Atsreoid cicuit ship

[wbnc]

So while looking over the space Mining thread, I had an idea for a fairly low tech interplanatary ferry.

Take an appropriately sized asteroid, hollow it out. Build a habitat and warehousing facility inside the shell. Then set it up in an orbit that passes near to two planets in the same system. The Circuit ship could be fitted with low grade drives allowing for course correction and to keep the ship on its desired course in case of some unforeseen gravitational jostling.

While shuttles and short haul insytem space craft would be faster, bulk cargoes..in the order of hundreds of thousands of tons could be carried in one trip at low cost, since the ships primary form of locomotion is simple applied physics.

I mainly envisioned this as an alternative for worlds that mine resources within their own system, or low tech worlds that cant build more advanced ships, relying on outside manufacture of High TL components etc....

 

[Infojunky]

So while looking over the space Mining thread, I had an idea for a fairly low tech interplanatary ferry.

Take an appropriately sized asteroid, hollow it out. Build a habitat and warehousing facility inside the shell. Then set it up in an orbit that passes near to two planets in the same system. The Circuit ship could be fitted with low grade drives allowing for course correction and to keep the ship on its desired course in case of some unforeseen gravitational jostling..

Sounds like a plan. But Asteroid hulled ship's are kinda common IMTU.

 

[Condottiere]

The downside has to be maintenance, perhaps not so much in terms of costs, but more in time spent checking to see if there are any cracks.

 

[phavoc]

I don't think it would be economically feasible once you had access to ships that can do 1G. Assuming you had two planets in a system, each orbiting at 1AU, and you had the asteroid on a different orbit that intersected each planet every six months, that's six months of your cargo sitting at rest doing nothing. A few commodities could be handled that way, but your timeframe for loading/unloading is going to be restricted by the orbital path and timeframes. Which means you'd have to be hyper-efficient at it plus throw a lot of resources at it.

It would be easier just to slingshot the payloads to the destination, using either powered or un-powered cargo pods. And only a few commodities would fit the bill for that (hydrogen comes to mind, usually free to take, and not particularly valuable with a short shelf life).

Freighters are still the most efficient way to get from A to B taking cargo with a reasonable amount of markup. If you didn't have TL9 drives, your idea would potentially be better, but "modern" space drives really don't make it more economical. An analogy would be to say if we still used sailing ships to cheaply move cargo across the seas (wind is free), cargo would be cheaper. Except it's not practical, not to mention the people on the ship would still have to be paid, and more because they would be out at sea longer.

 

[AndrewW]

It would be easier just to slingshot the payloads to the destination, using either powered or un-powered cargo pods. And only a few commodities would fit the bill for that (hydrogen comes to mind, usually free to take, and not particularly valuable with a short shelf life).

Space Stations has a throw and cache system.

 

[phavoc]

Space Stations has a throw and cache system.

Yep, they do. For my system-wide hydrogen fueling system I opted to use tugs to perform the acceleration and catching of fuel pods. The tugs simply accelerate the pods towards where their target is going to be upon arrival and release. The pod then coasts until it's picked up.

I opted for something like that because with planetary systems you sometimes have to adjust for orbital alignments. A tug that is not in a fixed orbit has a great deal more flexibility to adjust for this (not to mention gas giants tend to be rather large and planetary alignments can sometimes block your target).

 

[wbnc]

Good points all around. it'd be a very situation specific idea..and one that might need just a bit of Referee finesse to make work.

I like the idea more as a set piece for specific adventures, or scenarios. In a setting where it had become an obsolete, relic of pre interstellar flight..say an isolated colony, or minor race construct. I'd almost see it as a sort of no-mans land trading port. Not directly controlled by the locals, and largely left to it's own devices if the 'businesses on it didn't cause too much trouble.

 

[Condottiere]

I'm thinking extra-territoriality.

 

[wbnc]

I'm thinking extra-territoriality.

Precisely.A place where technically t's still in the system..but the allow the facilities own internal power structure to maintain control over it.

A space going Casablanca,Monaco...a location just screaming for mischief, intrigue and mayhem.

 

[Condottiere]

You may also have to stay in international waters, or in this case, outside one hundred planetary diameters.

The usual activities can go on, whether gambling, smuggling, slavery, though traditionally, that usually invites intervention. If the place goes the more respectable route, it can become an offshore banking centre.

 

[Askold]

You may also have to stay in international waters, or in this case, outside one hundred planetary diameters.

The usual activities can go on, whether gambling, smuggling, slavery, though traditionally, that usually invites intervention. If the place goes the more respectable route, it can become an offshore banking centre.

There are so many different law codes in Traveller universe that I think this would be viable tactic of avoiding annoying local laws. As long as the Asteroid-city/casino/thingy obeys major Imperial laws their only danger is that the local planetary government(s) in the star system get hostile (and in that case the Imperium might side with the asteroid folks.)

I mean, there already are lawless and lawful planets practically as neighbors and if planet X is annoyed that (for example) Chocolate is legal on planet Y and their citizens are flying there to get it and attempting to smuggle it to X (where it was banned due to religious reasons) they can't really do anything unless they can prove that the government of Y is in on the smuggling ring or something.

In a less silly scenario rich people might go do gambling on the asteroid belt where a major casino has been built into an old repurposed mining facility.

 

[wbnc]

You may also have to stay in international waters, or in this case, outside one hundred planetary diameters.

The usual activities can go on, whether gambling, smuggling, slavery, though traditionally, that usually invites intervention. If the place goes the more respectable route, it can become an offshore banking centre.

There are so many different law codes in Traveller universe that I think this would be viable tactic of avoiding annoying local laws. As long as the Asteroid-city/casino/thingy obeys major Imperial laws their only danger is that the local planetary government(s) in the star system get hostile (and in that case the Imperium might side with the asteroid folks.)

I mean, there already are lawless and lawful planets practically as neighbors and if planet X is annoyed that (for example) Chocolate is legal on planet Y and their citizens are flying there to get it and attempting to smuggle it to X (where it was banned due to religious reasons) they can't really do anything unless they can prove that the government of Y is in on the smuggling ring or something.

In a less silly scenario rich people might go do gambling on the asteroid belt where a major casino has been built into an old repurposed mining facility.

Ah the siren call of the extraterritorial paradise......."What happens on the Sinstar, stays on the Sinstar...."

There are cases where during the Prohibition era, cargo ships would anchor just outside of territorial waters and open up, casino, brothel, speakeasies, The navy ad coast guard had no authority sense the ships were out of their jurisdiction.

tehy could board any bot coming out from the mainland, or heading back into territorial water, but the ship was out of their reach...So perfectly respectable sorts, would get all dressed up, hop on a fishg boat or cabin cruiser, ride out to the ship, party like it was 1899. then go home hung over, broke, and eager to come back next weekend

Since most Indian Nations are not restricted by state laws in the US, they can get away with selling non-taxed cigarettes..Running casinos, all sorts of businesses. While just across the reservation border its illegal....Now I know that has been severely curtailed but it was a way for reservation residents to make some serious cash at one time.

 

[Condottiere]

Customs can harass the ships go to and fro.

Banking can be strictly communications, transferring funds between accounts; so could keeping data there, out of reach of court orders, cosy relationships between ISPs and the intelligence community, or just plain hacking attacks.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Cycling asteroids were described in Marshall Savage's Colonizing the galaxy in 8 easy steps. You could easily lift a few adventure ideas from that chapter.

Catapult launchers may be replaced by 1 g ships, but hollowing out the metals or volatiles for shipping in-system is a good money maker. Look up Buzz Aldrins Cycler transit system. Again, normal ships are much faster, but if the asteroid is a source of raw materials, fuel, oxygen then that has an impact.

You could always add in an extra fusion engine to melt the leftover slag and make soccer ball sections to build a spherical/geodesic habitat. Spray seal the interior or plate it over with a leakproof sealant/decking and you have a growable expandable habitat.

Add in missile bays and Particle beams or meson generators and shields and you have cycling monitor bases that can be a nightmare for an attacking fleet to take over.

You could put a series of Cyclers in an orbit at the Jump diameter and offer safe haven and shipping services protected by ships, with cycling ships or tugs carrying goods in-sytem. A dasiy chain of goods and hardened bases built out of asteroids could provide zero g construction and manufacturing, metals and a space trained citizenry.
Or it could provide a population of pirates in training. It depends on how you want the folks to behave IYTU.

 

[wbnc]

Cycling asteroids were described in Marshall Savage's Colonizing the galaxy in 8 easy steps. You could easily lift a few adventure ideas from that chapter.

Catapult launchers may be replaced by 1 g ships, but hollowing out the metals or volatiles for shipping in-system is a good money maker. Look up Buzz Aldrins Cycler transit system. Again, normal ships are much faster, but if the asteroid is a source of raw materials, fuel, oxygen then that has an impact.

You could always add in an extra fusion engine to melt the leftover slag and make soccer ball sections to build a spherical/geodesic habitat. Spray seal the interior or plate it over with a leakproof sealant/decking and you have a growable expandable habitat.

Add in missile bays and Particle beams or meson generators and shields and you have cycling monitor bases that can be a nightmare for an attacking fleet to take over.

You could put a series of Cyclers in an orbit at the Jump diameter and offer safe haven and shipping services protected by ships, with cycling ships or tugs carrying goods in-sytem. A dasiy chain of goods and hardened bases built out of asteroids could provide zero g construction and manufacturing, metals and a space trained citizenry.
Or it could provide a population of pirates in training. It depends on how you want the folks to behave IYTU.

I am WBNC and support this message.... Good ideas for various aspects. millions of tons of potentially useful rock laying around could make the ship a pretty useful place to hang yer vacc suit.

 

[dragoner]

Ah the siren call of the extraterritorial paradise......."What happens on the Sinstar, stays on the Sinstar...."

There are cases where during the Prohibition era, cargo ships would anchor just outside of territorial waters and open up, casino, brothel, speakeasies, The navy ad coast guard had no authority sense the ships were out of their jurisdiction.

Yes, like the Monfalcone off LA: http://www.cawreckdivers.org/wrecks/monfalcone.htm

There are a ton of good adventure ideas with a hollowed out asteroid.

 

[wbnc]

Ah the siren call of the extraterritorial paradise......."What happens on the Sinstar, stays on the Sinstar...."

There are cases where during the Prohibition era, cargo ships would anchor just outside of territorial waters and open up, casino, brothel, speakeasies, The navy ad coast guard had no authority sense the ships were out of their jurisdiction.

Yes, like the Monfalcone off LA: http://www.cawreckdivers.org/wrecks/monfalcone.htm

There are a ton of good adventure ideas with a hollowed out asteroid.

thanks fr the source material

I may have to rework that old casino ship into a game in the future.

It's certainly easy enough for customs and naval forces to harass visitors, or set up enough checkpoints to make the casual tourist think twice. But if someone has money, and desire, they tend ot find ways to get around those little hassles. I mean lets face it people will stand in line in the cold and rain for a flipping video game....gambling, illicit recreational substances, and friendly..umm companionship...yeah people will pay through the nose for those...just as any Casino/bar/brothel owner.

 

[dragoner]

That's just one, all the ideas here are good, and trav has a long history of asteroid adventures: Drak'ne, skyraiders, and so on.

 

[Condottiere]

Robinson Crusoe, and his minor humaniti race man Friday should be included.