Millis suggested the next step in rocket propulsion will likely include utilizing a nuclear power source, an option that is stymied by the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Andreas Hein, an aerospace engineer also with Icarus Interstellar, suggested that it might not be long before such printers make food similar to the way meals were synthesized by replicators on the Enterprise.Īdditionally, engineers working at NASA's Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory, informally known as Eagleworks, are working on a Q-thruster that bears a striking resemblance to the impulse engines on the Enterprise. "If you had shown someone an iPad in the 1990s and told them it was 23rd century technology, they would have believed you," Richard Obousy, co-founder and president of Icarus Interstellar Inc., told .Īdvances with 3D printers also provide opportunities for voyages through space, allowing the replication of parts while using materials found at the destination. The touch-screen devices ubiquitous today even look like those used in the 1990s episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Sliding doors, futuristic in the 1960s, now welcome almost every grocery store visitor, and today's flip-open cellphones resemble Star Trek's tricorders. Though some aspects of the Enterprise are far out of reach today, many are within our grasp, and some are part of our daily lives. Still, the site received so many visits soon after its launch that it crashed, revealing how appealing the idea is to many people. "It's nowhere close to being what the Enterprise is." "He wants to build something using foreseeable technology that just looks like the Enterprise," said Marc Millis, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center. Other engineers said the similarities between BTE-Dan's ship and the Enterprise are only skin-deep. "I would love to see 1,000 people go to Mars, but I need convincing that they need to be on the Enterprise to do so," said Crowl. "Engineering physics doesn't respect our aesthetics," he told by email.īTE-Dan's ship is essentially an iconic replica of the famous starship, and may not be practical. Though the prospect of a real-life Enterprise is appealing, the proposed ship is not without problems.Īdam Crowl, an engineer with Icarus Interstellar Inc., a nonprofit foundation dedicated to interstellar exploration, pointed out that a spaceship built with a sufficiently powerful nuclear reactor would need large thermal radiators, ruining the classic Enterprise look. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures.)īTE-Dan describes himself as a systems and electrical engineer who has spent the past 30 years employed at a Fortune 500 company. A still from the 2009 film "Star Trek" showing the reimagined U.S.S.
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