[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 755 – Nexa-II-class Light Shuttle (TL10)

[Onno Meyer]

  This is a weekly posting with GURPS vehicles (and the like) to the 
GURPSnet mailing list. I grant the permission for all non-commercial 
redistribution of my work, but I would like to know if you put it on 
a website or the like. My site is down for rebuilding, but sooner or 
later the old stuff should reappear at   omeyer.gmxhome.de
  Onno Meyer, 2009-04-13

Nexa-II-class Light Shuttle v1.0 (TL10)
  Copyright 2009 by Onno Meyer

  The Nexa II is used as a surface-to-orbit transport in thinly settled 
systems. The shuttle has room for a dozen passengers and twenty tons of 
cargo, and it can operate from short runways (or even unimproved fields, 
but that will slag the landing site). 
  The Light Shuttle has a cockpit with three workstations for the pilot, 
copilot, and cargo master, followed by the small cabin with seats which 
fold away for extra cargo space, the airlock and the main cargo hold. A 
rear hatch allows easier access to the hold, but that means the entire 
hold is depressurized. Tanks with reaction mass for the fusion engines 
are mounted along the sides. In the atmosphere the engines switch into 
ramjet mode to conserve the internal fuel, so a few tons of water are 
enough for a typical flight profile.
  In vacuum, the engines use 4,000 gallons of reaction mass per hour.

Subassemblies: Body +6, ten retractable Wheels +1. 
Powertrain: Two 100,000-lb. vectored fusion ram rockets; 100-kW RTG; two 
  360,000-kWs rechargeable E power cells.
Fuel: 2,000 gallons water.
Occ: 3 RCS, 12 folding CS.   Cargo: 2,000 cf.

Armor       F      RL       B       T       U
Body:     4/100   4/100   4/100   4/100   4/100
Wheels:    3/15    3/15    3/15    3/15    3/15

Equipment:
  Body: Two very long range radios; long-range, tight-beam radio; four 
5x LLTVs; two 160-mile radars; 16-mile radscanner; flight data recorder; 
two sets of precision navigation instruments; two transponders; two 
inertial navigation systems; two C5 hardened minicomputers; three 
terminals; compact fire suppression system; cargo ramp; 4-man airlock; 
refueling probe; cramped toilet; two 15x12 man-hour limited life 
systems; 15 G-seats. External: Radiation shielding.

Statistics
Size: 48'x24'x16'   Payload: 30 tons      Lwt.: 50 tons
Volume: 5,000 cf    Maint.: 8 man-hours   Price: $2,792,600

HT: 11.   HPs: 3,000 Body, 75 each Wheel

gSpeed: 555   gAccel: 30   gDecel: 10   gMR: 0.25   gSR: 5
Ground Pressure Extremely High. No Off-Road Performance.

aSpeed: 1,935   aAccel: 40   aDecel: 10   aMR: 2.5   aSR: 4

sAccel: 2 to 2.4 Gs   sMR: 2   Delta-V: 86,019 mph

Design Notes
  Body is 5,000 cf, with lifting body and very good streamlining. Wheels 
are 250 cf, retract into body. Structure is medium and expensive. Armor 
is expensive composite on Body, expensive metal on Wheels. Sealed. 
Computerized controls with duplicate maneuver controls. There are 21.43 
cf of empty space. Empty weight is 40,000 lbs.
  The vehicle uses the design rules from Vehicles [2nd edition, 3rd 
printing, Dec 2004 errata], VXi and VXii (including the armor volume 
rule) with the text format from Vehicles Lite.


Next Week: An orbiter.