And... if one isn't engaged in legit stuff, if you have a chameleon tarp, you could come in quiet, land, and throw the tarp over and go about your business. Still smaller than a small freighter or Scout and atmospherically streamlined.

Not sure what it would take to put stealth coatings and maybe some jamming/countermeasures aboard, but this might actually not be a bad design for a small covert ops deployment shuttle. If you can drop in 4-8 standing room only (hooked to attachment points so they don't bang around) or tight folding jump seats, you could drop in a covert team (or even a small fast reaction force of marines or corporate security). In this case, you might reduce duration as it may only ever be used to run orbit to ground and back and get some flare dispensers, opticam/antiradar coating, etc for this purpose.

Could also be used in that sort of configuration (minus the stealth) to take customs boarding parties from the system guard onto vessels to be searched. You don't necessarily need a 50 ton pinnace for this. The local station or orbital hab might house a number of these to send out customs teams.

It could also be useful for a quick extraction for medical reasons where larger streamlined vessels might not suit. Could be part of a med ship complement of auxiliaries.

On Mon, Sep 21, 2020 at 8:44 AM <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
Further to Jeffrey's thought:

If you have this as a gig/auxiliary of a spaceship like a type S and you have even some rudimentary remote control/data feeds, you can have radar on your small craft and if your scout ship has a decent EMS array, you can probably remotely pickup the data via comms for quite a distance. Not as nice as having EMS onboard, but useful for jaunts with a cheaper base cost. Throw on a chameleon coating on the hull or a chameleon tarp that can be put over it, such a gig could let Scouts land on some primitive planets and then conceal the little gig (smaller than the Type-S) and do some planetary scouting. It could also be useful for getting close to, or onto, asteroids for mineral assays for the Belter version of the Scout (or a larger 150 or 200 ton Belting ship).

TomB

On Mon, Sep 21, 2020 at 8:23 AM Jeffrey Schwartz <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
I like this, it looks like a useful thing

Questions -
What's it look like if you pull the EMS active and just put in radar?
I'm wondering if the price drops enough that it'd be a meaningful
replacement for the air/raft in a Type-S?
What's it look like as a ground-to-orbit taxi for a populated world
where you can rely on traffic control?

On Sat, Sep 19, 2020 at 6:45 PM <xxxxxx@quibell.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Robert Dean did a 4 tone mini launch @ TL15 which I came across (again) the other day, and such a craft would work well in one of the systems in MTU whose primary is an asteroid belt. However MTU is TL10, and the system in question is TL9 upgrading to TL10 so I took the idea and produced the following:
>
>
>
> Longsa Class Small Launch
>
> Designed by Ewan Quibell 2020-09-19
>
> Updated 2020-09-19
>
>
>
> CraftID:
>
> Launch, Type QL, TL9, Cr5,067,475
>
> Hull:
>
> 4/6, Disp=4, Config=4USL, Armour=40D,
>
> Unloaded=84.605 tons, Loaded=96.721 tons
>
> Power:
>
> 1/2, Fusion=40Mw, Duration=10/30
>
> Loco:
>
> 1/2, Manoeuvre=1, Agility=2
>
> Comm:
>
> Radio=Far Orbit x2
>
> Sensors:
>
> AW Radar=FarOrbit, Radar Direction Finder, Radio Direction Finder, Light Amplification, Radiation Sensor=V Distant, Magnetic Sensor=V Distant, Headlight x2
>
> ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout, PasEngScan=Diff
>
> Off:
>
> Hardpoints=1
>
> Def:
>
> DefDM=+4
>
> Control:
>
> Computer=0/bis x3, Special=HeadsUp display,
>
> Environ=basic env, basic ls, extend ls, Airlock
>
> Accom:
>
> Crew=2 (Pilot=1, Commander=1) Seats=adequate x8
>
> Other:
>
> Cargo=4.915 kliters, Fuel=7.2 kliters ObjSize=Small
>
> EmLevel=Faint
>
> Comment:
>
> Construction Time=24 weeks single, 20 weeks multiple
>
> Excess Power=34.03Mw
>
> Cost in Quantity=Cr4,053,979
>
>
>
> The Longsa class small launch is a design by Langria Shipyards of Boogerian that fits into a standard 4 ton vehicle bay, such as the vehicle bays usually specified in Boogerian 50 ton space habitats, or the Sanchomi Class Scout where it can be carried as an auxiliary craft. While no longer produced there are thousands of these vessels throughout the Boogerian system.
>
>                 Intended as relatively low-cost space travel it allows the residents of Boogerian to situate their habitats almost anywhere in system and still be able to commute to work or school if needed. It has a standard modular frame fitting so can be carried by a modular ship or boat as needed, as well as connect to standard space habitat to be able to provide propulsion to the habitat as may be needed.
>
>                 The main cost of the launch is the powerplant which at TL9 is the smallest that can built that over powers the craft considerably and provides it’s agility. Skilful engineers have been able to regulate the power supply into providing only the needed electricity for the launch that effectively extends the duration to 67 days, and reduces the launches’ agility to 0.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Ewan
>
>
>
> --
>
> For the fallen in the cause of the free:
>
> "When I go home I will tell of them and say,
>
> For our tomorrow, They gave their today."
>
>  My spelling is entirerly due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic license
>
>
>
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