Starbase 74

Starbase 74 is the largest known orbital facility -- in fact, the largest structure of any kind -- built by the United Federation of Planets. It orbits the Federation planet Tarsas III.

Size

Starbase 74 is significantly larger than Earth Spacedock (seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), even though the two structures have the same outward appearance. In fact, the proportions of Starbase 74 compared to the Enterprise-D seem to be similar to the proportions of Spacedock compared to the original Enterprise . This makes Starbase 74 approximately 50% longer than Earth Spacedock and gives it more than three times Spacedock's overall volume.

Secondary sources describe Earth Spacedock as approximately 3.6km in diameter and 4.6km tall. Based on the size comparison using starships, Starbase 74 is approximately 5.4km in diameter and 6.9km tall.

In Debates

Trekkies sometimes argue that the large scale of Starbase 74 demonstrates that the Federation has the industrial capacity to build thousands of starships per year, even though the timeframe for the construction of Starbase 74 is unknown. Warsies counter-argue that regardless of the time spent building it, a starbase does not require many of the complex systems needed for a starship, such as mass lightening systems, warp drive, impulse engines, and other systems needed for a vessel expected to travel between star systems under its own power.

See Also

• Star Trek: Federation Industrial Capacity at Stardestroyer.net