OPNET Resource Vehicle Data

Banji Skymaster Supply Probe

Description

Ship acceleration is limited by human occupants. The human frame cannot sustain more than four G's for the long periods of time found in interplanetary voyages. However, most bulk cargoes do not care about acceleration.

The Skymaster's design is quite simple: roughly half of it is cargo space and half of it is engine. The cargo section is a simple sphere, designed to withstand the hard axial acceleration the Skymaster will inflict upon it. It is detachable for easy cargo offloading and easy modifications. The engine is a Banji PW-1600. Usually mounted on frigates, this engine is very reliable and only requires maintenance every six to eight months, although they have been known to run for years without maintenance by some of the cheaper bulk freight companies. The whole unit is fully automated -- the Skymaster only needs humans for the onloading and offloading of cargo.

History

The Skymaster was introduced in 2082, and it continues to ply the spacelanes today. Although they are a common sight, few are built according to the original factory specifications. Some sport modified cargo sections for larger payload and less acceleration, while other cargo sections are modified for liquid payload. Occasionally they are used as boosters for transporting non-interplanetary craft from planet to planet, although only when unmanned, of course. Some ambitious entrepreneurs have replaced the cargo section with a large claw-like attachment to move large chunks of ice to be used as drinking water at the intended destination, while miners have been known to use the same attachment to move asteroids to safer and more convenient locations before actually beginning their mining operations.

Statistics

VT: Freighter
Tech: Hard
Crew: 0 (fully automated)
Cargo: 30,000 cumets
VS: 6
Handling: NA (Five dice towards piloting and astrogation)
Mass: 1,500
Cost: 7
Armor: 3 [10]

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