Constitution Class Engineering Section
Looking aft in the main engine room of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701
Image captured from Captain's Chari
The main propulsion for the Constiturion class starships were a pair of 4th generation warp engine nacelles. These engines gave it a cruising speed of warp 6 with an emergency maximum speed of warp 8, making it the fastest ship in the fleet for its time. The Constitution lcass was the first ship to use a couple of new advances in starship design. One of them was the use of dilithium crystals to regulate the matter/antimatter reaction, achieving much higher levels of energy per atom than ever before. The other advance was using Dr. Richard Daystrom's new Duotronic computer as its main control computer.
Constitution class dilithium reactor chamber
Image captured from Captain's Chair
The secondary propulsion system for the Constitution class ships were a pair of laser induced fusion impulse drives. The design of these engines were pretty much common on all Starfleet ships of the time.
Main engine room of the Constitution class ships.
Image captured from the Captain's Chair CD
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