Thinking on this... Peaceful uses of Military technology
Bloodhound sensor drones
1The idea was to enable any spacecraft built with GJ standard missile racks to be quickly convertible for search and rescue. Each Bloodhound consists of a standard RedBird missile casing with the warhead removed, and replaced with a tri-spectral sensor system. The standard guidance computer is retained, while the telemetry downlink bandwidth is increased to accomodate the sensor data. The existing missile engine is replaced with a slower-burning motor, trading initial acceleration for endurance. (Being light, and speed drive equipped however, means they are by no means slow)
Bloodhounds are designed to be volley fired, with an entire spacecraft's compliment being unleashed at once. They are then guided by the spacecraft's own missile guidance system along a search pattern. Raw sensor data is relayed from the individual Bloodhound along with the drone's estimated position and identifier tag back to the motership, where it is processed by the onboard computers and used to generate a sensor map of the surrounding space. The sensor operator can then determine which objects on the map are of interest or not (Or another computer system).
20 Bloodhounds are easily capable of thoroughly searching a 1-light-minute radius within a reasonable amount of time. Once a target has been found the drone can be set to act as a marker beacon, guiding rescue units onto the target
Bloodhounds are intended to be disposeable. They're fired once and then left behind. The components onboard are only guaranteed to operate for an hour after the initial launch though in general can be expected to last a little longer. The first Bloodhounds were, in fact, built using QC-reject parts from existing military systems, taken from batches which failed lifespan testing, before custom demilitarised components became available.
Bloodhounds are inferior to almost any dedicated sensor drone. They have limited range, surviveability and endurance, and have no onboard intelligent circuits or data analysis capability. They are also cheap enough to be bought and sold by the dozen, so cheap that recovering dead Bloodhounds is generally not economically viable, and simple enough to build using off-the-shelf parts that they can be manufactured almost anywhere by anyone. The plans are released under a GFDL license by the original designer (***WHITENOISE***). A number of modifications and refits of the basic Bloodhound exist, including a boosted endurance version which mounts a pair of solar PV panels to augment the onboard power supply, and any number of dedicated sensor types. An automated camera variant has found a niche providing coverage to asteroid races.
A larger version, the St. Bernard, launched from an anti-shipping missile tube, can also transport some emergency supplies to the stricken vessel it locates
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That, and the difference between a Railgun and a Mass Driver is the intent of the builder.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Bloodhound sensor drones
1The idea was to enable any spacecraft built with GJ standard missile racks to be quickly convertible for search and rescue. Each Bloodhound consists of a standard RedBird missile casing with the warhead removed, and replaced with a tri-spectral sensor system. The standard guidance computer is retained, while the telemetry downlink bandwidth is increased to accomodate the sensor data. The existing missile engine is replaced with a slower-burning motor, trading initial acceleration for endurance. (Being light, and speed drive equipped however, means they are by no means slow)
Bloodhounds are designed to be volley fired, with an entire spacecraft's compliment being unleashed at once. They are then guided by the spacecraft's own missile guidance system along a search pattern. Raw sensor data is relayed from the individual Bloodhound along with the drone's estimated position and identifier tag back to the motership, where it is processed by the onboard computers and used to generate a sensor map of the surrounding space. The sensor operator can then determine which objects on the map are of interest or not (Or another computer system).
20 Bloodhounds are easily capable of thoroughly searching a 1-light-minute radius within a reasonable amount of time. Once a target has been found the drone can be set to act as a marker beacon, guiding rescue units onto the target
Bloodhounds are intended to be disposeable. They're fired once and then left behind. The components onboard are only guaranteed to operate for an hour after the initial launch though in general can be expected to last a little longer. The first Bloodhounds were, in fact, built using QC-reject parts from existing military systems, taken from batches which failed lifespan testing, before custom demilitarised components became available.
Bloodhounds are inferior to almost any dedicated sensor drone. They have limited range, surviveability and endurance, and have no onboard intelligent circuits or data analysis capability. They are also cheap enough to be bought and sold by the dozen, so cheap that recovering dead Bloodhounds is generally not economically viable, and simple enough to build using off-the-shelf parts that they can be manufactured almost anywhere by anyone. The plans are released under a GFDL license by the original designer (***WHITENOISE***). A number of modifications and refits of the basic Bloodhound exist, including a boosted endurance version which mounts a pair of solar PV panels to augment the onboard power supply, and any number of dedicated sensor types. An automated camera variant has found a niche providing coverage to asteroid races.
A larger version, the St. Bernard, launched from an anti-shipping missile tube, can also transport some emergency supplies to the stricken vessel it locates
----------
That, and the difference between a Railgun and a Mass Driver is the intent of the builder.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?