HOME | DD
BlastWaves — Express Delivery
by-nc-nd
#flowers #fuji #koi #koifish #pixelart #sciencefiction #scifi #shuttle #solarsail #space #spacecraft #spaceplane #spaceship #photonsail #solar_sail #photon_sail #spacestation #koi_fish
Published: 2020-03-07 14:27:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 16505; Favourites: 421; Downloads: 114
Redirect to original
Description
The Windjammer-class is one of the oldest mass-produced civilian spacecraft still in use as of 2134. Propelled through space by a single large solar sail, the vessels are used as a cheap and cost-effective alternative to the more modern and conventionally propelled space transports. While operated by multiple interstellar freight transporting companies, Windjammers are largely relegated to interplanetary cargo transport as a result of their somewhat slow cruising speed despite having the capability for long distance travel beyond the solar system.Unique to the Kabushiki Interstellar Shipping Company's fleet of vessels, the large solar sails of each spacecraft seen in the above image are painted with elaborate pieces of artwork chosen and commissioned by each ship's crew. The murals are a continuation of the company's several decade old tradition of decorating merchant and container ships on Earth, despite them fading to white in several years as a result of the constant exposure to sunlight and space radiation.
Related content
Comments: 41
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 4 ⏩: 1
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
Quite uncommon to see realistically obscured stars in illustrations as this.
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much, Mike!
I'll certainly try to keep it up, and same to you as well.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very nice. High enough performance for packets and high value stuff at least.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Tremendous.
Shades of all the space lifestyle concept art from the 70s.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Fantastic work, love it, I can't sing your praises enough.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you! Glad you like it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I would love to see this in a movie or even IRL.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Indeed it would be ludicrously expensive to do in real life as well as potentially reduce the efficiency of each ship's sail, but it is meant to be a purely rule of cool design. I originally had them painted in plain orange as they would probably look like in real life, but the image turned out to be much less interesting visually.
As for the title, it's meant to be a somewhat ironic jab at said ships being slow, though between Earth and Mars it would perhaps be fair to call it an express delivery in the early days of interplanetary travel.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ad revenue isn't going to just vanish in the future. Comissioning a specific design for the sail would cost a fortune, but having something that could be recognised from surface might also BRING a fortune.
Sail can be used as reflective surface for launch lasers. Suddenly it's not as weak. If the solar sattelite network is in place, both power and equipment is already there to boost sail ships. Besides, it'll still be much faster then cyclers, that'll look like modern container cargo ships(minus the hull
I would have said that station modules are too small, but that's actually a trap of modern perspective. I don't know their actual diameters after all, those can easily be Skylab's 6.6m, Shuttle's external tank of 8,4m, Starship's 9m or even larger in diameter. Making the whole thing to ISS in volume.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I absolutely love these, the designs on the sails give 'em a personal touch that makes me want to know more about each one, the history behind the individual ships and crews if there's any history to tell!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you! There would definitely be plenty of interesting stories from the crews of each ship, with each sail perhaps relating to the history of where they're from and what they transported.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Now that sounds like a book I'd love to read!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aye, that was the idea! Perhaps different crews would even compete in trying to have the most elaborate livery painted on their sail, a sort of competition in who can afford the most outrageously expensive murals.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I suppose they'd be a super cheap option for stuff that can last basically forever if preserved in vacuum.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
