Orion's Arm - Encyclopedia Galactica

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Ships

Technology > Application > Transportation > Ships

Image from Copyright Kevin Williams

Without interstellar ships there could be no galactic civilization. Information transfer through light-speed links and nanoguage wormhole alone are not enough to bind the Civilized Galaxy together; physical transport by spaceship is also necessary. The type of ship design, function, and drive of interstellar transports have varied greatly throughout history and among the different polities, clades, cultures, and societies, but all have served a vital purpose. Nothing symbolizes Terragen civilization as perfectly as the Ship.

Sub-Topics

Classic Ships

Articles

Cargo Ships - Text by Steve Bowers and Damon Court
Freighter spacecraft
Chillers - Text by John B
Chillers are a family of technologies used to reduce ship temperature (and, hence, IR radiation) to the background level.
Civilization Ship - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A massive ship holding vast amounts of data; originally designed as a protection against the collapse of civilisation.
Colony Ships - Text by Steve Bowers
Creihtership - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, modified from original concept by Kevin Self
Slang term for Vedokiklek interstellar sub-relativistic (rarely relativistic) freighters (Klhkkteskkdv in the Vedokiklek language.
Dreadnought (ship) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A Capital Ship of the largest scale (term now rarely used).
Explorer Class - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Long range, rugged and reliable self-repairing amat-powered exploration vessel used during the First Federation period. Some remained in service as late as the Empires age, and even today Explorer Class vessels little different from the original design are popular among many minor and independent clades, especially in the outer volumes.
Generation ship - Text by Steve Bowers
Huge, slow, self-contained interstellar ships taking more than one lifetime to arrive
Grapeships - Text by Anders Sandberg
Grapeships are the most common wormhole nexus passenger and cargo liners in the Inner Sphere and along the main wormhole routes. The ship consists of a "stem" onto which bulbous shuttles are attached (giving them their name due to their similarity to grape bunches).
Gravity Tug - Text by Steve Bowers
Interstellar Singleship - Text by ROM 65536
A small, light duty interstellar craft that can be operated for long periods of time by a single individual.
Museum Ship - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Peripatetic curatorial sentient ships acquiring collections of objects, arranged along scientific or aesthetic lines, late Expansion period to present.
Muuh ice ship - Text by Steve Bowers
An interstellar spacecraft created by the Muuh from an icy object such as a comet.
Pacman Miner - Text by James Ramsay and Steve Bowers
Asteroid Mining Ships.
Propulsion Performance Statistics - Text by Mauk Mcamuk and Chris Shaeffer
Statistics for various kinds of Propulsion Technology used in the Orion Arm
Seedship - Text by Steve Bowers
Interstellar vessel carrying embryos, gametes or digitised DNA in order to raise humans or other modosophonts on arrival using robotic parents
Sensors for use in Space Combat and Defence - Text by Steve Bowers
Active and Passive sensors for space warfare and defence
Ship Design: Shielding - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Mauk Mcamuk and Chris Shaeffer
Protection against radiation and particle collision during interstellar flight
Ship Style and Decoration - Text by M Alan Kazlev and Anders Sandberg, additions by Steve Bowers
Among the different interstellar empires and colonies, ship design and outer decoration varies widely.
Solar Moth - Text by Steve Bowers
Solar Thermal Rockets use sunlight to heat propellant.
Worldship - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Huge nomadic interstellar ship, typically moving at 0.01 to 0.1 c, where relativistic effects are unimportant.