Cray
08/27/03 09:28 AM
147.160.1.5
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POP QUIZ
What happens when NAIS aerospace graduate students take too many aerospace history courses, and one of them knows of a wrecked Savannah Master in one of the NAIS campus combat vehicle engineering bays?
They build a spaceship based on a historical classic.
HISTORY
The Soyuz space capsule outlasted its Western counterparts by decades, serving as shuttles to commercial space stations until fusion rocketry overtook the Russian chemical rockets in the early 21st century. Thereafter, later versions remained in use as escape pods on many Terran spacecraft well into the early Terran Hegemony era when lobbyists for Boeing managed to get their new, more capable, more expensive escape pod accepted as a standard. The Taurian Concordat manufactured Soyuz-derived escape pods and inter-orbit shuttles until 2607, when it was forced to accept Terran Hegemony standard designs.
Of course, much after 2100, the Soyuz derivatives had little in common with their Russian predecessors beyond the hull form and some of the manual navigation features. Often the other modules that were hallmarks of the Soyuz (the forward living module and rear service module) were deleted in favor of crowding as many systems as possible into the "head light" shaped re-entry hull, rather like the stillborn Soyuz derivative "Zarya." Modifications ranged from robotic arms to scaling up the original 2.4m diameter Soyuz 5-fold in some landing craft.
Zarya Sketch
When the collapse of the Star League and Succession Wars took away the Taurian Concordat's Inner Sphere high tech suppliers, it returned to its Soyuz-derivative escape pods. The Outworlds Alliance also adopted the basic design (secondhand through Taurus) for inter-orbit shuttles and work pods at its deep space fighter facilities. Today, the pods can usually be found at almost any spaceport, though they are hardly predominate among the multitudes of small craft in use.
BACK TO NAIS
In 3061, as a masters thesis project, several graduate students decided to build an larged Soyuz derivative, which they dubbed the "Zarya" based on the failed Soviet-era upgrade. The initial plan was to include the engine and reaction mass in a stern service module while the crew, beer and any interested nubile co-ed passengers rode in a 1:1 scale model of the Zarya, which would separate from the service module for a traditional Soyuz parachute landing. However, since the service module was going to hold a fusion engine, it began to seem less and less wise to simply jettison it and have a hired shuttle pick up the module. When a case about an "orbital junk collector" who decided to keep some salvage he was hired to collect hit the New Avalon news, the students decided to include the engine as an integral part of their Zarya. This required some sharp limitations on fuel capacity.
In the end, they settled on a 1.5x scale-up of the Zarya, making it 5.55m in diameter at its widest and 5.4m long (not counting landing gear). The decision was made not only to fit in the 25 Omni, but also because of considerations for "recreational volume." The stern 2m would house the 25 Omni fusion engine, with the reaction chamber and extendable magnetic nozzle stuffed into the center of the tokamak. Ringing this would be a tank for 1500kg of liquid hydrogen reaction mass. Stuffed into spare spaces of the stern were 6 pneumatic pop-out landing legs. Into the nose went a standard docking port and emergency parachutes ("A quaint touch," said many observing reporters). Rather than ye olde thermal bricks, this modern spacecraft would use a standard metal armor hull like aerospace fighters. This heat shield was placed in box panels around the hull and filled with loose fill ceramic insulation. Laced through the box panels were the thin hydrogen lines that went to the fuel thrifty plasma-arc RCS motors studding the hull. The panels also held the high temperature radiators of the craft's heat sink system.
A crew station for just two went into the forward part of the crew section. It incorporated some manual controls and navigation gear, including a sextant, mechanical clock, and a mechanical globe.
Cockpit Interior
"The cosmonaut could however take manual control of the spacecraft and manually re-enter. This was done by using the ingenious Vzor periscope device. This had a central view and eight ports arranged in a circle around the centre. When the spacecraft was perfectly centred in respect to the horizon, all eight of the ports would be lit up [by the planet below]. Alignment along the orbit was judged by getting lines on the main scope to be aligned with the landscape flowing by below. In this way, the spacecraft could be oriented correctly for the re-entry manoeuvre.
To decide when to re-enter, the cosmonaut had a little clockwork globe that showed current position over the earth. By pushing a button to the right of the globe, it would be advanced to the landing position assuming a standard re-entry at that moment."
As shown on the upper right of this original Soyuz control panel:
Obsolete Panel with Globe
Behind the crew's ejection seats were fold-away seats for three passengers. The passenger space area (with seats folded away) formed a 2m high cylinder (from the back of the crew seats to the stern pressure bulkhead) that was about 4.5m in diameter. Equipment lockers, wet bar, zero-G shitter and washroom, and private sleeping cubicles (for 2) narrowed the space to 2.5m. When confronted with this rather small space, the students developed ingenious mounts for the crew's ejection seats that allowed them to pivot out of the way on heavy, locking swing arms. This increased the ceiling (or side-to-side width, depending on a person's orientation) by about 1m.
Communications, life support, and modern navigation features were off-the-shelf afterthoughts. The navigation system includes a battery of optical cameras (used simultaneously for star tracking, proximity sensing, lidar reception, object recognition for close quarters maneuvering, and stellar identification so the capsule knows what system it's in), lidars, and a radio navigation system compatible with most standard "system positioning systems" in use throughout the Inner Sphere. The communication system is a second hand broadband aerospace radio; the original NAIS Zarya commsuite included subscriptions to various wireless and media services so the students would not be denied sports programs and net access during their near-New Avalon flights.
Several investigative reporters attempted to slam NAIS for wasting money on student projects, but most of the work had been done by volunteers and many components were considered scrap. Materials actually purchased for the project (amounting to about 60000cb worth of aerospace-grade materials, secondhand, off-the-shelf components, and components salvaged from aerospace junkyards) had been paid for by one of the student's parents, who was a count on New Avalon with several billion c-bills in industrial holdings. NAIS publicists made a point that NAIS ended up paying several times as much in legal fees (in the libel trials) as the entire project cost in terms of estimated university worker wages "wasted" on volunteer work.
DEPLOYMENT
The original NAIS Zarya was completed in 3063 and made several publicized flights into near-New Avalon space. Two New Avalon's three moons were visited, the third being entirely an AFFC domain that did not appreciate civilian daytrippers. While the Zarya "only" carried 1.5 tons of hydrogen reaction mass, this amounted to nearly 36km/s of delta-V. The Zarya was able to launch from New Avalon and reach escape velocity (about 11km/s), coast to a moon, land (about 2km/s with sloppy orbital injection maneuvers and lengthy hover times), relaunch and return to New Avalon for a powered landing (about 2km/s all told). The week-long journeys were considered the height of NAIS parties for the very select few who got to go on the flights.
Some of the original students eventually left to join the AFFC and fight in the Civil War, but a few (including the Count's son) stayed and made a business of making additional Zaryas for wealthy customers who had been intrigued by the "primitive" vessels. Eventually, a suite of option packages were available for the interior, enabling the small aerospace firm to customize the Zaryas to suit a particular customer's concept of "primitive" spacecraft. Given the minimal piloting skills of most customers, a small, modern autopilot was generally hidden behind the bulky "ancient" control panels. If the pilot got over his head, he needed only to slap a master emergency button for the competent autopilot to take over.
"Jules Verne" interior being fitted with leather upholstery.
Production stalled between 3070 and 3090, when the new "peace" of the post-Jihad era allowed production to resume. Before 3070, some 27 Zaryas were built in the aerospace equivalent of a converted garage workshop. Between 3090 and 3130, the glut of 25-rated fusion engines on market (no military was buying Savannah Masters any longer) enabled Sovetskii Aerospace to produce 9-12 Zaryas per year. The company also produced several variants, including more "historically accurate" smaller versions and, of course, escape pods.
COMBAT HISTORY
The only Zarya to see combat was involved in the destruction of the WoB Black Lion-class warship "Technical Purity." The capsule was owned by the Duke of Capolla who took the capsule to "offer the TerraCap Confederation's surrender" to the Word of Blake invasion force. In fact, the Duke (who was on the capsule, because he wouldn't ask one of his underlings to do this) intended to do what the Word of Blake ground forces had done to the TerraCap militia and merc units: nuke them. When the unarmed Zarya docked in the Black Lion's bay (which delightfully had several WoB dropships docked at hard points for post-battle repairs and cargo transfer), the Duke detonated the 250-kiloton enhanced fission device.
ZARYA PRIVATE SPACECRAFT
25 tons "aerospace fighter" (spheroid)
.5 tons 25 Omni fusion engine
....Thrust: 3
....Overthrust: 5
....Structural Integrity: 3
0 tons 10 SHS
3 tons cockpit
1.5 tons fuel
2 tons armor
....Nose: 5
....Sides: 8
....Rear: 11
1 ton parachutes (nose)
2 tons cargo (fuselage)
15 tons 5 passengers/crew (in "capsule" accomodations)
Note: The Zarya enters an atmosphere stern first. Any failed re-entry rolls that call for nose damage instead apply damage to the stern. Also note that as a spheroid, the Zarya is effectively VTOL, and also pretty incapable of maneuvering in the atmosphere. Further, if the Zarya has engine failure and is making a "dead stick landing," it can soft land with parachutes. Finally, the Zarya floats like a cork. It can make water landings and launches quite easily.
VARIANTS
The Zarya has "hard point" mounts like a traditional aerospace fighter, though the only thing it carries is a "service module" holding 2.5 tons of fuel (5 drop tanks in one unit). This adds 60km/s delta-V to the standard Zarya, though performance is hurt. The service module (on the stern of the Zarya) will not survive aerobraking. For that reason, it includes some solar panels and a beacon, allowing it to be left in orbit. However, the service module does not interfere with landing gear deployment or engine operation. A Zarya with about 9-10km/s (30-34 fuel points) left can brake with its engine and drop through the atmosphere at safe speeds for the service module. Launch is always possible with the service module attached.
Sovetskii Aerospace also manufactures a 13-ton model of the Zarya that is sized much more like the original Russian Zarya spacecapsule. This is popular with aerospace enthusiasts after a much more "authentic" space capsule experience, but there's definitely no room for a wet bar. This smaller Zarya can only carry a service module with 1 ton of reaction mass.
13-ton Zarya with Service Module
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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