A planetary landing was a term used to describe the landing of a starship on a planet.

Starfleet Starship classes such as the Intrepid-class and Nova-class class were able to land.

Performing a planetary landing was done when the use of transporters was not possible or when the captain of the vessel decided so. The landing itself required a significant amount of energy but could be performed when deflector shield strength was low.

Intrepid-class procedureEdit

LandingEdit

To commence a landing, main engineering would need to take the warp core off-line and vent all plasma from the nacelles. After that, all available power would be diverted to the atmospheric thrusters and the bridge crew was brought on standby. Code blue would then be given to all personnel on board the ship, who would need to report to their assigned code blue stations. The landing struts were brought on-line and inertial dampers set at maximum. When all decks had reported condition blue, the officer at the conn station would then commence the landing.

After a declining glide trajectory, just before the landing, the landing struts were extended and locked, inertial dampers were adjusted to match the gravity of the planet the ship was landing on, and the vessel landed on the surface. After the landing, the ships engines were disengaged and thruster exhaust secured. The crew could then leave the ship.

Take-offEdit

To leave the surface of a planet, all stations needed to prepare for code blue. Anti-grav thrusters were brought on-line and enabled, inertial dampers were set to flight configuration and impulse drive was set to standby. After all stations had reported code blue, the officer at the conn position performed the take-off.

ExamplesEdit

• In 2285, the HMS Bounty, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey under the command of James T. Kirk, landed on Vulcan and then on Earth when it went back in time to 1986. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
• In 2371, the USS Voyager landed, for the first time, on a planet to examine a strange radio signal. Due to atmospheric interference the use of transporters was not possible. (VOY: "The 37's")
• In 2372, while under Kazon control, the USS Voyager landed on a Class M planet to offload Starfleet personnel. (VOY: "Basics, Part I")
• In 2374, the USS Voyager landed on a Class Y planet to rescue Tom Paris and Harry Kim, and to replenish their deuterium supply. (VOY: "Demon")
• In 2376, Voyager landed on the Vaadwaur homeworld to avoid attackers in orbit. (VOY: "Dragon's Teeth")