Does anyone know offhand what the size of an Imperial Standard cargo container
is? I was toying with the idea of working out the designs for the Tl12-Tl15
equivalents of semi-trucks, cargo aricraft, railroads, or whatever. There is
a design in 101 Vehicles for a 200ton monster reminiscent of the contra-grav
ships from H. Beam Piper's COSMIC COMPUTER (or JUNKYARD PLANET, if you prefer).
That might well be economically feasible, but I suspect there would still be
a market for something in the 10-20 displacement ton line--I've got a pre-
liminary version of a TL13 10 ton vehicle, which ends up with 8 dt's of
usable volume--2 3x3x6 meter 4 ton containers worth.
Would cargo really move in human-driven vehicles, or would it be better to
move bulk goods around in robotic railway systems? That would keep it out
of the sky being used by Joe Traveller in his family air/raft.
Any opinions?
Rob Dean