On 6/22/2021 8:54 AM, Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk (via
tml list) wrote:
> Quick question from a tactical and strategic ignoramus, but one of my players is
> wont to point out that Traveller tech makes putting satellites around even a low
> tech world would be very cheap and easy.  The kind of thing that even a Free
> Trader could be employed to do pretty simply.  Even if the world itself couldn't
> maintain the set up without help.  Given that, would the sensor unit or the
> command node (or both) be better placed in orbit?
>

	Using the GURPS rules I designed and wrote up a system just like this. In a
Standard size missile I put a computer, a solar / battery array, a micro
thruster (for station keeping), a digital radio capable of reaching the planet
surface, a trio of laser comm (for maintaining a network between the
satellites), a GPS transmitter, and a planetary or space sensor. A collection of
50 cost MCr12.3, not including deployment.

	From this you get a full planetary cellular communication network, weather
prediction, a set of space sensors and communications (Class C port capable).
With minimal maintenance the system will last basically forever.

In the TL1 equivalent credits, the system costs almost 2.5 billion credits. But
having a person who leaves the planet, acquiring what amount to a down payment
on a ship is certainly within reach.