Atlas Drake
the new colossus
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To submit a civilian research outpost and monitor station for use in ORC space.
- Image Source: 2101 A Space Age Society
- Canon Link: /
- Primary Source: /
- Manufacturer: FarStar Initiative
- Affiliation: Outer Rim Coalition, Closed-Market
- Model: Frontier-class Research Outpost
Production: Minor
Material: Flexisteel, Plasalloy, Solarium Glasteel, Solar Sails, Solar Panels
- Classification: Orbital Research Platform
- Length: 500 meters
- Width: 500 meters
- Height: 100 meters
- Armament: None.
- Defenses: Low
Civilian Grade Deflectors
[*]Hangar:
- 1 Capital Grade Docking Port
- 5 Personal Transport Grade Docking Ports
- Probe Launch Bays
[*]Maneuverability Rating: Very High
[*]Speed Rating: Very High
[*]Hyperdrive Class: Very Fast: 0.4
STANDARD FEATURES
- Solar Furnace
- Solar Panels (x350)
- Centrifugal Gravity Generator
- Standard Navigational Systems
- Standard Life Support Systems
- Long-range Communications Array
- HoloNet Transciever
Escape Pods
Tractor Beam (x15)
- Solar Sails
- StarMark III Hyperdrive
- Reconfigurable Research Suites
- Long-Range Sensor Package (HSI/DER/EPR/AS/CGT)
- Advanced Sensor Package (PADAR/ELDAR/SUDAR/STARSCAN)
- Stellar Observatory: As a part of the Initiative's continuing mission to catalogue astronomical phenomena, assist hyperspace explorers, and discover strange new worlds the Frontier-class is fully equipped to detect anything unusual within its considerable sensor range.
- Scientific Outpost: Much of the station's internal layout is reconfigurable, allowing for a variety of mission profiles and for multiple projects to run alongside one another while maintaining isolation protocols. If you need anything sciencey done, these platforms most likely have the facilities.
- Favorable Winds: With the sun at its back and its solar sails unfurled, the Frontier-class is significantly faster at sublight than most orbital stations. A circular design allows for minor thrust corrections which provide fine tuned control over maneuvering.
- Solar Sailer: The station's propulsion systems are far less effective when approaching a system's star, reliant on solar winds abundant only when traveling in close proximity to or directly away from their source.
- Reversion Drag: With no drive units more powerful than a maneuvering thruster, the station is unable to correct for the high velocities at which its overpowered hypderive unit transitions back into realspace. The sails must be released upon reversion to slow velocity and are vulnerable to attack, this platform was not built for precision jumps.
- Structural Integrity: A civilian research platform, the Frontier-class has no weapons of any kind and little in the way of even basic defenses such as reinforced hull plating. These stations won't hold up for long in a shooting war.
Although not known primarily as a starship manufacturer, the FarStar Initiative maintains a small flotilla of self-designed and produced orbital research platforms. The Frontier-class is a common sight over many fringe worlds, recognized for its distinctive solar sail propulsion and lack of conventional artificial gravity systems, reliant instead on centrifugal forces produced by its rotating outer ring. While nowhere near as fast as a starship, when conditions are ideal the platform is also known for its uncanny speed and agility.
A spherical command bubble connects to the outer ring via a series of thin spars, housing the station's primary control centers as well as a significant amount of reconfigurable lab space. The outer ring is primarily used for habitation purposes but also houses some of the more advanced sensor arrays and monitor systems including a compact launch bay of unarmed hyperwave monitor probes. Practically every square meter of the exterior is covered in some kind of solar paneling, and the internal systems are powered by a solar furnace which converts light waves into energy.
Each Frontier-class is a hybrid scientific outpost and deep space observation platform. While the FarStar Initiative claims not to share sensor data with Coalition officials, it has made no such claims about the Underground ShadowNet.
