XPost: alt.startrek, rec.arts.startrek.current, rec.arts.tv   
   From: mdicenso@seds.org   
      
   On Wed, 17 May 2006, Wouter Valentijn wrote:   
      
   > Mike Dicenso wrote:   
   > > On Tue, 16 May 2006, Wouter Valentijn wrote:   
   > >   
   > >> Mike Dicenso wrote:   
   > >>> On Tue, 16 May 2006, Wouter Valentijn wrote:   
   > >>>   
   > >>   
   > >>    
   > >>   
   > >>>> And at that speed that 70,000 lightyears could be done in 7 years..   
   > >>>   
   > >>>   
   > >>> Yes, and at least a few of the VOY writers caught onto this issue,   
   > >>> which is why in "The Year of Hell Pt. I", along with two other   
   > >>> episodes, it's made clear that one of the reasons Voyager can't get   
   > >>> home is because of a lack of good navigational on the Delta   
   > >>> quadrent. In TYoH, 5 years was shaved off thanks to the new method   
   > >>> employ employed by Voyager's astrometrics lab. In "Hope and Fear",   
   > >>> which comes well after TYoH, Starfleet sent all the information   
   > >>> they could on the Delta quadrent to shave a "few years" off the   
   > >>> journey. A like amount was shaved   
   > >>> off thanks to more information provided by Q in "Q2". So depending   
   > >>> on how you define "a few years", between 9 and 15 years was shaved   
   > >>> off the trip home just by doing that. No miracle drives, wormholes,   
   > >>> or other "cheats" used.   
   > >>   
   > >> In part those could be explanations...   
   > >> But in other shows what in Voyager terms would be years, would be   
   > >> days or hours even.   
   > >   
   > > Right, they still have 55-61 years left on the journey after those   
   > > corrections, but it is also clear that those navigational data   
   > > upgrades weren't complete, and could be done at virtually any point   
   > > in the ship's journey home. So the question really becomes, if the   
   > > Voyager had full information available to it on the Delta quadrent,   
   > > do they get home in a few years time or less?   
   > >   
   >   
   > That could be a factor, but the Enterprise traveled through areas where 'no   
   > man had gone before' also. It was their reason for being there.   
      
   Not quite correct. The NX-01 travelled around with a "cheat" in the form   
   of the Vulcan database and star charts. In most of TOS, the E-1701 was   
   often travelling through areas already previously charted in some fashion.   
      
      
   > > The fastest speed suggested so far in Trek using conventional warp   
   > > drive would be around 1 million c depending on how you want to   
   > > interpret Professor Galen's "weeks" with a starship to travel across   
   > > the 30,000 to 40,000 ly long route he outlined to Picard on a map of   
   > > the Milk Way galaxy. So at that speed the E-D (or rather Voyager)   
   > > gets home in about a month.   
   >   
   > At 1 million c...   
   > 70,000 lightyears would be about 25.6 hours...   
      
   25.55 days, actually. One year is 365 days, multiply by 70,000 =   
   25,550,000 days, then divide that by 1,000,000 = 25.55 days. I think you   
   ment days, not hours. :-)   
      
      
      
   > Otoh, it might be slightly inadvisable to travel straight through the core   
   > of the galaxy with that great big black hole there. ;)   
   > But they never mentioned that one.   
      
      
   The interesting thing about the astrometrics map being displayed in VOY's   
   TYoH, shows the path of Voyager bent around the galaxy's core, but the   
   actual adjustment that let then shave 5 years off the journey home as a   
   relatively small one. The adjustment in "Q2" occurs well after Voyager has   
   passed the core, and is on the final leg of the trip home. So while have a   
   direct path home would probably have helped, it doesn't seem to be what   
   the navigational data is giving to make for such a significant reduction.   
   -Mike   
      
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