Deep Space Nine's red glowing thing, and its ramifications

[Lucky]

What is the red glowing thing on the bottom of Deep Space Nine?

What are the ramifications of Deep Space Nine having a red glowing thing when it does not have the assumed glowing red thing systems like a ramscoop or impulse engines?

[Cocytus]

The fusion reactor? I always thought so.

The red glowing things are probably heat sinks to radiate waste heat since, despite what Hollywood would have us believe, it's hard to lose heat in space.

DS9 doesn't have any use for a ramscoop, since it doesn't move around that much, and never at a speed to intercept significant amounts of interstellar hydrogen. It does have a deflector array, since it still needs to protect itself from flying objects. No impulse engines IIRC, since it's, well, a station. It does have thrusters, which we saw fire in "Q-Who" when the alien life form was dragging the station towards the wormhole. They glow blue.

[Trinoya]

I do believe on the master displays from the show that was the exhaust and radiator system.

http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/ ... S9_MSD.png

[Mike DiCenso]

The episode with the station using it's thrusters is "Q-Less" [Season 1]. Here's the pic:



If you were to scale those thrusters with the docked ships, like the Defiant, you would see they are far, far bigger than any Federation starship impulse engines:



So I have to wonder when the subject of space station construction not contributing to Federation industry neglects to mention something like this.
-Mike

[Cocytus]

The episode with the station using it's thrusters is "Q-Less" [Season 1].

Yes it is. Thanks. I get the Q-this-or-that episodes mixed up sometimes.

If you were to scale those thrusters with the docked ships, like the Defiant, you would see they are far, far bigger than any Federation starship impulse engines:

I'm a little confused on the comparison. Being simple thrusters, they should be less powerful than any starship mounted impulse engines, since impulse engines can achieve sizable fractions of c. They're far larger than Federation RCS thrusters, which they seem most directly analagous to, which makes sense given that the station should comfortably outmass any class of Federation starship.

[Lucky]

The episode with the station using it's thrusters is "Q-Less" [Season 1]. Here's the pic:



If you were to scale those thrusters with the docked ships, like the Defiant, you would see they are far, far bigger than any Federation starship impulse engines:



So I have to wonder when the subject of space station construction not contributing to Federation industry neglects to mention something like this.
-Mike

Federation Starships have three different propulsion systems don't they? I know there is an episode of Voyager where they can't use warp or impulse until they get the navigational deflector up and running again.

[359]

Federation Starships have three different propulsion systems don't they? I know there is an episode of Voyager where they can't use warp or impulse until they get the navigational deflector up and running again.

They do have three systems. Warp, impulse, and thrusters. This is also well demonstrated in TNG "Booby Trap" and various times in DS9: "For the Uniform".


TNG: "Booby Trap"

La Forge: Everything we've tried to do has been based on overpowering the trap. More energy, faster adjustments. But that's exactly what we can't do because that's what we're supposed to do. That's the booby trap. The answer lies in our own computer, the mind. The best piece of engineering we'll ever need.

Picard: But didn't your researches indicate a thousand adjustments per second would be required?

La Forge: Not if we shut everything off. One blast of everything we've got left for a microsecond to beat the inertia and then we shut it all down, except minimal life support and two thrusters. No impulse engines. No computer.

Riker: One propeller, Captain?