Long Range Survey Vessel Pournelle

See also: Ship Areas.

The LRSV Pournelle is the ninth deep space exploration ship built in the Clarke class. The basic structure is a central grid work skeleton with the drives on one end, the habitat and cargo on the other and fuel in between. The main power plant is an aneutronic fusion design, specifically muon catalyze MIGMA using He3 for fuel. High energy neutron emissions are only about 1% of typical terrestrial deuterium-tritium reactors. Even so, the reactor is located approximately 800 meters aft of the main habitat ring to maintain transient neuron emssions as low as possible for crew safety

Drives are detailed in "getting around in space"

Forward of the main drives and reactors, and mounted on the central superstructure of the ship are the main propellant tanks and the radiators for emitting thermal radiation into space. Next is the main habitat assembly and cargo bay this is a large cylindrical area that encloses cargo, hangerage and microgravity crew areas. The main crew areas are located in the centrifuge ring which revolves around the habitat section and provides a simulation of near earth gravity.

On the forward edge of the habitat is the control deck and the main sensor arrays. All the controls and other essential systems of the Pournelle are designed from modular components that are easy to service in the field. For this reason, the cockpit and other areas of the ship have a decidedly 'retro' appearance.

The main sensors are comprised of both active and passive systems including multi-band phased-array radar. Specific spectrum cameras and several planetary and stellar optical telescopes. The ship also has a high powered laser mounted in the nose, primarily as a defense from random objects that pose a collision risk. Various launch bays are located are located in the cargo section, and contain survey satellites and 'special ordnance' that can be launched on demand.

All areas of the habitat module are under microgavity with the exception of the centrifuge. The centrifuge contains the flight crews quarters, living area, laboratories, hydroponics and service areas. The hydroponics area provides a small 'terrestrial' environment, fresh food and houses the algae based atmosphere processing plant.

Microgravity areas include the cargo bay, hangerage, environmental support areas and the 'cold' crew storage.

The hangerage contains vehicles to be used for planetary exploration and the two landers that are used for shuttling between the Pournelle and the planet.