What's the point of Voyager being able to land?

Question

Voyager's ability to land on a planet's surface was used in a couple of episodes (The 37s, etc.). While I have no problem with the concept of doing so, I do wonder: what was the point of designing a starship with landing ability? They don't need to turn it completely off to do maintenance; in fact, they probably need to leave more of the ship active when on the surface than in space. (I doubt the Engineering section is heavy enough to counterbalance the massive overhang of the saucer section, so they'd need antigrav to keep from tipping over.)

Is there any good source stating (in- and/or out-of-universe) why Voyager can land? I'd also happy with good speculation, as I can't come up with any reasons other than it looks cool.

Answer 1

Quoted from Memory Alpha

This ability was demonstrated in VOY: "The 37's". During an interview I once saw about the making of Voyager, I'm not sure exactly where anymore, they (several staff members) spoke about how they wanted to have the ship consistently land on planet's surfaces, but opted for use of the transporters due to the visual effects techniques and budget costs. They then stated that, when the show was actually in production and airing, it would be occasionally feasible due to an improved budget and increase visual effects techniques. During that discussion, one person had stated that this was the first ship in Star Trek history capable of doing this. So you could say the producers can confirm this ability.--Gravydude 01:55, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Answer 2

The the final season episode Nightingale:

USS Voyager sets down on an uninhabited planet to begin maintenance to the warp drive that B'Elanna Torres tells Captain Janeway they desperately need.

Voyager is a deep-space exploration vessel, so it stands to reason that it had to be capable of performing extensive maintenance and repairs without the aide of dry dock.

Extensive periodic maintenance seems to be a necessary thing for Star fleet vessels. In the Next Generation episode Starship Mine, the Enterprise goes through a Baryon sweep to remove particulates that accumulate on ships that make extensive use of their warp drives. In order to complete this sweep, the Enterprise had to go into dry dock and the crew evacuate.

^{Source: Memory Alpha}

For ships too far away from the necessary infrastructure capable of performing these maintenance tasks, where major systems had to be taken offline, atmospheric operation would be necessary.

Answer 3

Even though you might need anti-grav to keep the ship upright (though it really depends on the weight distribution of the ship, as not all parts of the ship are going to weigh the same), you wouldn't need to keep life-support or gravity generators on or worry about maintaining orbit. You also don't need to spacewalk or wear bulky spacesuits to do external repairs.

Not having to contend with the vacuum of space, the temperature extremes, the stellar radiation (especially during solar flares/coronal mass ejections), and the threat of micrometeoroids, etc. would be enough reason to build/repair/upgrade/refit a ship on the ground.

And sometimes you just need to land on the planet surface:

• When your ship is caught in the gravity of a planet and cannot maintain orbit
• When you need to hide from an enemy using the planet surface's geological features or weather anomalies
• When you need to repair or refit the ship when a spacedock is unavailable
• When shuttles and transporters are unavailable or too risky
• When it's faster to load/unload personnel and/or equipment directly rather than via transporter or shuttle
• When a surface mission requires the ship's full resources and/or crew

Answer 4

Two words: Mass evacuation. In the two-parter Basics, the Kazon-Nistrim uses this unique ability to demean and dishearten the crew before leaving them on the surface of an apparently desolate planet.

Answer 5

Most of this is speculation based on observation and what I've read about the Intrepid-class. These ships were designed to provide an advanced long range exploration platform. That in itself says "we are on our own", thus being able to have the diversity not too rely on sensors and away teams for in-depth exploration might make grounding a must.

Also, if we follow on from my initial point that the Intrepid-class was conceived for long range work, it is much easier and safer to replace a warp coil in shirt sleeves than in environmental suits in space, regardless of how comfortable.

Furthermore, it might be useful for a badly damaged ship to ground to make long term repairs, or if necessary, to allow a crew to set up a survival colony on an M-class planet, using the ships useful surviving components to assist in providing for the survival, security, and comfort of the crew.

That being said, the fact that this class of ships did not have the capacity to separate the primary hull from the secondary hull, as previous classes of Starfleet ships had. The Constitution-class was capable of this but not rejoining itself. This extraordinary step might have been necessary to save the crew from a warp core breach, or other reason, thus grounding would be very useful.

Answer 6

I would add to the other answers that the Federation / Starfleet puts value on pushing boundaries and advancement, exploring not only the frontiers of outer space but also their own abilities. They are in a post-scarcity world, so not everything needs a cost-benefit analysis. Research and development can be done for its own sake because scientists love to science, and because they can afford it.

In other words, it's quite plausible in the Star Trek world that someone saw the limitation that Starfleet ships could not land, decided they'd like the challenge of overcoming that limitation, put together a team of like-minded engineers and figured it out.

Answer 7

Speculative, Voyager landing was done mainly for dramatic purposes story permitting. However as a long range science vessel, Intrepid class starships being able to land has many potential benefits...

• Serve as a long term laboratory that can land, conduct month/year long scientific/exploratory missions then take off and resume course.
• Carry out federation defense and military policy. One by being able to ferry soldiers in environments where they cant transport such as transporter scramblers, dampening fields, radiogenic environments; converting crew and guest quarters into multiple bunk garrisons means an Intrepid can carry 300-500 troops. And two by acting as a mobile command base on a planetary surface with far more resources and firepower than a typical base or runabout.
• Mobile humanitarian aid station and hospital ship. In essence a M.A.S.H. for planetwide humanitarian disaster or medical crisis.
• Energy conservation, being a sealed environment, landing on a habitable surface can save energy by not having to devote power to life support especially when damaged or in "Grey Mode". The ship in essence can "Open up it's doors" to fresh air.
• Carry out critical maintenance on a class M planet without the need of a starbase or if such facilities are not presently available.
• The ship having landed can act as a prelude or firstwave colonization means by acting as the primary habitat until housing and infrastructure facilities are built.
• Act as an "open port" for Federation diplomatic missions.