What was the purpose of adding red backlights in USS Enterprise?

Question

I haven't found any red backlight in Enterprise NX-01:

I have also not found it in initial USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A, but this image tells it had one red backlight (not sure its legitimate image or not):

I have found three red backlights in USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D:

Out of these three red backlights, two were turned off in initial intro of ST:TNG TV series:

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E also had two red backlights:

Now, my question: NX-01 didn't have red backlights. Why did they put them on later versions? What was the purpose of red backlights on a starship which had nothing to do with traffic standards? On what conditions, they turned off red backlights (as displayed in initial intro of ST:TNG)?

Nathan C. Tresch · Accepted Answer

They are the impulse engines. The fact that they weren't on the original is an omission, as they are huge plasma vents.  It's noted elsewhere that the impulse engines of other ships glow blue.

Izkata · Answer

More specifically, the red "lights" on the more advanced ships are the impulse engines.

On the NX-01 they were positioned differently, and are blue.  I would simply attribute this to more advanced technology.  (Or possibly Starfleet becoming more "edgy" in the intervening hundred years ;)

James · Answer

They are the Impulse Engines of the ship.
The color of the Impulse Engines are related to the heat generated.

In simple terms the blue impulse color means that it is hotter, and the red on the more advanced starships means its cooler. Think of it like stars, cooler stars (Like our sun) have a red color while stars that burn much hotter glow a blueish white color. There's a sciency reason behind the relation of the color of heat.

So all the Impulse engines are is a Deuterium-powered fusion reactor, an accelerator generator, a driver coil, and a vectored thrust nozzle to direct the plasma. Now there are many more parts to the Impulse Engines, but those are the basic ones. The Fusion Reactor generates the plasma, the accelerator accelerates the plasmas speed, the driver coil simply helps propel the plasma even more, and the thrust nozzle directs the plasma out to propel the ship. On the NX the plasma vent is blue because it is hotter because it is less advanced technology, and runs hotter. Now, on the more advanced ships it's red because they've developed the technology to get better propulsion with cooler plasma. Benefits of that would be you wouldn't need as hefty of a cooling system, and you'd burn much less fuel (In this case Deuterium, a heavy Isotope of Hydrogen).

Michael · Answer

its the impulse engines, which use a sort of fusion combustion as power, the reason on the NX-01 and other species craft have blue is the type of fuel used NX series used a sort of cold nuclear fusion, by the time of the Origonal series they have moved away from Nuclear to some other energy, the Romulans used a Plasma based fusion reaction so their impulse engines glowed green, the Ferengi have the color as yellow moving up into the orange spectrum the Klingons went from red to green and back to red again

Answered by Michael on January 19, 2021

What was the purpose of adding red backlights in USS Enterprise?

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