Phoebus class Mercury shuttle
RogerBW
Acceleration-tolerant bulk cargo already uses the mass driver, but to get passengers and more fragile cargo to and from the surface of Mercury a specialised craft is needed, to cope with the combination of high gravity and no significant atmosphere for aerodynamic lift.
Heavy armour helps the craft to survive solar radiation (though it will normally perform cooling rolls), and the reaction mass tanks are spread through the ship to double as a heat redistribution system.
Passenger seating is modular; a hold module to replace one $60,000 passenger module costs $5,000, and holds 5 tons. A fuel module costs $60,000, and similarly holds 5 tons.
Total cost: $2,920,000.
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TL
|
Spacecraft
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dST/HP
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Hnd/SR
|
HT
|
Move
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LWt.
|
Load
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SM
|
Occ
|
dDR
|
|
10
|
Phoebus
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30
|
0/4
|
12
|
0.5G/3.24mps
|
100
|
5.6
|
+6
|
2+54SV
|
10
|
Fore:
1 Nanocomposite Armour dDR 10
2 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
3 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
4 Passenger seating (6 seats)
5 Passenger seating (6 seats)
6 Passenger seating (6 seats)
Core Control Room lv6 (2 control stations)
Mid:
1 Nanocomposite Armour dDR 10
2 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
3 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
4 Passenger seating (6 seats)
5 Passenger seating (6 seats)
6 Passenger seating (6 seats)
Aft:
1 Nanocomposite Armour dDR 10
2 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
3 Fuel tank (hydrogen, 0.45 mps)
4 Fission Drive (NTR) (0.5G)
5 Passenger seating (6 seats)
6 Passenger seating (6 seats)
Core Passenger seating (6 seats)