Sector Unknown, Unknown Dwarf PlanetA final 40 minute burn puts the Minotauress in a stable orbit around the planet. Now that you're closer, you have a first view of the signal's origin. It appears to be a small colony of some sort on the surface, but something's not right. At the center of the colony, there's what appears to be a domed structure, constructed of rock. This structure includes a communication antenna, so it's probably where the signal originated from.
Surrounding it are, or better said, were 5 inflatable domes, connected via simple prefab pressurized corridors. One of the domes appears to have failed catastrophically, the other 4 seem mostly intact, but are clearly deflated. Domes like this have been utilized for temporary construction for hundreds of years, due to the extreme easy by which they can be set up, but are inherently temporary.
You can't see much more of the colony, or why it is here in the middle of nowhere on an inhabitable planet. But you can send a shuttle towards it, which you build recently. The small, as of yet unnamed shuttle, is of simple construction. It utilizes a monopropellant engine, and has no power generator of it's own, running simply on batteries and a few solar panels. It's life-support is similarly simple, a few Co2 filters (which can be cleared out on the ship) and a small oxygen tank. It does have an inflatable airlock though.
The local sun will set on our little dwarf within a few hours, depriving it from even the trickle of light it now recieves. There's still ample time for a simple expedition though.
Ox-Class Support Vessel "Minotauress"
The Ox class vessel is an orbital vessel, designed to spend it's 100 year lifetime in space without ever landing on a planet. One can clearly see that it was fabricated using modular components, a measure which both lowered cost and increased the versatility of the design. From the front to the back, there's a communication array, crew quarters, cargo (separated in 4 parts which surround the FTL drive), the fabrication modules, the fusion reactor, with it's massive radiators, and then the sub light speed engine.
System Status
Communication Array
This array includes various sensors (optical, radio, radiation), a weak communication laser, and an FTL communication device. The laser is utilized for direct ship to ship contact at close range, for other situations, radio transmissions are used. The FTL system has a transmission rate of less than 1 kb/s, it is thus rarely used for anything but text communication.
Sensor : Operational
Communication : Operational
FTL Communication : Signal Lost
Crew quarters
The crew quarters provide housing and long term life-support for about 40 people, including g-force support if the ship undergoes significant acceleration. If the ship is stationary, the entire assembly can be spun up to simulate artificial gravity via the deployment of tethered habitation pods, which also allows for a total of 200 people to be stationed on the ship. (40 in each of the 4 pods, and another 40 in the main hull).
Current Crew: 24 / 40
Life support: Operational
Habitation Pods : Retracted
Cargo
Cargo is stored in 4 long bays, which surround and protect the FTL drive with their bulk. All the cargo is stored in sealed crates, magnetically attached to the walls. Depending on configuration, these crates should remain stable at up to 10 g. If deemed nessecairy, the cargo pods can be removed or opened in their entirety.
Cargo pods are usually kept unpressurized, and cargo is moved via an internal crane or through crew in power suits.
Cargo Pod A: Stable
Cargo Pod B: Stable
Cargo Pod C: Stable
Cargo Pod D: Stable
Fling Drive: Operational
Fabrication Module
In essence, a small modular factory. The factory can, given enough time and resources, build everything you want. With proper software, it can even design new parts to amplify it's capabilities. Most of the construction is automated and executed by robotic components and advanced 3D printers, but for the most complex equipment, a small nanotech construction unit is provided. However, these nanobots are a limited supply, as they, by design, can not build other nanobots.
For safety reasons, the factory can not be operated while the ship is under thrust.
Manufacturing System: Operational
Nano machine System : Operational
Fusion Reactor
The ship's fusion reactor is comparatively tiny, and works by keeping a small amount of plasma contained at high pressure and high temperature. Unlike the large reactors that can be found on stations and cities, these reactors are absolutely capable of blowing up the ship they're installed on. They are the only thing that can feasibly power the Fling drive however, and thus are ubiquitous amongst ships.
In the event of any destabilization to the reactor it can be dumped allowing the hot core to safely dissipate into space. Emergency power supplies can operate the ship for a few days until rescue can arrive and the core restarted. This particular ship includes large solar panels that can be deployed to provide power when the ship is in orbit.
Fusion Reactor: Stable
Reactor fuel : 84.7%
Solar Panels Retracted
Engine
The ship has 2 engines. It's main drive is a large Ion engine, capable of accelerating the ship at up to 0.1 g at very high efficiency. Propellant consumption is low, and should not be often replaced.
The other engine is the Auxiliary Fusion torch. This system utilizes the ships reactor to provide a great force upon the vessel by blasting a massive fusion flame behind the vessel, at a great fuel cost. Consumes a high amount of power, and allows acceleration up to 30 G. Neither the ship nor the crew will survive that.
Ion Drive: Online
Fusion Torch : Offline
Cargo [218/800]
130 Basic Resources (A collection of metals, organic molecules and other simple substances than are essential to basic manufacturing)
50 Complex Resources (A collection of rare minerals, complex alloys and organic molecules and other systems nessecairy for complex craft)
18 Advanced Components (A collection of microcomputers, advanced sensor equipment, and rare parts nessecairy for most complex construction)
30 Shuttle (A small shuttle fabricated by your ship. It utilizes a monopropellant engine and is powered by an onboard battery and solar panels. Lifesupport is done using reusable Co2 filters and a tank of liquid oxygen.)
On a side note, it you have questions, please ask.
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Topic: The Last Frontier : Suggestion Game (Read 4135 times)