Why no wings? by WhoMe

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Why no wings?

POSTED BY: WHOME
UPDATED: Saturday, April 1, 2006 17:03
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Friday, March 31, 2006 7:46 AM

Okay, someone help me out with this- in the episode Out of Gas, we see the two shuttle detach from the main ship, sprout little baby firefly wings, and fly off in seperate directions. But. Why the wings? Wings move an airplane around by working against the wind moving above and below them. I can see the need for wings in the atmosphere, but why out in space? There's no air for them to move against.

Or am I just being a crazy nitpicker who's overthinking it?

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Friday, March 31, 2006 8:00 AM

SAMEERTIA

You're overthinking it.
The wings make them look like little bugs. Baby fireflys. They have to have wingees.

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Friday, March 31, 2006 8:04 AM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by WhoMe:
Okay, someone help me out with this- in the episode Out of Gas, we see the two shuttle detach from the main ship, sprout little baby firefly wings, and fly off in seperate directions. But. Why the wings? Wings move an airplane around by working against the wind moving above and below them. I can see the need for wings in the atmosphere, but why out in space? There's no air for them to move against.

Or am I just being a crazy nitpicker who's overthinking it?

well they are designed for flying primarily in atmo...so it makes sense that they are equipped with wings....
so maybe you can't fly them at all without engaging the wings (like when you prep for flight the wings automatically pop out first thing)

?

**********************************************
watch the R. Tam Session vids: http://www.hittarivertam.nu/
and buy the 'Serenity' comics published by Dark Horse
have you checked out this thread?:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15816

and listen to 'I'm Going To See Serenity':
http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=a0
c814e1229742ce77ed4497cbf4631c

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Friday, March 31, 2006 8:37 AM

DUG

The automatic deployment of the wings makes sense to me. Kind of like some cars with seat belts that automatically adjust. There wouldn't be any drag issues and there could be some advantages to other systems such as there may be maneuvering jets/ "gravity manipulators/ whatsits on the wingtips that would be more effective with a few feet more leverage.

Also, antennae on the wingtips could provide more gain on transmission and more accurate direction finding and radar stuff with a few feet more distance, depending on wavelengths used etc. If you look at the radio direction finding equipment that hams use on transmitter "fox hunts" you'll see what I mean. 2 antenna just a few feet apart can be used to compare the phase difference on reception to determine what direction the hidden transmitter is in.

The real answer is that it looks cool, but we don't even have to try hard to come up with some decent explanations.

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Friday, March 31, 2006 8:44 AM

MILFORD

I forgot who said it this week, but having a similar discussion about gravity on Serenity prompted someone to warn me of Treknobabble. Thought that was a hilarious word. Think it might fit here.

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Leaning into the wind that used to carry me-Stavesacre
That's why I don't kiss'em on the mouth- Jayne Cobb

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Friday, March 31, 2006 9:09 AM

ONLYME

Personally,

I like the wingees theory.

Too cute!

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 2:36 AM

GIXXER

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 2:42 AM

DESKTOPHIPPIE

The shuttles are made to work in atmosphere too, remember. They are set up so people can land. Inara uses hers all the time to set down on a planet where she has business.

Desktop Hippie: at one with the 'verse

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 2:50 AM

REAVERINA1985RIVIERA

Quote:
Originally posted by milford:
I forgot who said it this week, but having a similar discussion about gravity on Serenity prompted someone to warn me of Treknobabble.

Treknobabble. Thats a new one.

---------------------------------------------
How many Jaynes does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to try to put it in and another to find a bigger hammer.

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 9:50 AM

MILFORD

Isn't that great? I want to say it was Chrisisall, but don't hold me to that. Since I've heard that I've been using it all week.

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Customizeable handmade baby gifts personalized by my wife! Check them out at www.baby-bobo.com. All proceeds go towards international adoption.

Leaning into the wind that used to carry me-Stavesacre
That's why I don't kiss'em on the mouth- Jayne Cobb

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 10:01 AM

ROCKETJOCK

Actually, I believe I was the one who referred to "Treknobabble" on that other thread, but I can hardly claim to have coined it; it's been in common parlance among SF fans since the 90's at least.

As to the shuttle wings, while being extended wouldn't serve any aerodynamic function in space, neither would it hurt anything, and I can think of a handful of functions that might be placed on them, from heat exchangers to solar collectors. Probably the only reason they retract at all is for ease in docking.

Now that ain't Treknobabble; it's just simple science & engineering knowledge; Treknobabble would be saying "They extend to improve the geometry of the warp field and boost the efficiency of the anti-graviton flow."

"Okay, Morta. The Enterprise computer system is controlled by three primary main processing cores cross linked with a redundant melacortz ramistat and fourteen kiloquad interface modules. The core elements are based on FTL nanoprocessor units arranged into twenty-five bilateral kelilactirals with twenty of those units being slaved to the central heisenfram terminal. . . . Now this is the isopalavial interface which controls the main firomactal drive unit. . . . The ramistat kiloquad capacity is a function of the square root of the intermix ratio times the sum of the plasma injector quotient. . . " -- Commmander William Riker, "explaining" the Enterprise's computer to a rather confused ferengi.

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 10:38 AM

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

I'll be needin' that in fanboy-dummy talk please

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 4:10 PM

MILFORD

You're absolutely right RocketJock, my mistake. And that was a hefty piece of Treknobabble. I gave up reading it halfway through.

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Customizeable handmade baby gifts personalized by my wife! Check them out at www.baby-bobo.com. All proceeds go towards international adoption.

Leaning into the wind that used to carry me-Stavesacre
That's why I don't kiss'em on the mouth- Jayne Cobb

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Saturday, April 1, 2006 5:03 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Uh...to add/alter this discussion, is it me or did the shuttles get a structural revamp for the BDM, cuz I don''t recall seeing Inara's shuttle deploy wings after the escape from the Training House. Could have just missed it though...

BEB

Literature has shown us some of humanity's greatest achievements; history, some of our greatest failures -- Alun Lewis

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