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Systems Integration - Pass02
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Thanks to work by the astronomy and sensors teams, we appear to be able to move forward with a forward facing radio telescope/long range navigational array, and a second integration pass on that system has been scheduled to pick up currently understood shortcomings of what had been, until Zoe the team working on the ATCA array came to the fore, considered something of a throwaway option.

While that discussion was underway though, integration of exterior systems into the design has been continuing, namely for the boat bay and propulsion array:

Concept sketches including boat bay and drive array (click for larger)

Boat Bay

The boat bay is currently positioned in the vessel’s belly, below the armoured citadel. It is currently envisaged large enough to house 2no. boats/shuttles, and also forms the main exterior access into the vessel for oversize freight, provisions, etc.

As it thus gives direct access into the magazine, engineering and storage spaces, some thought will need to be given to the defence and armoured protection of the area, both from external fire, and potential boarders.

Pressurised boarding tubes are provided to access the ship’s boats whilst the bay is open, but the exterior doors will require to be closed to pressurise the bay for maintenance or unloading of oversize from the boats themselves.

NOTE: The displayed shuttle is for illustration purposes only as this design has yet to be determined.

Drive Array

It should be noted at this point that the final configuration of the vessel’s drives is still under development. In light of this, and anticipating ongoing development of drive technologies post commissioning/the need for maintenance, the drive cowling has been designed to contain multiple drives and configurations. As such, it provides protection for these components, whilst also forming support of service runs (fuel lines, coolant, power, control and data) and other systems associated with propulsion, including thrust vectoring capabilities (if available), and the thrust reversal setup.