COULD WE BUILD
THE USS ENTERPRISE?
Discover the real-world and theoretical technologies of Star Trek’s flagship spacecraft
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
DID YOU KNOW?
The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second, far faster than anything else can travel
L aunched into space from the mind of creator Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 was the very first Star Trek spacecraft to reach warp speed on television screens around the world. The ultra-fast, near-invisible and sometimes-time-travelling Constitution-class starship was the most advanced spacecraft at the time of its launch in fictional 2245. Built in space, the Enterprise is a feat of make-believe engineering. It’s estimated that the spacecraft would weigh more than 4 million tonnes and house a crew of 430. In comparison, the heaviest human-made object to venture into space is the International Space Station (ISS), which has a mass of around 419 tonnes. China is reportedly researching the possibility of you know? constructing a colossal spacecraft measuring up to 0.6 miles in length – this would absolutely dwarf the ISS, which is only 110 metres long.