posted
(this is a continuation of the design in the Designer's Block thread)
Updated the ship again. This time, I've tried to make it look a little bulkier.
The cargo pod is now similar to the pods on the Y-Class (one pod on each side).
Propulsion is still a bit of a problem. With the tentacles folded down, there could be room for some small engines, but it's really a tight squeeze with the arms out and the cargo pods in place. And removable nacelles sound a little too McGuyver to me. Plus, the interior of "the Squid" is probably already dedicated to processing ore and powering the drilling phasers.
Reverend's mothership.. I don't know. It would be a huge construction, and probably a bit expensive. So these ships aren't warp-capable (leaving me with the problem of "getting there"), unless someone has a brilliant location for two nacelles.
As to how it works, Sol.. My original idea was that the tips of the arms have tractor beam emitters, and that they would keep a chunk of asteroid "in focus", as the drilling phasers get out the goodies. The asteroid chunks would be cut off by the "cutters", as mentioned on TNG. But your idea of actually clamping onto the asteroid with the arms might work as well.
[ December 31, 2002, 06:01: Message edited by: Harry ]
posted
Hm. Since most asteroids are going to be WAY bigger than your ship, on the order of 10's and 100's of kilometers...
If the ship had two parts...
1. Mining module - contains arms and refinery. Could be pushed/pulled by module 2 (cargo module), then left in place while the cargo module detatches and returns to drop off its load, and is replaced by another cargo module (that way you could have a number of cargo modules en route to the mining module at any given time - more efficient production than if you have to stop whenever the cargo holds are full.
2. Cargo module - contains cargo bays, engines, cramped crew quarters, etc. (Or automated like Progress module on ISS?) May be cheaper than having a starship do the job. And when the asteroid rund dry, you just pilot the CM to haul the MM to a new asteroid, latch on, and go from there.
Maybe?
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
