Editing Prospector Vessel

Non-Canon

While all Prospectors are Belters, not all Belters are Prospectors, as it is a Prospector who identifies suitable targets for later Asteroid Miners.

At minimum, a Propsector needs a way to get to their target asteroids, a way of assessing them and a way of recording their finds. These things are true whether the Prospector is a lone independant, or part of a Megacorporate survey team.

Generally, Prospectors operate small spaceships or starships, going from rock to rock. Sometimes, Prospectors are dropped off by their mothership, and then survey the rock operating out of temporary shelters on the asteroid itself, with the mothership returning once the survey is complete. This allows multiple teams of belters to operate out of one mothership, allowing gains in economy.

While more expensive, jump capable starships enable encounters with pirates to be avoided, making Propsecting a much safer operation. Many Prospectors use modified IISS Type S scouts, usually referred to as 'Seekers', as the IISS sensor package and robust life support and engineering systems are particularily suited to several month long survey expiditions.

Assessment is done by a combination of sensors, scientific instruments and samples for later analysis by better equipment. Part of the skill of a Prospector is knowing what to survey, where and for how long - an experienced Prospector knows when to look for veins of intrusive material, when to sample randomly in a homogenous body and when to abandon an unprofitable rock for another target.

Generally speaking, Prospectors simply record the location and orbit of their surveyed asteroids, as this will allow the target to be located at a future time. Sometimes, beacons are placed on particular rocks, but this is more commonly done to denote asteroids as the legal property of some entity. Some belters broadcast their results to base, but this is unusual in less secure Outsystems, as it may alert Pirates or claim jumpers to the presence of the Belter.

Imperial systems often require a Belter to lodge a temporary survey claim on the asteroids proposed to be surveyed. This claim is generally for 90 days, and then either has to be upgraded to a more expensive Exploitation Licence or abandoned.

Some Prospectors operate without ever entering their target system, by taking existing surveys and applying new techniques, or looking for now in-demand metals or compounds. Generally, once potentially profitable target is found, another Prospector is hired to resurvey the target asteroid and confirm the results. This technique extensively applied by Imperial Megacorporations, who in some systems have series of survey results stretching back hundreds of years.

Prospectors can also operate on planetary surfaces.