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Description

This unmanned spacecraft is of a fairly typical type that has seen use since the late 21st century with only minor modifications. Interplanetary Metal Delivery Vehicles are simple almond shaped craft assembled by orbital mining stations usually out of steel or ceramic with a heat resistant ceramic underlayer and packed with metal ingots (generally fairly common ones) secured down. Once completed and inspected, a pair of spacecraft latches onto it and accelerates it along a ballistic course to a habitable planet at comparitively low speeds. Since it's course can be accurately calculated beforehand, it's RCS systems are there only in case of emergencies and to make small corrections. Once there it skims the edge of it's atmosphere in several elliptical orbits, loosing Delta V as it does so before making it's final entry to the atmosphere, aerobreaking away it's remaining Delta V before making a splashdown in a designated oceanic region, skidding to a halt on the planet's surface. Once that has been done, the craft has completed it's mobile existence and simply floats along, taking in some of the local atmosphere to equalize pressure inside and out. Floating along in the ocean, the craft is collected by tugboats which pull it to an industrial port. The craft is then unloaded of it's cargo and usually is broken down shortly afterwards for scrap, though it is not unknown for IMDV hulls to be stripped of their wings and used as large scale pontoons in various marine engineering projects, be modified into oceanic vessels after extreme refit, be used as low cost housing or other such purposes.

The system was first devised once mining in the Asteroid Belt had begun as a way to cheaply deliver packages to Earth and proved to be quite successful in that role. Similarly once extrasolar colonization got under way the basic system soon found use in a variety of other systems as populations grew and offworld mining became an increasingly important part of of the economy. Given their slow speed, lack of any weapons and bare bones maneuvering systems IMDVs are vulnerable to interception by pirates , but given that their cargo is generally of low value per kilogram only the most desperate raider crews will go after them. That said in the last 100 years with the advent of gravitics systems the use of IMDVs has declined in many of the more developed systems due to environmental concerns. Simply put having dozens of large objects arerobreaking and landing into the ocean every day generates a lot of waste heat, especially when compared to having an antigravic equipped shuttle going up and down from a planet's at low speeding ferrying down ingots from orbital facilities. Never the less IMDVs are still used on less developed worlds which lack the infrastructure to produce gravitic systems and where the demands for raw materials are not so ravenous these simple delivery systems still have a place. Among the biggest users of these is Jade who's planetside operations have grown by a considerable margin and has up until recently lacked any gravitic systems.

Description

This unmanned spacecraft is of a fairly typical type that has seen use since the late 21st century with only minor modifications. Interplanetary Metal Delivery Vehicles are simple almond shaped craft assembled by orbital mining stations usually out of steel or ceramic with a heat resistant ceramic underlayer and packed with metal ingots (generally fairly common ones) secured down. Once completed and inspected, a pair of spacecraft latches onto it and accelerates it along a ballistic course to a habitable planet at comparitively low speeds. Since it's course can be accurately calculated beforehand, it's RCS systems are there only in case of emergencies and to make small corrections. Once there it skims the edge of it's atmosphere in several elliptical orbits, loosing Delta V as it does so before making it's final entry to the atmosphere, aerobreaking away it's remaining Delta V before making a splashdown in a designated oceanic region, skidding to a halt on the planet's surface. Once that has been done, the craft has completed it's mobile existence and simply floats along, taking in some of the local atmosphere to equalize pressure inside and out. Floating along in the ocean, the craft is collected by tugboats which pull it to an industrial port. The craft is then unloaded of it's cargo and usually is broken down shortly afterwards for scrap, though it is not unknown for IMDV hulls to be stripped of their wings and used as large scale pontoons in various marine engineering projects, be modified into oceanic vessels after extreme refit, be used as low cost housing or other such purposes.

The system was first devised once mining in the Asteroid Belt had begun as a way to cheaply deliver packages to Earth and proved to be quite successful in that role. Similarly once extrasolar colonization got under way the basic system soon found use in a variety of other systems as populations grew and offworld mining became an increasingly important part of of the economy. Given their slow speed, lack of any weapons and bare bones maneuvering systems IMDVs are vulnerable to interception by pirates , but given that their cargo is generally of low value per kilogram only the most desperate raider crews will go after them. That said in the last 100 years with the advent of gravitics systems the use of IMDVs has declined in many of the more developed systems due to environmental concerns. Simply put having dozens of large objects arerobreaking and landing into the ocean every day generates a lot of waste heat, especially when compared to having an antigravic equipped shuttle going up and down from a planet's at low speeding ferrying down ingots from orbital facilities. Never the less IMDVs are still used on less developed worlds which lack the infrastructure to produce gravitic systems and where the demands for raw materials are not so ravenous these simple delivery systems still have a place. Among the biggest users of these is Jade who's planetside operations have grown by a considerable margin and has up until recently lacked any gravitic systems.