One of the things I noticed about the Arrow...yes, it's huge, it's heavy, and in Earth Gravity, it rather sucks trying to move. You have to cheat it and hack it. But what if you didn't have to? The UCGO Arrow-class freighter has some potent main engines. They are pointed the wrong way...and the Arrow is not built with atmospheric control surfaces.
I have accidentally de-orbited the Arrow over Venus, (experimented with a relativistic booster MFD and stopped too close to re-establish orbit) managed to stabilize intra-atmospherically and push the vessel back out of atmosphere. Given the right alignment I think she has enough oomph to get to orbit. What she needs is a booster system.
The challenge...create a booster assembly for the Arrow-class transport so that it can get off the ground at Canaveral and reach orbit. You cannot change the physics of the ship, but you can create a launch cradle or rampway, or add hardpoints to attach boosters. The ship must sustain two crewmen with at least one week's worth of oxygen, plus enough fuel to make and stabilize orbit, after which the decision can be made to resupply the ship in Earth orbit or divert to a lunar base.
The end result flight must be presented in a playback with a quality on par with that of "DG to the moon," including explanation of maneuvers as though you were trying to explain this to a complete novice.
I have accidentally de-orbited the Arrow over Venus, (experimented with a relativistic booster MFD and stopped too close to re-establish orbit) managed to stabilize intra-atmospherically and push the vessel back out of atmosphere. Given the right alignment I think she has enough oomph to get to orbit. What she needs is a booster system.
The challenge...create a booster assembly for the Arrow-class transport so that it can get off the ground at Canaveral and reach orbit. You cannot change the physics of the ship, but you can create a launch cradle or rampway, or add hardpoints to attach boosters. The ship must sustain two crewmen with at least one week's worth of oxygen, plus enough fuel to make and stabilize orbit, after which the decision can be made to resupply the ship in Earth orbit or divert to a lunar base.
The end result flight must be presented in a playback with a quality on par with that of "DG to the moon," including explanation of maneuvers as though you were trying to explain this to a complete novice.
