Throughout the show, we see the replicators both materialize and dematerialize things. Janeway gets her coffee, it comes in a mug, when she’s done drinking, she puts the mug back in the replicator and says “Computer, recycle.”
So why couldn’t you use the transporter to do that for larger objects?
Does it also render cargo bays pointless? Can any material just be dematerialized, the data stored and then replicated later?
Why not just use the transporter pads?
Throughout the show, we see the replicators both materialize and dematerialize things. Janeway gets her coffee, it comes in a mug, when she’s done drinking, she puts the mug back in the replicator and says “Computer, recycle.”
So why couldn’t you use the transporter to do that for larger objects?
Does it also render cargo bays pointless? Can any material just be dematerialized, the data stored and then replicated later?