The following design uses the nuclear thermal rocket introduced in Hard Times.
I haven't done a full comparison on delta-v's under a wide range of circum-
stances, but it looks like the nuc thermal is better than anything short of
a fusion rocket for deepspace use. The power plant requirments will keep
it from generating enough thrust for a 1-G liftoff.
Rob Dean
Gagarin class Orbiter TL8
The Gagarin class (named after a legendary Solomani space explorer) is a
single stage to orbit launch vehicle with an additional capability for deep-
space missions of up to a couple of AUs. A Gagarin is capable of lifting off
from any human-inhabitable world with a full cargo load of up to 200 tons.
With plans widely available from the Imperial Bureau of Standards as an IDP,
Gagarins are becoming more common on backwater planets which are interested
in retaining a native spaceflight capability in the current imperial diffi-
culties.
CraftID: 200 ton, TL8, MCr83.591
Hull: 180/450, Disp=200, Config=1AF, Armor=40C, Loaded=2525t,
Unloaded=1835t
Power: 4/8, Fission=100MW, duration=10 years, SolarCells=0.2MW
Loco: 7/14, High Performance Rocket=3900t, duration=30 minutes, 4/8,
Nuclear Thermal Rocket=750t, duration=14.3 hours, TrueAcc=1.54Gs
on rockets, 0.3Gs on nuclear
Comm: Radio=System*2
Sensors: Radar=Planetary, AdvImageEnhancement, ActObjScan=Diff,
ActOnjPin=Diff
Off: Hardpoints=2
Def: DefDM=+3
Control: Computer Mod2bis*3, ElecLink*450
Accom: Crew=2 (Pilot, Copilot), Passengers=4, Bunks=6, Env=basic env,
basic ls, ext ls
Other: NuclearFuel=10kl, CryogenicRocketFuel=1200kl, Hydrogen=1000kl,
CargoBay=200kl (14.8 displacement tons), ObjSize=Avg,
EmLevel=Moderate