Starfleet Jedi

A truncated version of a blog post of mine here . . .

In brief, the terminal velocity of a Type-6 shuttlecraft . . . the speed it would reach if dropped from a great height . . . is approximately equal to Mach 1 (340 m/s^2) at sea level, and greater than Mach 1 at higher altitudes . . . for instance, at 7500ft, it would be 390 m/s^2.

To calculate this, I used a mass of 29 tonnes based on the density of Voyager and the Delta Flyer, a guessed-at drag coefficient of 0.55, and was able to use SketchUp and a decent model of the shuttle (or at least it was decent until I flattened it like a pancake) to obtain a frontal area of 7.55 m^2, and plugged this in to an equation for estimating terminal velocity.

The interesting visual takeaway is that you could, in principle, have a shuttle diving to the surface and producing transsonic condensation clouds around it right before it smacks, just like in those nifty pics of fighter flybys.

Sorry, the title of this thread makes me think of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail movie. ;-)
-Mike

A^2 blog^2 commenter^2 pointed^2 out^2 that^2 I^2 had^2 repeatedly^2 typed^2 unnecessary^2 squarings^2 of^2 assorted^2 velocity^2 figures^2 . . . an^2 instance^2 of^2 late^2 night^2 muscle-memory^2 typing^2 which^2 I^2 have^2 hopefully^2 resolved^2.

Er, wait, d'oh^2!

Anyway, it is obviously just meters per second, not meters per second squared for the velocities noted.

Mike DiCenso wrote:Sorry, the title of this thread makes me think of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail movie. ;-)
-Mike

Are the swallows African or European? And are they carrying coconuts or no?

In this case it's "Are they Vulcan, Andorian, Telarite, or Terran constructed Type-6 shuttles? And are they carrying irate Klingons?" ;-)
-Mike