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| MASS: 80 NPV: 169 Classification: Medium Resource Collector (MVRM) Crew: 10; 3 Officers, 7 Ratings Crew Factor: 2 Hull Integrity: 8 (2/2/2/2) Armor: 2 Main Drive Thrust: 5 (7.5 TW) Drive Auto-Detection Range: 3.653 AU ∆V (Combat): 18.863 km/sec ∆V (Cruise): 377.254 km/sec Thrust Points: 38 (945 tons propellant) Propellant Tanks: 2 Thrust Points per Tank: 19 FTL: No Auxiliary Systems: 32-MASS Cargo Bay; 4-MASS Atmosphere Refinery; Partial Streamlining Combat Systems: None Weapons: 1x Point Defense Battery |
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| The Aegean,
like the Collier
space station, is a vital part of the interstellar infrastructure of
human space. The purpose of the Aegean
is to skim the hydrogen rich atmospheres of gas giants for use as
reaction mass, and to unload the processed fuel at a Collier or similar refueling
depot. The Aegean can
process 4000 tons of atmosphere in a single pass through the upper
atmosphere of a gas giant or planet with the necessary constituents,
and can store up to 3200 tons of refined propellant for return to the
depot. The ship has a powerful HEPLAR fusion torch to allow it to
break orbit from a gas giant, and has additional armor reinforcement to
its heat shield system to protect it against the intense radiation
belts often encountered close to the planet. A single point
defense battery protects the Aegean
from hostile vessels, and in contested systems the ship requires an
escort. Since methane and ammonia are the preferred propellants for drive torches due to their ease of storage and high relative hydrogen density compared to pure liquid hydrogen, and as many gas giants are actually poor in the required compounds, many Aegeans start their runs preloaded with liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide itself skimmed from the atmosphere of a nearby terrestrial planet, and combine this with the skimmed hydrogen to produce the desired reaction mass propellant product. For this reason, most fuelling depots outfitted with Aegeans or ships of a similar nature will have a squadron of four to six vessels under their care, with one-third of the squadron skimming nitrogen or carbon-dioxide and the rest at the (typically) more distant gas giant skimming hydrogen and processing it for fuel. In some rare instances a Europan type water world with an ice crust thick enough to support the 8000 ton mass of the Aegean will allow the ships to land directly on the surface, bore through the ice with special equipment, and pump water up to the processing plant. Where such worlds are available, this is the preferred method for hydrogen collection, as water is easy to store, and the wear and tear on the heat shield system is saved due to the lack of an atmosphere. Ships of the class
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