[Longboat]

There's not just eyeball range--looking out the nearest port. Ships have optics, telescopes and such. Should be part of an EMS package.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Personally, I am not even sure why spaceships, including modern ones, even have windows. Even with today's tech, we can create a 360-degree by 360-degree video, in real-time, and project it on to spherical screen. I would hazard a guess that this technology will only improve in the future, allowing a huge range of different visual data to be projected on the screens, from visible light to other parts of the spectrum, colorshifted to be visible to humans or other sophonts. This could also include auto-zooming based on where the user's eyeball is looking on the screens. All a window, or any other opening in the hull, is a weak point in the hull. Therefore, it makes the most sense to limit these weakpoints as much as possible.

 

[Longboat]

I agree. I remember when I was a kid, I'd look at the original Enterprise on Star Trek and wonder why the view screen was electronic and not some big window. I started playing Traveller, and on many ships--especially the bigger ones--I saw the same thing. No ports for the pilot to "see" out.

Then I learned a bit more about the conditions of space and the distances we were dealing with--learned that the ship operators were always looking at scopes and computer data--then things started to make sense. I remember seeing the first Alien movie on cable, and even though the bridge had "windows" (I'm assuming used for being in port and close up inspections), there was all that data that started printing out when the ship came alive.

I noticed the Battle Bridge on the Enterprise, buried deep inside the ship, and I saw in Traveller that men didn't have to be inside weapon turrets like Star Wars. The gunner could sit in the turret or at some panel also deep within the ship. The bridge of a Traveller vessel was probably safest and most protected deep inside the hull of a vessel.

Then...

Then...the Abrams Star Trek came out, and we're back to windows! The view screen is a big window looking out over the saucer section! It only makes sense because the view port is electronically enhanced and assumed to be as hard as the hull in resisting damage.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

I agree. I remember when I was a kid, I'd look at the original Enterprise on Star Trek and wonder why the view screen was electronic and not some big window.

It is a multi function screen. It has zoom, video communications and relayed information from a remote location, it can also filter inimical radiation and light intensities. Lots of abilities that a window lacks.

 

[Arkathan]

And it isn't really a window at all in TOS. It displays what the front sees, but the bridge is angled, because that is the only way the turbolift lines up correctly.

 

[Longboat]

And it isn't really a window at all in TOS. It displays what the front sees, but the bridge is angled, because that is the only way the turbolift lines up correctly.

Correct. I always wonder why that was so. I've never seen an answer...unless the little turbo looking knob at the back of the bridge really isn't the turbo shaft.

 

[rinku]

Aren't turbolifts more like a ball inside a set of plumbing anyway? Wherever the doors are doesn't have to be directly aligned with the main shafts; they might go around a corner then drop.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Aren't turbolifts more like a ball inside a set of plumbing anyway? Wherever the doors are doesn't have to be directly aligned with the main shafts; they might go around a corner then drop.

That would mean that in between each deck is a deck that isn't on the plans that the turbolift balls can navigate. I know that is how they have been depicted in some of the more modern shows and movies, but I think that was a poorly thought out idea that they did purely for visual effects purposes. Heck, I own the technical manual that was put out for the Enterprise D. Those aren't in there. That books also predates the first time those non-elevator style turbolifts were seen on screen.

 

[rinku]

That would mean that in between each deck is a deck that isn't on the plans that the turbolift balls can navigate. I know that is how they have been depicted in some of the more modern shows and movies, but I think that was a poorly thought out idea that they did purely for visual effects purposes. Heck, I own the technical manual that was put out for the Enterprise D. Those aren't in there. That books also predates the first time those non-elevator style turbolifts were seen on screen.

I refer you to the old Franz Josef ones:

 

[MasterGwydion]

I refer you to the old Franz Josef ones:

I had not seen that before! Nice find!

 

[Longboat]

Aren't turbolifts more like a ball inside a set of plumbing anyway? Wherever the doors are doesn't have to be directly aligned with the main shafts; they might go around a corner then drop.

Except when the doors open you can see right into the car. There's no left or right turn. Unless you're saying that the turbo lift car darts to the right first and then down.

 

[rinku]

It travels along the turbolift shaft. As I understand it, it's NOT an elevator but a moving pod within a series of shafts, some of which are vertical, some horizontal, including horizontal in the X and Y axes. More like a small tram than a lift on cables.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Correct. I always wonder why that was so. I've never seen an answer...unless the little turbo looking knob at the back of the bridge really isn't the turbo shaft.

It was a decision made by/for TV camera location on the set. I've seen a few interviews where this has been discussed and explained.

 

[WHULorigan]

And it isn't really a window at all in TOS. It displays what the front sees, but the bridge is angled, because that is the only way the turbolift lines up correctly.

Correct. I always wonder why that was so. I've never seen an answer...unless the little turbo looking knob at the back of the bridge really isn't the turbo shaft.

It was a decision made by/for TV camera location on the set. I've seen a few interviews where this has been discussed and explained.

The answer actually lies in a set- and director's- design decision at Paramount (or "Desilu"). The Bridge turbolift WAS supposed to line up at the rear on centerline as you would expect. But directors and cameramen made the point that when filming, for good filming shots of somebody making a "dramatic entrance scene" onto the bridge, the best shot is at a quarter angle over the should of the person seated at the Conn. The turbolift constrains the way a person can enter the bridge-set to a single entrance point.

Imagine in your mind trying to film someone making a "dramatic entrance" onto the set of the bridge behind/beyond the Conning Officer if the turbolift were at the rear centerline.

The Conning Officer's profile would either be immediately "in-field" in the foreground on-screen and the person on whom the attention is supposed to be focused would be behind him, or you would always have to film at the quarter-angle, in which case the entering actor would always have to be walking across the set instead of being the center of focus and facing the camera.

 

[Bense]

Personally, I am not even sure why spaceships, including modern ones, even have windows.

Because if the power goes out or the software glitches or the cameras are damaged you can still look out a window and see where you're going.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Remember the shuttle pilot from Farmer in the Sky? Paraphrased: "What would I do with a window, stick my head out and ask someone for directions?"

 

[Bense]

Remember the shuttle pilot from Farmer in the Sky? Paraphrased: "What would I do with a window, stick my head out and ask someone for directions?"

The crew of Apollo 13 successfully performed a course correction burn by looking out the windows and using the Earth and Sun as their orientation references.
Of course that happened about 20 years after Farmer in the Sky was written.