What powers Data from Star Trek The Next Generation? Did he generate his own internal power or did he have to plug into the Enterprise periodically to recharge? Or perhaps a combination of the two?
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From the transcript of Insurrection:
ARTIM: Don't you ever get tired?
DATA: My power cells continually re-charge themselves.
So he is powered by "power cells" that continually recharge themselves, therefore apparently he does not have to plug into the Enterprise to recharge.
Indeed there is also the episode where his head is stuck in the cave (Time's Arrow) for over 500 years, and it still works fine afterword.
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26Yes, it works fine, but it's also powered off for that time. – Kalamane Aug 17 '12 at 18:19
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3@Kalamane Excellent point – NominSim Aug 17 '12 at 18:25
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4I'm not entirely sure how Data can "recharge himself". Sounds like Perpertoom Mobile (sp?) to me. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Aug 17 '12 at 18:42
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8@DVK It does sound like perpetuum mobile, however he doesn't say how his power cells recharge themselves. It could be solar, or something akin to a more sophisticated version of this Nokia phone that uses ambient radio waves to charge itself. I don't believe he ever gets into the specifics. Most likely he doesn't want people to know just like when he explains, "If you had an off switch, Doctor, would you not keep it a secret?" – NominSim Aug 17 '12 at 18:47
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@DVK Probably a super-sophisticated stirling engine. – Izkata Aug 17 '12 at 19:21
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@DVK Also, the word you two are looking for is "perpetual" - Perpetual motion – Izkata Aug 17 '12 at 19:24
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14@Izkata "perpetuum mobile" is Latin for "perpetual motion" – NominSim Aug 17 '12 at 19:27
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1So not only have they mastered cold fusion and faster-than-light travel, but the Federation also has discovered the secrets to perpetual motion. It really is a magical wonder land then. – Xantec Aug 20 '12 at 18:07
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So could it be considered like some form of a kinetic battery? Kind of like how modern (non-digital) watches wind themselves by the motions of the wearer? – Robo Stalin Jul 10 '13 at 08:11
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I would guess some sort of chemical reaction with something on the ship - perhaps oxygen, etc - that would 'recharge' his batteries. Makes sense, seeing as he spends time with humans - they need oxygen. Also would fit with Soong's tendency to make Data human-like. – Helpful Apr 10 '14 at 04:35
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It could be the harnessing of Zero Point Energy? – Anoplexian May 02 '16 at 22:58
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This leads me to another question, and I may post it even as a new question: wouldn't the power cells burn out eventually after perpetual re-charges? I realize this is the 24th century, but even in that century of technological achievement, nothing would last indefinitely! Surely Data would have had to had a powercell change-out procedure done at some point. – MissouriSpartan Feb 01 '19 at 18:40
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Duracell last longer, much longer. So Data runs on Duracell. There, problem solved. Data is, secretly, Duracell’s Bunny – Jorge Córdoba Feb 01 '19 at 22:28
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I always imagined self-recharging to refer to something akin to an RTG, which constantly recharges secondary cells and has a very long, though not infinite, lifetime. Given just how efficient power can be harnessed in the Star Trek universe, I wouldn't at all be surprised if some sort of micro-fusion unit could power Data for centuries. After all, his positronic brain is highly efficient and his power output is not significantly beyond that of humans (nowhere near even the output energy of a phaser, for example). – forest Mar 14 '21 at 04:02
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He regenerates in an alcove. No, that's Seven. – Emsley Wyatt Aug 08 '21 at 17:18
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According to producer Mark Nguyen:
Early concept art from Rick Sternbach showed a bed for Data which recharged him sorta like a huge D-cell battery charger, with teminals for his head and feet. No physical connections - he'd just lie in the bed and it'd light up. This was obviously not used as a concept, since we later see him sleeping ins a regular bed.
While TNG's heydey was really before the real-life wireless revolution, I see no reason he couldn't recharge without having to plug himself to something. He's always sitting at that workstaion of his, which is unique among props - perhaps that had a recharging function.
There's no real way to recharge by walking around, since he has to expend energy to walk (shaking a wristwatch to charge it is really just transferring energy from your body too). You could theorhetically absorb potential energy from gravity by walking down stairs, but how often does THAT happen in Trek?
To which Rick Sternbach replies:
'Tweren't mine. That was a drawing by Andy Probert. If you really want to know what Data runs on, it's lots and lots of old lithium cell phone batter-- well, batteries of a sort. Sarium krellide power cells have been around for about 150 years, and Data's SK cell packs have been augmented by biochemical and electroplasma micro-reactors. Boy, that Dr. Soong was nothing if not thorough. :)
Cees Timmerman
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I know this is an older post, but I remembered it when I saw the attached screenshot on Memory Alpha. Apparently Data has a type of chemical fuel reaction unit. This is very likely the mechanism that keeps his power cells continually charged.
Valorum
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joshman1019
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Data had mentioned his power source will last ?? years. Then he said that his legs' length will be same as when fresh-constructed and also same as when in the end of the battery life. This shows he didn't need plug into the Enterprise.
"Don't you ever get tired?", Data says "My power cells continually re-charge themselves."
Laurel
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huseyin tugrul buyukisik
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It sounds like you are thinking of the movie Insurrection. Are you sure he mentioned his power supply then? Neither Memory Alpha or Beta make a mention of it, which I would think they would if it was in one of the movies. – Xantec Aug 17 '12 at 17:01
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@Xantec: In response to the boy (Artim) asking "Don't you ever get tired?", Data says "My power cells continually re-charge themselves.", but that's the only mention I found in the script. – gnovice Aug 17 '12 at 17:04
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Continually re-charge themselves. Good. You remember better than me – huseyin tugrul buyukisik Aug 17 '12 at 17:08
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@tuğrulbüyükışık I know the link to the script is in the comments/my answer, but you still should use it within your answer in order to indicate what your source is for the quote. – NominSim Aug 17 '12 at 17:16
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I meant to make "Xantec" remember that part. I accept that i forgot the quote itself. I just remember the series was about a scientist-people planet. – huseyin tugrul buyukisik Aug 17 '12 at 17:19
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I haven't really seen an answer yet so I'll take a crack at it. There is no answer directly in any episode or movie. Several people have mentioned the following quote from the movie Insurrection
<ARTIM> Don't you ever get tired?
<DATA> My power cells continually re-charge themselves.
The original question was, "How is data powered?" then a further explanation of the question, "What powers Data from Star Trek The Next Generation? Did he generate his own internal power or did he have to plug into the Enterprise periodically to recharge? Or perhaps a combination of the two?"
The second part or explanation is sort of answered above and in some other answers. What powers him are power cells. Based on the quote from the movie they recharge themselves.
However nobody fully answered the broad and more interesting question of how data is powered. I wanted to ask this question myself, but it would have been deemed a duplicate question by the overseers of the site.
I would like to posit, that when we view sci fi or Star Trek we accept that whatever is true in our universe is true in the Star Trek Universe as well unless there is a conflict. So what we call a chair, in the STU is also a chair. If we use a term scientific or otherwise it holds true that it has the same meaning in the STU. There are some conflicts since the STU is more technologically and scientifically advanced than us so of course there would be new discoveries that might conflict with our own understanding of physics, chemistry, etc.
In this case there is no STU explanation for what is powering data. What is a power cell? How does it work? How does it recharge itself? Some others above gave answers that tried to deal with some of these issues.
Since there's no conflicting science and no direct answer ever given, my answer is that it's either fission or fusion. I would doubt that it's fission since the amount of nuclear waste that's created would have to be dealt with and one would think that it would have surfaced in an episode somewhere. So based on current physics, and that the STU gives no answer or any conflicting theory, that it's fusion. This would give data an almost unlimited power supply in a small area with relatively little nuclear waste material to deal with.
Data does mention in Deja Q that he drinks an organic compound that is "good for me." He further explains that it does lubricate his systems. So data does need or can benefit at least from some forms of maintenance. Something like minor waste disposal, for lack of a better term "android excrement" would be something I would not expect to necessarily be dealt with in an episode.
The only other possible source in Universe that I can think of would be some sort of anti-matter generator, antimatter fuel cell, or whatever you want to call it. Again, I'm not sure how that would work since we don't have technology like that. But we do know in universe that at least the federation does need dilithium or other crystals and that they have to be maintained in some way or replaced from time to time. If it's something that simply keeps going on in perpetuity or at least for a really long time without complication, it has to be fusion.
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1I've gotten two upvotes and two downvotes for my answer thus far. Why would somebody downvote this answer? If the people who did have the courage to at least comment and let me know I'd appreciate it. – JMFB May 07 '15 at 18:43
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I would -2 for chatty speculation and waving away my creator quotes, +1 for mentioning an ep with support for aforementioned quote, and -1 for further guesswork; OP seeks a canon answer. – Cees Timmerman Oct 08 '15 at 19:44
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@CeesTimmerman OP asks "how", not "what". What powers him are power cells. If that is what the op wanted to know then he phrased the question wrong. "They constantly recharge themselves" is a non-answer that Data gave to a child for simplicities sake. If there were such a thing in the 24th century as power cells that regenerated themselves without any external power source, we'd see it mentioned and used all over the place. So data has some sort of generator inside of him or he plugs into something. Since we assume he has something inside of him, and there is no other canon info, it's fusion. – JMFB Oct 09 '15 at 23:50
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It's so common that only a child would ask, and the creators said he doesn't plug in but uses biochemical and electroplasma micro-reactors in addition to what looks like induction according to the early sketch. – Cees Timmerman Oct 10 '15 at 23:57
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@CeesTimmerman What's the fuel source that powers the micro-reactors? (and that comment seems to be in jest, or facetious, hence the old cell phone batter comment) – JMFB Oct 11 '15 at 06:53
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Stuff he ingests, most likely. It could be as simple as a tiny odorless incinerator. – Cees Timmerman Oct 11 '15 at 08:15
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@CeesTimmerman He doesn't ingest anything for power. He clearly states this in an episode and states that there are certain things he can ingest that lubricate his parts. The reason I asked is a "reactor" requires fuel. Since he clearly states that he doesn't have the need to ingest anything, and that his power cells regenerate themselves, the answer is a small fusion reactor that would give him renewable power, with little waste, over a long period of time. In fact they prob worked out using the hydrogen in the air around which would give him a pretty much unlimited fuel source. – JMFB Oct 11 '15 at 17:16
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Where does he "clearly state" that? You've replaced canon recharging by induction and biochemical/plasma reactors with speculative "what" fuel (that can also be ingested). – Cees Timmerman Jan 19 '16 at 13:35