[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 745 – Orion Freighter

[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, 2009-02-02

Orion Freighter v1.0 (TL7)
  Copyright 2009 by Onno Meyer

  There are good reasons why Project Orion never got off the ground. In 
an alternate history scenario where space exploration is more important 
than environmental protection, freighters like this might ply the space 
lanes of the solar system ...
  The freighter has a cylindrical hull flaring into aerodynamic control 
surfaces and the pusher plate of the orion drive. The cabin in the nose 
houses ten crew, the life support system and provisions as far forward 
as possible. The next section is the primary cargo hold, rated for 200 
tons, followed by the maneuvering fuel and the thrust bombs. The shock 
absorbers fill the rear of the hull. 
  A full load of fuel and provisions is $720,048,000, considerably more 
than the freighter itself.

Subassemblies: Body +9, twelve retractable Wheels +4. 
Powertrain: Orion engine firing four 5-kt bombs per second; 20,000-lb. 
  vectored chemical rocket; 200-kW RTG; 120,000-kWs advanced batteries. 
Fuel: 14,400 thrust bombs; 30,000 gallons HO rocket fuel (fire on 15). 
Occ: 10 bridge RCS, 10 bunks.   Cargo: 20,000 cf

Armor       F      RL     B      T       U
Body:     4/100   4/25   4/25   4/25   4/100
Wheels:     3/5    3/5    3/5    3/5     3/5

Equipment:
  Body: Very long range radio with scrambler; very long range tight-beam 
radio with scrambler; six 4x LLTVs; 320-mile radar; 200x stabilized 
LLTV; flight data recorder; three sets of precision navigation 
instruments; two IFF; three inertial navigation systems; three advanced 
radar/laser detectors; three C2 hardened minicomputers; ten terminals; 
engineering mini-workshop; operating room; four-man airlock; 10-man full 
life system; 7,500 man-days of provisions.

Statistics
Size: 300'x40'x20'   Payload: 600 tons      Lwt.: 1,000 tons
Volume: 120,000 cf   Maint.: 36 man-hours   Price: $57,470,400

HT: 10.   HPs: 45,000 Body, 1,000 each Wheel

sAccel: 4 Gs   sMR: 4   Delta-V: 389,162 mph

Design Notes
  Body is 120,000 cf, with lifting body and very good streamlining. 
Wheels are 6,000 cf, retract into body; Structure is heavy, advanced. 
Body armor is advanced, fireproof ablative, wheel armor is advanced 
composite. Sealed. Ultralight tanks. Computerized controls. 6,749 cf of 
empty space. Empty weight is 800,000 lbs. 
  The vehicle uses the design rules from Vehicles [second edition, third 
printing, Jan 2007 errata], VXi and VXii (including the armor volume 
rule) with the text format from Vehicles Lite. 


Next Week: A first aircraft for TL10 water worlds.