In this episode, Ensign Kim and Seven of Nine are working in one of Voyagers conduits. The scene progresses as follows :
| Seven : | "The optical assembly is properly aligned. I am ready to access the main power supply." |
| Kim : | "After you." |
| They climb down to a lower level. Seven opens a panel and begins to reach inside. Kim pulls her back hurriedly. |
| Kim : | "Wait! What are you doing, there are five million gigawatts running through there!" |
| Seven : | "The exoskeleton on this limb can withstand it." |
At this point Voyager is proceeding on impulse, and is not using any high power systems. This gives us a minimum figure for Voyagers total power output of
5 x 103 TeraWatts.
We are told in Caretaker that Voyager has a maximum sustainable cruise speed of Warp 9.975. On the Galaxy class starship total output calculations, I worked out how much power it takes to drive a GCS at various warp speeds. No solid figures are available for a velocity of warp 9.975, but at warp 9.9 a GCS consumes some 6 x 1020 Watts. Voyager masses 700,000 tons compared to the 5 million tons of the Galaxy class; we do not know how the mass of an object affects the power required to maintain a given speed, but to make a guestiumate I will assume it is a linear relationship. The power required for Voyager to maintain Warp 9.9 would be given by :
| P | = | (7 x 105/5 x 106) x 6 x 1020 |
| | = | 0.14 x 6 x 1020 |
| | = | 8.4 x 1019 |
Or 84 million TeraWatts. Given the way power requirements increase as one nears warp ten, it is likely that warp 9.975 requires at least a tenfold increase in power over warp 9.9. Therefore, Voyagers maximum power output is likely to be in the region of 10
8 TeraWatts or more.
The Revulsion dialogue is the only clear reference to Voyagers power output I've been able to find so far. Although it is far lower than the million-plus terawatt figures calculated for the Galaxy class, you wouldn't expect a starship travelling on impulse to be using maximum power. In addition, this figure is the power running through that particular conduit - which is not necessarily the whole of the main power output.
Calculatiuons based on warp speeds indicate that Voyager has a maximum output roughly equal to that of a Galaxy class, despite her much smaller size. This seems reasonable given that she is more advanced, and so much faster.
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