The Enterprise ships through the years have been saucer-shape. There must be some reason why a Borg ship moves like it does, given how clunky it is.īut not all of Starfleet’s ships are round. But it does, and it is faster than Starfleet ships. The Borg have cubes that, when you think about it, shouldn’t move very fast. The Klingon and Romulan birds of prey are shaped like birds in flight.

Vulcan ships are cylindrical with a hollow circle at the back of the ship. For that reason, shuttlecrafts are more realistic than the ships they come from. The main ship would stay in space, but smaller shuttlecrafts would fly from the ship to the planet’s surface. Shuttles, on the other hand, would need to have wings due to entering the atmosphere of several planets more often. Later writers, however, tried creating a sleeker ship that looked more like Earth vessels that needed to deal with wind resistance. Gene Roddenberry’s original requests to the writers were that nothing on the ship was to be aerodynamic because there is no air in space. But they are ineffective for speed in space since there is no wind or air to slow down the vessel. Ships are based on ground and air vehicles to make them more attractive to fans. So why would ships need to be aerodynamic in space? The reality is that they don’t need to be and are only shaped that way as a concept from the writers and designers of the Star Trek franchise. The starship Voyager is one of these ships, but it can only go at warp 9.975–an impressive speed, but it is not that much faster than other ships of its time. If there is no air in space, why do starships need to be aerodynamic? Round ships are not aerodynamic, but some Starfleet ships are shaped like certain Earth vehicles that are built to travel faster while combating the wind. Why Do Starships Need to be Aerodynamic in Space? But based on what is known today, the Enterprise and other Star Trek ships are not realistic.

Of course, the ships are based on what could be, given the technological advancements in 200 years. If the Enterprise were based in reality, they would be a lot larger with less room for living quarters. And these ships have gravity plating and warp engines that don’t take up a large space. However, Star Trek ships are sleek, round, and have comfortable living quarters for the entire crew. When you consider that propulsion and engines must be a significant size to move the vessel, there will be little space for the crew’s luxurious living quarters. They will be more like a sideways skyscraper complete with the technology that will keep people alive.Īrtificial gravity and environmental controls will take up a large portion of the ship.

Popular Mechanics tackled this topic recently, and they found that, in reality, starships won’t look anything like airplanes or any of the sleek starships found on Star Trek. Starships of the day are a lot more clunky than starships of science fiction, especially of the Star Trek universe. Let’s continue with this exploration of why Star Trek ships are not realistic, shall we? Ships in Reality vs. Sci-fi writers take many creative liberties with the technology, but it may not always be realistic. But starships are round because the warp field creates a bubble around the ship, making it advantageous to the ships’ ability to travel through space. Star Trek ships make sense in the world of fiction, but realistically, a spherical ship would hinder its ability to move very well. But due to the need for space ships to maintain artificial gravity, control the environment, and travel at warp speeds, how realistic are Star Trek ships and do they make sense? Can they do all they need to do by being saucer-shaped? Several Starfleet ships are saucer-shaped with tabs on the bottom, while other races’ ships are shaped like winged predators or skyscrapers.

Star trek spaceship