Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester
| Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type: JG Fueling Craft | |
| Category | ACS |
| Size | 200 Tons |
| Hull Configuration | Sphere Hull |
| Streamlining | Streamlined Hull |
| Tech Level | TL–6 |
| Engineering | |
| Computer | Model 2/bis |
| Jump | J-0 |
| Maneuver | 1 G |
| Fuel Treatment | Scoops |
| Armaments | |
| Hardpoints | 2 |
| Accommodations | |
| Staterooms | 0 |
| Bunk Rooms | 10 |
| Personnel | |
| Crew | 10 |
| High/Mid Passengers | |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | 48 Tons |
| Fuel tank | 76 Tons |
| Construction | |
| Origin | New Era |
| Price | |
| Cost | MCr103.487 |
| Statistics | |
| Quick Ship Profile | JG-BP10 |
| Images | |
| Blueprint | No |
| Illustration | Yes |
| Source | |
| Canon | Published, canon design |
| Designer | Charles E. Gannon, Dave Nilsen |
| Design System | MegaTraveller |
| Era | 1120 |
| Reference | Assignment: Vigilante 14, 16. |
The Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester is a TL–6 fuel gathering and processing spaceship.
Description[edit]
The Roughneck is a low-tech spacecraft of unusual design. Its purpose is to collect complex hydrocarbons from the atmospheres of large gas giants.
The Roughneck looks like a squashed sphere. It customarily begins its mission with an empty fuel storage cargo hold, reducing takeoff weight to 2835 tons. Therefore, lift-off acceleration is approximately 1.5G, meaning It can lift off even from airless worlds that do not allow it to use a lift-assisted take-off.
Once in space, the Roughneck travels out to the desired gas giant. Speed Is of the essence, since the power plant bums the same precious hydrocarbons that the ship must gather for resale.
Arriving at the gas giant, the Roughneck rendezvous with a support craft or space station, where its cryogenic rocket fuel is replenished and its lift envelope (also called the 'air bag") Is connected. The lift envelope Is a inflatable airfoil of Immense volume (over 4 million cubic meters). As the Roughneck approaches the gas giant's atmosphere, it begins to collect hydrogen in its scoops to inflate the envelope. The hydrogen is pumped Into the envelope through the same conduit that is later used as the run-off collection funnel to help fill the Roughneck's collection tanks.
The lift envelope is useless at these higher altitudes, but becomes increasingly useful as the Roughneck descends Into the gas giant's cloud layer where the atmosphere is denser. At full Inflation, the lift envelope provides 3321 tons of lift - more than enough to keep the Roughneck from sinking further. At this point, the ship begins moving toward areas where 'propane rain" is anticipated. Run-off vents and folds in the top of the lift envelope gather more of this rain than could be accomplished with the scoops alone, resulting in a rapid ability to fill all 650 kl of fuel storage space.
Tanks full, the Roughneck boosts back up to the higher reaches of the atmosphere, where it pumps its collected fuel into three external drop tanks. Small tenders remove these drop tanks, pump cryogenic fuel into the main rocket tanks and emplace new drop tanks. The tenders then take the full tanks back up to orbit.
The primary danger in a wildcatter's occupation Is the need to de-ice the ship, which can be a risky proposition. Another common source of danger are the titanic lightning storms that occur in the atmospheres of large gas giants; a single bolt can disable the ship and ignite its fuel stocks.
The Roughneck utilizes a TL–7 VTOL hull and TL–7 control components. This makes the construction of each craft a painstaking effort for TL–6 worlds, which have to fabricate special, purpose-built architectures for each model.
The statistics for the lift envelope are:
- Inflated Displacement: 20,000 Inflated Volume: 4.05 million kl
- Net Lift: 3321 tons
- Weight: 2025 tons
- Deflated Volume: 26.730 kl (although not necessary to use, this can fit in a 2000-ton carrier)
- Price: MCr4.05.
The Roughneck incorporates elements of the pre-gravitic spacecraft design supplement and the aircraft design supplement used by the Travellers' Naval Architecture Society (TNAS).
Image Repository[edit]
- A Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester traversing the various layers of a resource-rich gas giant.
- A side view image of a Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester.
General Description & Deck Plans[edit]
- A multi-view schematic of a Roughneck class Frontier Fuel Harvester.
History & Background[edit]
No information yet available.
Selected Variant Types & Classes[edit]
1 Representative Fuel Harvester (JG) Classes[edit]
References[edit]
| This article has metadata. |
|
This ship was originally designed using MegaTraveller ship design rules.
|
- Charles E. Gannon. Assignment: Vigilante (Game Designers Workshop, 1992), 14, 16.