To: 
From: "Steve Oostrom" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com

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>2)  Explain the principles of astrological navigation.  Give examples,=20
show your math.

Astrological?  Are you sure?  Am I assuming that the question really means = the=20
principles of starship navigation.  By the twenty-fourth century, do they r= eally
navigate by astrology?

Anyway, starship navigation is actually pretty simple simply because space = is
big and the things in it are very small by comparison.  By the twenty-fourt= h
century, the Federation has pretty good charts, listing everything and givi= ng
co-ordinates accurate enough that the ship can get within sensor range with
no problems.  The Federation and the other major space powers maintain a
navigational grid.  This is a series of subspace transmitters whose locat=
ions
are known.  By detecting the signals and comparing them to a standard and
the ship's own chronograph, the position of the ship to a fraction of a
lig= ht year
can be determined.  The Doppler shift in these signals would also give the
current vector for the ship, so they would always know where they are going
and in what direction.

When the pilot gets a destination, say from planet A to planet B, he would
get the co-ordinates from the computer, enter them and then simply instruct
the ship to go there.  Again, because of the vastness of space and the
qual= ity
of sensors and deflector systems, the ship can really fly itself in interst= ellar
space.  A pilot may be on duty at all times, but for the most part, he is n= ot
doing much.  The computer knows the course, and knows where it should be at
all times (basically because it knows the direction it is supposed to be
going in and the speed), and it can constantly compute the current
position= .
This can be compared to the navigational grid signals, and slight adjustmen= ts
made if necessary.  A pilot can do this manually too, but on modern starshi= ps,
they rarely do.

If there is no navigational grid, the ship can still navigate as long as it=
 has
accurate star chart information.  The computer would know direction and spe= ed,
and can compute its position based on that.  Using the star chart data, the
computer would then know how the stars should look outside the ship.  It
ca= n
compare this with what is actually detected, and correct the course accordi= ngly.

If the ship were, for whatever reason, suddenly be transported tens of thou= sands
of light years, into a region where it might not have any good star charts,=
 it
can still get an approximate fix on its position by using galactic features= .  This
is a datebase of galaxy-wide features, such as the halo of globular cluster= s,
the centre of the galaxy, powerful radio or X-ray sources, satellite galaxi= es and
even neighbouring galaxies.  By scanning these features, the navigational
computer should be able to determine the position of the ship to within
fiv= e hundred
to one hundred light years.  This would be enough to allow the ship to at l= east
decide on a course home.

I could provide the math, and in fact, I have derived a set of equations th= at
allows a ship to determine its location (in spherical co-ordinates) based o= n
navigational grid signals, but they would be hard to reproduce in an e-mail message.

Finally, a few words about manual navigation, when the ship is simply steer= ed
with no final destination.  The captain could give an order such as
"bearing xxx mark xxx."  This is a change in direction relative
to the curr= ent
vector of the ship.  "Bearing" means direction side to side, and
would rang= e from
-180 (port) to 180 (starboard).  "Mark" means direction up and
down, and wo=
uld
range from -90 (down) to 90 (up).  In all likelihood, the TV shows have nev= er had
a commander utter a negative number for bearing or mark, but in the
"Athena= "
stories, this has happened:  "Change course to bearing one fourty, mark min= us
twenty."

That's question two.  What's my mark so far?

Steve
The Universe Unbounded.

Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com


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>2)  Explain the principles of astrological
navigation.  Give
examples, show your math.
Astrological?  Are you
sure?  Am I
assuming that the question really means the 
principles of starship
navigation.  By the
twenty-fourth century, do they really
navigate by
astrology?
 
Anyway, starship navigation is
actually pretty
simple simply because space is
big and the things in it are very small by
comparison.  By the twenty-fourth
century, the Federation has pretty
good charts,
listing everything and giving
co-ordinates accurate enough that
the ship can get
within sensor range with
no problems.  The
Federation and the other
major space powers maintain
a navigational grid. 
This is a series of
subspace transmitters whose locations
are known.  By detecting
the signals and
comparing them to a standard and
the ship's own chronograph, the
position of the
ship to a fraction of a light year
can be determined.  The
Doppler shift in
these
signals would also give the
current vector for the ship, so
they would always
know where they are going
and in what
direction.
 
When the pilot gets a destination,
say from planet
A to planet B, he would
get the co-ordinates from the
computer, enter them
and then simply instruct
the ship to go there. 
Again, because of the
vastness of space and the quality
of sensors and deflector systems,
the ship can
really fly itself in interstellar
space.  A pilot may be on
duty at all times,
but for the most part, he is not
doing much.  The computer
knows the course,
and knows where it should be
at all times (basically because it knows the
direction it is supposed to be
going in and the speed), and it
can constantly
compute the current position.
This can be compared to the
navigational grid
signals, and slight adjustments
made if necessary.  A
pilot can do this
manually too, but on modern starships,
they rarely do.
 
If there is no navigational grid,
the ship can
still navigate as long as it has
accurate star chart
information.  The
computer
would know direction and speed,
and can compute its position based
on that. 
Using the star chart data, the
computer would then know how the
stars should look
outside the ship.  It can
compare this with what is actually
detected, and
correct the course accordingly.
 
If the ship were, for whatever
reason, suddenly be
transported tens of thousands
of light years, into a region
where it might not
have any good star charts, it
can still get an approximate fix
on its position
by
using galactic features.  This
is a datebase of galaxy-wide
features, such as the
halo of globular clusters,
the centre of the galaxy, powerful
radio or X-ray
sources, satellite galaxies and
even neighbouring
galaxies.  By scanning
these
features, the navigational
computer should be able to
determine the position
of the ship to within five hundred
to one hundred light
years.  This would be
enough to allow the ship to at least
decide on a course
home.
 
I could provide the math, and in
fact, I have
derived a set of equations that
allows a ship to determine its location (in
spherical co-ordinates) based on
navigational grid signals, but
they would be hard
to reproduce in an e-mail
message.
 
Finally, a few words about manual
navigation, when
the ship is simply steered
with no final
destination.  The captain could
give an order such as
"bearing xxx mark
xxx."  This is a change in
direction relative to the current
vector of the ship. 
"Bearing" means
direction
side to side, and would range from
-180 (port) to 180
(starboard).  "Mark" means
direction up and down, and would
range from -90
(down) to 90 (up).  In all likelihood, the TV shows have
never had
a commander utter a negative
number for bearing or
mark, but in the "Athena"
stories, this has
happened:  "Change course
to
bearing one fourty, mark minus
twenty."
 
That's question two. 
What's my mark so
far?
 
Steve
The Universe
Unbounded.
 
Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com;">http://ussathena.iwarp.comhttp://ussathena.iwarp.com">http://ussathena.iwarp.com;
 






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