This particular idea was inspired by JFerio's find of the SciFi Airshow. It's also very, very preliminary. Lots of C&C requested. --Mal
{{Shipbox
|shipname = Airbus A510 ''Starclipper''
|shipimage = A510.jpg
|caption =
|hull = Custom design based on the ''Orion III'' spacecraft from 2001: a space odyssey
|length = 64.94 m (213 ft)
|width = 33.22 m (109 ft) (wingspan)
|height = 15.54 m (51 ft) (height on gear)
|mass = 128,000 kg (282,192 lbs)
|drivetype = Hybrid
|driverating = Peak velocity 0.02c
|weapons = none standard o
|manufacturer = Airbus / $somefencompany_notoneoftheusualsuspects
|owner = varies[ref]Major Mundane owners include British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa and Air France. Fen owners include [[Stellvia Corporation|Stellvia Trading], [[Hermes Universal Deliveries] and [[Orbital Air].[/ref]
|flag = variable depending on owner
|faction = variable depending on owner
|registry = variable depending on owner
|datelaunched = $foo $201(0+n
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
M Fnord Wrote:|manufacturer = Airbus / $somefencompany_notoneoftheusualsuspects
|owner = varies[ref]Major Mundane owners include British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa and Air France. Fen owners include [[Stellvia Corporation|Stellvia Trading], [[Hermes Universal Deliveries] and [[Orbital Air].[/ref]
I must ask that Swiss International Air Lines AG be involved somewhere in this. After all, they've got
http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=2138_Swissair]a spaceport in the Main Belt - they really should have at least a small fleet of ships that can get there and back.
(More comments later; must head out now.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
M Fnord Wrote:This particular idea was inspired by JFerio's find of the SciFi Airshow. It's also very, very preliminary. Lots of C&C requested. --Mal
The '''Airbus A510''' (also known as the '''Starclipper''') is the first mass-produced passenger and freight aerospace craft in Fenspace. It also holds the distinction of being the only vehicle in Fenspace co-built with Mundane corporations.
s/only/first
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
ECSNorway Wrote:M Fnord Wrote:This particular idea was inspired by JFerio's find of the SciFi Airshow. It's also very, very preliminary. Lots of C&C requested. --Mal
The '''Airbus A510''' (also known as the '''Starclipper''') is the first mass-produced passenger and freight aerospace craft in Fenspace. It also holds the distinction of being the only vehicle in Fenspace co-built with Mundane corporations.
s/only/first
s/vehicle/mass-produced vehicle/
(The
Epsilon Blade does have a fair bit of EADS Astrum tech in it, after all.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The FenWikiPedia Edit Wars start BEFORE THE TOPIC IS EVEN POSTED.
We are PROGRESSIVE Fen!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
I'm not sure whether Stellvia Trading would have very many of these, if any. The Artemis Foundation, OTOH, likely has at least a half-dozen (only two of which are refit as cargo carriers / probe droppers).
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I can see the Roughriders using these space planes as personel and cargo transport in a more civilised climate - ie: from one well-established base/port to another. Meanwhile they still use their C-130's to do the 'dirty work' of dropping into the hot zones or areas where the term 'airfield' is only charitably applied.
Of course, the Roughriders would make a few modifications to the engines in order to bump the overall speed factor to 0.03 or 0.035.
I can just hear the pirates now...
"Don't bother with that one."
"Why?"
"Registry number's Roughriders."
"What, afraid of reprisal?"
"No. They mod their engines. Faster than the baseline models
and they're always armed. Rhodes doesn't screw around."
As for the Fen group responsible... Why not some NASA Fen? I'd say there's enough of them around to constitute a small faction, and with enough talented aerospace engineers to cook up something like this. They would have close ties to the Trekkers because of their whole bent on exploration, and would have kindred spirits among the VVS and Roughriders. Hell, there might even be a few NASA personnel that crossed over into this faction because it was either stay at NASA or go to work for TSAB.
Thier main base would be a sizeable rock out in the Main Belt, with satelite posts just about everywhere. They would do contract work for all the major 'Dane space agencies and have their lifting done by the Solomon Space Agency.
Most ships and installations are named for same of 'Dane origin, such as the post on Mercury that monitors solar activity which is called Skylab, and the Venusian Atmospheric Labrotory which is called
Beagle.
... And any more details and I think we'll have enough for a small fenwiki page. (^_^
Honestly I don't really want an American connection to this group, because the original Orion III was a Clarke/Kubrick joint and it just feels *wrong* to de-Brit that[1]. I originally wanted a British aerospace company to be the 'Danelaw partner, but a search reveals that all the British companies either were absorbed into Airbus or BAC Systems, and BAC only does military hardware.
Besides, all of the Usual Suspects have American origins.
[1] Yes, I know Kubrick was an American, but he did all his best stuff out of Pinewood anyway, so.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
You could always have some British aerospace fen buy the rights to one of the old British aircraft company names from whomever owns it at the moment and restart the company if you want to use a classic name. Or I may be completely misinterpreting you.
But I'm glad something like this is getting made. I'm looking at the Orion[0] on the sci-fi airshow page, and it is such a photogenic design.
[0] On a completely off topic note, Rob, has anyone approached Kohran for help building the other (in)famous Orion?
--
I like that. I like it so much I think I'll steal it.
-- Joe Thompson
Quote:Or I may be completely misinterpreting you.
A little, but only a little. When I first blocked out the history I wanted a famous British aerospace company like Supermarine or Hawker-Siddley, something that'd fallen into hard times but was brought back from the brink with a little help from Fenspace. The guys on the 'Danelaw side would be, well, mundanes, that being sort of the point of the project.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Quote:[0] On a completely off topic note, Rob, has anyone approached Kohran for help building the other (in)famous Orion?
Folks have tried, but she told them to come back after they found enough uranium to build a bomb. So far, nobody's come back. Strange, that...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012