Friday, March 3, 2017

Rolling Down the River

      Good Monday, RocketFans!  By the time you're reading this, I'll have been through the first phase of getting tested for autism.  Yes, autism.  I was surprised too.  Until I studied up on autism - now it seems rather obvious in retrospect.
      Anyway.
     I want to work on the River-class interplanetary vehicles some more.  I've been tweaking, modifying, and finagling the stats and sizes and other variables of the ship for going on three years now, so I've decided that it's about time to put some firm statistics to the work in progress in order to move forward.
     And of course, art.
Very much a work in progress, lacking in detail.
The beast is about four hundred and fifty meters long.  From left to right, we see the business end, a Magneto-Inertial Fusion rocket, and it's large rack of pulse units and capacitors.  There are the obligatory angled radiators that lead into the massive globe structure that dominates the craft.  this sphere is full of water and electrolysis equipment to turn that water into propellants.  The water also provide insulation against CBR to the two Ezekiel's Wheels that make up the main habitat section of the spacecraft.  For from the globe is a cargo bloc, carrying goods from Terra to Titan and back again, and to the right of that is the hangar space.  This allows for docking two of our Class A patrol craft on either side, and drydock space for one below.  The Cygnus rockets and any intra-fleet tugs also dock and are serviced here.  Above the hanger is a sensor mast that contains the forward phased arrays and the communication antennae.  The forward-most area is a command module that is partly command spaces, but mostly RCS thrusters.
     I've also been trying to get a handle on the crew compliment of this spacecraft.  I've got a few ideas already, which have to do with the spacecraft's function and other design considerations,
     That's all I have at the moment.  I'm working on details for the habitat pods, which are very complex and require a lot of thought.  Before that, I'll probably make a post about the crew compliment and more about the River's mission. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

     

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