This article is a stub.
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| SDCN Emissary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Registry | HCR-146 | |
| Class | Ambassador-class | |
| Ship Type | Expeditionary scientific heavy cruiser | |
| Affiliation | Sol Defence Corps | |
| Commissioning date | 2113 | |
| Status | Active | |
| Crew complement | 60 | |
The SDCN Emissary (registry HCR-146) is an Ambassador-class heavy cruiser in service with the Sol Defence Corps as the flagship of the Final Frontier Project.
Constructed in partnership with the AXIOM Corporation and numerous other sponsors as part of the United Nations Final Frontier Project, the Emissary is outfitted with the cutting-edge of UN and corporate spacecraft technology. Designed for science expeditions lasting from many months to many years, the ship is designed for long-term habitation without shore leave, and as such is built to a luxurious standard to support the crew on expedition. The cruiser boasts incredible amenities for a naval vessel, including a gymnasium, a swimming pool, two bars, a lounge, and a library.
The Emissary, one of the core vessels of the FFP, is far from a cruise ship, however — the ship is equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities, sensor suites, the most advanced FTL drive and lumicom arrays in known service, and all the equipment necessary to establish both robotic and manned scientific and military outposts. Additionally loaded with a large quantity of defensive armaments and armour, the Emissary is extremely heavy compared to other SDCN cruisers, yet capable and versatile. As of 2116, the Emissary is deployed to Avalon as part of an extended research mission to survey its anomalies and chart its surface.
History
For over five years, the Escapade-class of ships, the first being the SDCX Escapade, were at the forefront of the Final Frontier Project's interstellar exploration mission. However, the ships proved to be lacking in available space, and their system-standard components were often stressed and damaged by warp travel, eventually resulting in the in-FTL loss of the SDCX Eclipse with all 25 personnel aboard in 2108. As a result of the Eclipse disaster, the Escapade-class would be retired shortly afterwards, with the FFP planning a series of more long-duration, resilient, and capable expedition vessels to succeed them — the New Voyagers.
In the New Voyager Program, the SDC, along with its corporate partners in the Project, planned three highly publicized classes of specialized, warp-specialized spacecraft for interstellar exploration: the Polaris-class science frigates (the Escapade's direct successor), the Odysseus-class expeditionary support carriers, and the Ambassador-class expeditionary heavy cruisers. The Ambassador-class ships, long-range, highly independent science vessels at the forefront of the FFP's first contact and first survey missions, were the centerpiece of the New Voyager Program. Four Ambassador-class vessels were ordered, to be built in sets of two: HCR-145 Ambassador, HCR-146 Emissary, HCR-147 Envoy, and HCR-148 Consul. The Frontier Exploration Squadron, the ad hoc command structure built within the Poseidon Fleet for the Escapade-class, was transformed into the research-focused, interstellar Odysseus Fleet to accommodate this massive expansion in FFP manpower.
In exchange for priority access to FFP scientific and research releases, a group of corporate sponsors including the AXIOM Corporation, Gansai Industries, and several other smaller companies agreed to fund a large portion of the Ambassador-class' construction work and to provide proprietary technologies. AXIOM's own shipyard, Stratford Shipyards, was contracted to build the Ambassador and Emissary — partly with AXIOM funds, a decision that inflamed anti-corporate tensions then and continues to do so today. Construction of the first half of the new cruiser class was completed in 2111 and, following a wide range of spaceworthiness tests and bureaucratic delays, both were commissioned in December 2112. Ambassador was commissioned four days after Emissary, the latter being brought into service on December 25 and Ambassador on December 29.
Layout
The Emissary is divided into five decks from 0-4, connected by a series of staircases and maintenance tunnels.
| Cargo Bay | ||
| Shuttlebay (Zephyr) ∙ Reactor | ||
| Briefing ∙ Commissary ∙ Library ∙ Hydroponics ∙ Brig (Armory) ∙ Gym ∙ Crew Quarters ∙ Computer Core ∙ Reactor ∙ Robotics | ||
| Lounge ∙ Medbay ∙ Laboratory ∙ Rec Room ∙ Mess Hall ∙ Service Room ∙ Main Engineering | ||
| Bridge ∙ Captain's Quarters (Captain's Office) ∙ Officer Staterooms ∙ First Officer's Quarters ∙ Senior Enlisted Advisor's Quarters ∙ Officer's Lounge ∙ Officer's Mess ∙ Meeting Room ∙ Combat Information Center | ||
Technology
Power Plant and Propulsion
Main article: Emissary/Reactor
The Emissary is powered at its core by a magnetized target fusion (MTF) reactor producing up to 1.6 terawatts of energy, an output capable of powering over 140 million homes. During transit, the reactor's exhaust products are funneled through magnetized piping and accelerated out the ship's three main engines. Both the reactor's output and the engine's configuration can be configured to either prioritize specific impulse (efficiency) or thrust power.
Deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel plasma is injected into the reactor, where powerful electromagnets rapidly compress the plasma into an extremely small volume about 50cm in diameter, drastically increasing its density and temperature. The plasma becomes dense enough and hot enough to undergo nuclear fusion, where a single reaction fuses one D and one T atom to produce an alpha particle (a helium-4 nucleus), a free neutron, and 17.6 mega-electronvolts as heat.
Of these exhaust products, free neutrons are captured by lithium orthosilicate alloy pellets to produce new tritium fuel, while the now-superheated helium plasma is magnetically funneled through a Hall effect disc generator, the IMC (inductive magnetic converter) array. The IMC forces the kinetic and thermal energy of the plasma against generated magnetic fields to produce electricity — up to 73% of generated energy can be captured using the IMC. While the main engine is in use, this ratio progressively decreases as engine efficiency increases, as the IMC is dialed down to allow more heat energy to escape through the ship's three magnetic engine nozzles, which are placed at the ends of the magnetic ducts.
The reactor is fuelled primarily by a mix of deuterium and tritium, with deuterium stored in large quantities onboard along with trace amounts of startup tritium — once active, the reactor generates its own tritium from free neutron impacts on lithium-6, while deuterium must be constantly refueled. Generally, 720 days' worth of deuterium fuel is carried aboard and resupplied during starport visits, while for longer-duration missions it may also be collected from stellar atmospheres by the Emissary's coronal ramscoop, or from planetary atmospheres/oceans/ice caps by remote probes.
Auxiliary Power Units
Auxiliary hydrogen fuel cells, acting as the auxiliary power units (APUs), can also be employed to convert hydrogen and oxygen into useable power, in the event that the reactor fails. These use electrolysis cells that convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing large amounts of electricity that can be used in the ship's grid.
Manoeuvre Propulsion
To achieve precision and/or low-duration manoeuvres, the Emissary uses an extensive reaction control system (RCS) thruster array, spread into quad blocks along the ship's hull to provide the most control efficiency and carefully controlled by either the Emissary's autopilot or fly-by-wire bridge commands. These conventional rocket thrusters are powered by a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen bipropellant; older than the more powerful and storable ethylene/nitrous oxide bipropellants commonly used in the Sol system, hydrolox is easier to synthesize from common ice found in space, and is still used on interstellar vessels.
FTL Drive
Main article: FTL
The Emissary is equipped with a Type-33 Alcubierre FTL drive. Under normal conditions, its maximum safe operating power is 250c (250 times lightspeed). While it can go up to this maximum without strain, it typically cruises between 100-200c to allow the reactor to power other important systems instead. The drive can be powered up for either interstellar travel, where it can go up to maximum speed, or in-system travel, where it is typically used at only 1-5c.
The FTL drive works by encasing the ship in a "warp field" that does not accelerate. Instead, the bubble contracts spacetime at the front of the ship while expanding spacetime behind it, moving the ship throughout space. The warp field is incapable of moving significant quantities of matter outside the ship and will collapse harmlessly if it attempts to do so, such as when the ship is in atmosphere or in close proximity to another object such as a ship or celestial body.
Gravity Generator
The Emissary's FTL drive can additionally act as a gravity generator, using exotic matter to produce a graviton field centred around the "lowermost" floor plating of the ship, known as the gravity plate. This field allows for matter inside the ship's carefully controlled sphere of influence (SOI) to be attracted to the gravity plate and be pulled "downward" relative to the ship's orientation.
Atmospherics & Life Support
The Emissary possesses a full closed-cycle life support system that can recycle the air, create water, and purge contaminants from both plumbing and the atmosphere.
Waste gases in the atmosphere are automatically collected by the recirculating ventilation system and pumped into a series of filters, which remove particulates and contaminant gases and, if the waste is unable to be broken down into useful materials, expels it into space. Air quality sensors in each room monitor the atmospheric composition of a room 100 times per second. In the event of a hull breach and sudden atmospheric escape, the system can react within a matter of microseconds to seal ventilation and shut bulkheads as necessary to contain damage.
Carbon Dioxide Recycling
Carbon dioxide in the air is filtered into a solid oxide electrolyser assembly, where it is heated up to 800°C and electrified, being broken down into carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2). The carbon monoxide is then further recycled: it is combined with hydrogen gas from the ship's fuel storage and then heated to 1000°C. It is then passed over several substrate layers in a filtration stage, where the hot carbon monoxide breaks down and deposits carbon molecules onto the substrates via chemical vapour deposition, forming graphene layers, while converting the CO gas into oxygen. These layers can be periodically extracted and cleaned by maintenance personnel, where the carbon can be used for manufacturing.
This system, more advanced than normal recycling systems in operational spacecraft, can make it so the ship's oxygen supply can be theoretically indefinite without need of replenishment from an external source.
Waste Purification
Wastewater generated in the ship is recycled using a multi-stage purification process. Solid waste is separated from the contaminated water, which is then distilled and treated through catalytic oxidation and ion exchange reactions before being passed through nanoparticle filters. The end result is almost pure water rated for drinking, which is pumped back into the ship's plumbing. The water is tested automatically by a series of sensors to ensure contamination has not occurred in the water supply, automatically shutting down the recycling system and switching the ship to reserve water tanks if pollutants are detected.
The solid waste from sewage, meanwhile, is pyrolyzed in a near-vacuum to produce biochar, a fertilizer which can be collected and used for plant food in hydroponics. In the event of a water shortage or leak, additional water can be chemically synthesized using the ship's onboard APUs to generate pure water from hydrogen and oxygen.
Weapons and Defences
The Emissary is principally a scientific research vessel, but like all other independently operating FFP ships, it is built with a vast array of armaments and defenses capable of engaging and neutralizing an opponent twice the Emissary's size. Loaded both with a massive weaponry loadout and the accompanying ammunition load for long-duration expeditions, the Emissary's mass lends it a substandard manoeuvrability and evasion profile — a shortcoming compensated for by the heavy cruiser's incredible firepower.
Hull and Shields
The Emissary's hull is composed of multiple layers of principally composite material, offering both structural integrity and combat defence. While inner layers provide logistical space, thermal insulation, and the ship's skeleton, the outer layers are designed to protect against high-velocity projectiles, greatly increasing in theoretical durability as incoming objects increase in energy, though with only some defensive capability against low-speed high-mass 'slugger' weapons and micrometeroids — a job for the ship's shields.
| Layer | Composition | Thickness | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Regenerative graphene mesh | 0.001mm | Conductor for shielding/ASD system, EMP protection |
| 1 | Cosmetic paint | 0-5mm | Cosmetic layer |
| 2 | Composite Whipple shielding | 50-70mm | Layered sheets of boron carbide/steel metal foam; hypervelocity impactor scattering layer |
| 3 | Kapton thermal blanket | 10-20mm | Thin sheets of spaced aluminized Kapton; vacuum thermal protection layer |
| 4 | Aluminium/steel metal foam | 140-200mm | Primary self-sloped kinetic and explosive armor layer |
| 5 | Kevlar | 30-50mm | Anti-spalling layer |
| 6 | Spall gap space | 20mm | Anti-spalling gap |
| 7 | Aluminum/steel metal foam | 80-100mm | Secondary kinetic and explosive armor layer |
| 8 | Kevlar | 30-50mm | Anti-spalling layer |
| 9 | Spall gap space | 20mm | Anti-spalling gap |
| 10 | Kapton thermal blanket | 10-20mm | Thin sheets of spaced aluminized Kapton; secondary vacuum thermal protection layer |
| 11 | External water tankage | 80-100mm | Nuclear neutron radiation shielding layer |
| 12 | Titanium skeleton | 50-80mm | Structural layer |
| 13 | Logistical space | 0-100mm | Maintenance access and unpressurized piping channels |
| 14 | Reinforced carbon-steel | 60mm | Inner pressure hull |
The cruiser is additionally protected by an SD/EJV-18 Active Shield Defence system, fitted in the ship's unpressurized rear sensor suite. The ASD is designed to deflect all types and sizes of kinetic projectiles, while also serving as a meteoroid and dust shield during travel. Focused on defending against low-velocity impactors that may weaken the ship's armor, the ASD's time-to-failure varies, rapidly decreasing as higher-velocity projectiles are deflected.
Against dust impactors, nearby explosions, and shrapnel, the ASD can protect the ship almost indefinitely, as long as power requirements are met — battleship-calibre AP railgun flechettes, on the other hand, will cleave clean through the ASD, only to be shattered and dispersed by the Emissary's anti-kinetic armor, though only once in a given section of Whipple shielding.
Weapons
The Emissary, as an independently-operating expedition ship, is outfitted with a massive quantity of weaponry and accompanying long-duration ammunition stockpiles to defend against threats ranging from orbital debris to larger equivalent-technology capital ships without friendly support. These weapons include multipurpose missiles, interceptors, point defense turrets, and hypervelocity railguns.
Point Defence Grid
Laser Point Defence
The Emissary's laser point defence grid is composed of 40 SD/EEQ-20 Laser Intercept System lens turrets, 20 on each side. These lens turrets are connected via mirrored internal ducts to two redundant hydrogen flouride chemical laser generators located deep within the ship's unpressurized side wings. The central generators, emitting in 3,800nm mid-infrared, can rapidly direct, split, and redirect their output to any of the ship's 40 LIS turrets depending on the density and location of available targets, directed either by an AI computer targeting system or by Gunnery control in sync with the kinetic grid.
Kinetic Point Defence
The Emissary's kinetic point defence grid is made up of 24 point defence turrets (PDTs), 16 on the cruiser's upper hull and 8 on its lower hull. The PDT grid, coordinated either by a AI computer system or by Gunnery control in sync with the laser grid, fires 35×228mm HE shells from double autocannons within each independently-targeting turret. With each turret capable of firing up to 2,400 rounds per minute, this incredible ammunition consumption is rapidly drawn from heavily armored central shell storages deep within the Emissary's unpressurized hull.
Missiles
The Emissary is equipped with twelve missile launchers mounted around the vessel. Eight are single-missile, slow-launch tubes that fire multipurpose missiles for long-distance engagements from two shared magazines, while the remaining four tubes are smaller, rapid-fire units that fire off interceptors or countermeasure units from internal magazines.
Mk11 Missile
The primary armament type of cruise missile aboard the Emissary is the Mk11 torpedo. It is a long-range, single-stage, anti-ship missile body designed for medium to long range engagements, with various switchable warheads carried aboard. As standard, the Mk11 uses AI target recognition to home in on a target using multi-spectrum heat, visual, and radar guidance. This multi-sensor guidance system can bypass a variety of electronic jammers, and is largely resistant (though not immune) to chaff/decoy countermeasures.
| Designation | Warhead | Effective (Maximum) Range (km) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mk11B 'Artemis' | High Explosive | 600 (1200) | High-explosive, base variant of the Mk11 that uses an 800kg plasma charge as its warhead. A useful all-rounder against targets less-armored targets and vulnerable systems on more powerful targets. |
| Mk11GB 'Hermes' | Barrage Sensor Jammer | Mk11 missile variant equipped with an advanced ECM suite in place of a warhead. When near an enemy, it floods radar and sensor frequencies with signals and saturates tracking equipment, reducing the efficacy of enemy electronics and allowing proper missiles to continue for longer before detection. | |
| Mk11D | Area Denial | Mk11 missile variant, command line-of-sight guided and loaded with thousands of nearly-invisible tiny tungsten shrapnel particles. Intended for area denial, a single Mk11D warhead can rapidly close a large swath of manoeuvring space to an opponent's ships and munitions, restricting possible escape, targeting, and evasion routes. | |
| Mk11E 'Zeus' | Electromagnetic Pulse | 750 (1400) | Mk11 missile loaded with an EMP warhead designed for equal parts offensive and ECM. Can disable the communications equipment or even power on less-protected ships and destroy military-grade sensor suites, rendering opponents blind and deaf to incoming weaponry. |
| Mk11K 'Erebus' | Armour-Piercing High Explosive | 850 (1500) | Armour-piercing variant of the Mk11 with a smaller explosive plasma payload packaged inside an AP flechette, meant to puncture through heavy armor and destroy internal components. Longer range than the B-variant, with a larger internal fuel and battery capacity. |
| Mk11L | Mass Slug | Pulsed release 'slugger' variant of the Mk11 designed to rapidly destroy exposed large areas of spaced armor and Whipple shielding with low-speed slugs, exposing vital components for targeting by AP and HE weaponry. Longer range than the B-variant with a larger internal fuel and battery capacity. | |
| Mk11IT | Anti-Cruise Interceptor | 500 (780) | High explosive plasma, proximity-fused Mk11 missile that uses command line-of-sight and heat signature tracking to hunt down and destroy high-speed cruise missiles. On detonation, a cloud of hazardous plasma rapidly expands outwards, disabling or destroying enemy munitions caught in the large blast radius without the need for direct contact. |
| Mk11NIT | Nuclear Interceptor | Defensive 10 kiloton nuclear warhead optimized to vaporize and project a shallow cone of tungsten plasma forward of the detonation point, destroying missile hulls and burning through sensors. Capable of mass kill of any quantity of incoming enemy munitions caught within the plasma cone. | |
| Mk11RSD | Probe Delivery | 1400 (1400) | Long-range, payload-less variant of the Mk11, using the missile body as a delivery vehicle for small satellites and probes, from military sensor probes to scientific landers. Integrated with the widespread civilian Rapid Small Delivery Rack (RASMAC) system for multiple probe deliveries in a single launch. |
CRM-2 Cruise Missile
Intended for longer-range or higher payload engagements, the CRM-2 is an anti-capital, multi-stage cruise missile with a built-in countermeasure suite and advanced manoeuvring abilities. Expensive to field, at over 100 million credits apiece, it is usually reserved for when the ship goes toe-to-toe with an equivalently armed ship; any smaller target is overkill.
CRM-2s are extremely devastating in combat, and only one can be said to render a capital ship inoperable. They consist of an initial high-duration low-speed "cruise" phase where the missile makes its way to a target. Upon entering countermeasure territory or running out of fuel, the first stage detaches to the second "kill vehicle" stage, utilizing a much more powerful engine to outmanoeuvre enemy defences. The kill vehicle stage can accelerate to over 12,000 m/s (approaching Mach 35), homing in on the target in a variety of programmable evasion patterns.
| Designation | Warhead | Effective (Maximum) Range (km) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM-250 'Bastion' | Armour-Piercing High Explosive | 3500 (5200) | Base variant of the Mk250, carrying a 2000kg plasma high explosive warhead encased inside a heavy, high-velocity AP flechette. |
| CRM-253 'Siege' | Mass Slug | Pulsed release 'slugger' variant of the Mk250, carrying a stack of extremely massive solid tungsten projectiles designed to obliterate exposed Whipple shielding and armor at low speeds, allowing for the destruction of vital components by other weapons. | |
| CRM-258 'Nova' | Thermonuclear | Yield-optimized thermonuclear warhead with an output of approximately 20 PJ (petajoules), or 4.8 megatons of TNT. |
ALMx Missile
The ALMx is a smaller missile body used primarily for defensive roles, primarily in countermeasures and as active point defence against enemy missiles or craft. They are designed to be cheap to manufacture, with next to no electronic suites of their own, and are primarily guided by command line-of-sight (CLOS) tracking. The Emissary's ALM launchers allow for salvos of these missiles to be fired off for multiple targets.
| Designation | Warhead | Effective (Maximum) Range (km) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALM203-Q | Chaff Decoy | 30 (60) | Missile variant that detonates into millions of particles of radar-reflective chaff, intended to disorient conventional radar tracking systems. |
| ALM188-IT | Interceptor | 200 (450) | High explosive proximity-fused missile designed to lock onto incoming missiles and take them out of action before they can strike the home ship. Fragments on detonation to increase the likelihood of damaging an incoming kill vehicle. |
| ALM211-R | Active Decoy | 800 (1200) | A long-range decoy missile fired in a random direction. When activated, it emits sensor signatures on several spectrums to fool enemy tracking systems into believing it is a large ship, distracting them from the real target. |
Railguns
The Emissary carries 8 heavy railguns and 8 light railguns; while the light railguns are mounted on full turrets, the heavy railguns' power restricts them to reinforced swivel-only mounts. Two heavy railguns are mounted to the ends of the Emissary's wings, while for others are mounted on the angled lower hull, and the last two are mounted to the sides of the forward pressurized section. The light railguns are mounted to the Emissary's wing roots, with four on the upper hull and four on the lower hull, split in half by side.
The eight heavy railguns each fire 300mm saboted flechettes, with a variety of ammunition types available — most commonly, these flechettes are hypervelocity armor-piercing tungsten rods, with the simple task of cleaving through enemy armor and punching holes in delicate internal systems. Other commonly used ammunition types include hypervelocity shrapnel capsules capable of shredding vulnerable systems, commonly termed 'beehive' flechettes, as well as highly durable, high-mass orbital bombardment rods. Sensitive to slight changes in trajectory, orbital bombardment flechettes are extremely inaccurate, and thus rarely used, in the absence of at least two separated guidance sensors from friendly probes or ships; nevertheless, their destructive power is undeniable in any scenario.
The eight light railguns each fire 80mm hypervelocity armor-piercing tungsten flechettes, and are restricted to this ammunition type. Thanks to their comparatively lower power, however, the Emissary's light railguns require much less frequent rail replacement and maintenance, may cycle and fire much more quickly, and are able to swivel on full turret mountings.
Both railgun sets are centrally linked to the Emissary's AI fire control suite, prioritizing target locks and calculating firing paths far faster than any human controller. In the event of damage to both the main and redundant fire control computers, targeting can be handed off to manual Gunnery operators based on either sensor pictures or simple visual targeting.
At extreme ranges, the Emissary's railguns can automatically switch to hydrogen barrel extension; by flash-ejecting a cloud of inert hydrogen gas in front of the magnetic barrel moments before the railgun fires, and then ionizing the hydrogen cloud with an extremely short high-energy laser pulse, a channel of magnetized hydrogen plasma is created in the laser's wake. This virtual hydrogen barrel can then be used as an extension to the physical rails, extending effective barrel length and effective range.
Electronic Warfare and Sensors
Electronic Countermeasure Suite
The Emissary's two redundant multifunction SD/ELQ-54 ECM suites are capable of outputting barrage jamming in multiple sensor types; one suite is mounted directly to the ship's prow, while the other is mounted in the upper stern. These multi-directional, AI-coordinated systems can overwhelm multiple enemy targeting and guidance systems, rendering targeting solutions on the Emissary difficult or effectively impossible.
The ECM's barrage radar jammer disrupts enemy radar tracking by broadcasting a constant stream of interfering radio signals, sweeping across all usable frequencies as quickly as to appear as a constant emitter across the entire possible frequency range. While massively expanding the cruiser's radar signature, and destroying any notion of stealth, the ship within the signature becomes nearly impossible to target through radar tracking.
A similar concept is used for the ECM's barrage LIDAR jammer — a phased-array infrared laser emitter, the LIDAR jammer can effectively create junk laser returns in enemy tracking systems at a variety of specific wavelengths, rendering high-precision LIDAR trackers and electro-optical trackers useless. Highly effective and widely used to throw off incoming munitions in advanced militaries, the SD/ELQ-54's LIDAR jammer is affectionately referred to as the 'disco ball' by SDC electronic warfare technicians.
The Emissary's ECM suite also includes a radio communications jammer, capable of both noise jamming — broadcasting enough same-frequency noise to render the intended enemy signal incomprehensible, and receiver jamming — impersonating the intended enemy receiver to send useless, looping junk returns to the enemy transmitter, preventing a secure communications handshake.
Heat signature decoys and offset radar decoys can be computer-coordinated with the Emissary's ECM suite to fire and deploy to optimal locations when necessary.
Tactical Sensors
The Emissary's active tactical sensors consist of an SD/EPY-20 AESA search radar, SD/EPY-26B AESA fire control radar, RANGIRS infrared search and track system, and SD/EEY-9 multifunction 905nm phased-array LIDAR (also used for navigation). Each system utilizes distributed, redundant sensors embedded in eight armoured antenna compartments arrayed across the Emissary's hull, providing full 3D sensor coverage across the cruiser's length, breadth, and height. These sensors, networked to a central AI-assisted computer program, provide a complete and constantly updated sensor picture, outlining vessels and munitions in addition to space objects, with a variety of tracking methods available to bypass an opponent's jamming efforts.
In addition to these active systems, an RA-NCSP AI-assisted sensor link pulls available sensor radar, LIDAR, infrared, and optical sensor data through encrypted radio/laser communications from all possible friendly vessels, missiles and probes, expanding the Emissary's theoretical sensor picture to nearly infinite ranges. The RA-NCSP system also performs passive ELINT duties, and can extrapolate the position of enemy sensors from incoming radar pulses and electromagnetic signals.
Scientific Sensors
Besides its military sensor packages, the Emissary is outfitted with a variety of civilian scientific sensor systems for its exploration and survey mission. Generally more fragile than the reinforced military sensors, some of these systems are typically stowed in an armoured sensor bay on the ship's underside hull, near the main reactor, and deployed only when actively in use.
Far-Field Telescope Array (FFTA)
A deployable rack of astronomical telescopes developed by civilian instrumentation company GweRu SE, the FFTA carries long-range infrared-optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and radio imagers, with the last utilizing a folding 25-meter antenna, chiefly optimized for the detection and cataloging of exoplanets. The infrared-optical system is fitted with a set of spectrographs in varying wavelengths, as well as a highly sensitive transit photometer. The FFTA, when deployed, is quickly surrounded by a massive folding radiation and heat shroud to shield the sensitive telescopes from the Emissary's running heat and radiation, as well as from background solar radiation.
Combined Distant Spectrography Array (COMSPEAR)
Embedded within the Emissary's left wingtip, COMSPEAR contains 18 specialized far-infrared, mid-infrared, near-infrared, and visible spectrographic channels designed to survey deep into a planetary atmosphere, and across its surface, to determine chemical composition, available surface minerals, and climate conditions. Highly versatile, COMSPEAR can rapidly paint a full climatological, mineralogical, and chemical picture of a surface target.
Synthetic-aperture altimetry radar (SAR)
The Emissary's X-band synthetic-aperture radar, derived from GweRu SE's ApoSAR-X, is a deployable altimetry/imaging system that can construct a full planetary heightmap over a series of polar orbits, using repeated passes to attain a more detailed and accurate topographic record. This AI-assisted heightmap can be used for topographic, exobiological, oceanographic, and other survey applications, and is generally one of the first systems used upon the beginning of a planetary survey mission. The Emissary's SAR can also be configured to operate as a high-powered ground-penetrating radar, at the cost of much of its altimetry functionality, when maps of ice caps, cave systems, or subsurface water bodies are needed.
Trace gas spectrograph (TGS)
Embedded with a small collector in the Emissary's right wingtip, the vessel's trace gas spectrograph can analyze the composition and density of any collected sample of gas within a planetary or stellar exosphere/atmosphere, and is one of the principal instruments used for exospherics and atmospherics science on the Emissary.
Velocity gravimeter (VGR)
Effectively incredibly precise accelerometers, the Emissary's two internal velocity gravimeters measure small disturbances in the vessel's position and trajectory to determine the intensity, size, shape, and status of local gravity — capable of effective gravimetry on their own, this system is usually replaced by the ship's laser ranging net.
Autonomous Laser Ranging Net (LASRNET)
To create a precise geodetic picture of a survey target, a disposable Royal Arms LASRNET capsule — of which the Emissary carries 32 in a full expedition load — can be fired out of the ship through a standard slow-launch missile tube. After deployment, these capsules propel themselves around a planet's orbit to spread a configurable number of small transceiver satellites and landers around the planet and on its surface (irrespective of whether it has a solid surface).
Once in place, the satellite net (along with the Emissary's own LIDAR) emits, reflects and receives a series of laser bursts, timing them to precisely measure the distances between transceivers. After completion, the net transmits this data back to the shipboard LASRNET computer coordinator, which can then create a geodetic survey with full and accurate distance, orientation, and gravity information for the survey target. The LASRNET can then be left in orbit for further use as a relay/sensor cloud, manually recovered, or self-destructed to prevent the creation of space debris.
Combined Survey Magnetometer (CSM)
Two deployable extension boom-mounted CSM units are mounted to each of the Emissary's wingtips, each consisting of a triaxial ring core fluxgate vector magnetometer and a triaxial helium scalar magnetometer. Together, these two instruments allow each CSM to precisely measure the strength, source, and direction of local magnetic fields, with the helium magnetometer used to calibrate the more versatile ring core magnetometer. When measuring direction, the CSM also provides useful orientation data for the ship's navigation computers.
Energetic Neutral Atom Imager (ENEGER)
ENEGER, mounted to the Emissary's bow underside centerline, is an camera device for magnetospheric mapping through the capture and recording of energetic neutral atoms — high-energy magnetospheric ions neutralized by the capture of an electron, and thus no longer captured by their parent magnetosphere, capable of providing images to the boundaries and limits of planetary and stellar magnetic fields.
Lumicom Ranging Positioning System (LRPS)
A stellar positioning reference for warp travel standard on all extrasolar vessels, the Sullivan NGNS-LRPS measures time-to-return for precisely calibrated tachyon status communications to two base stations, one (of four available) on Earth and one (of two available) in Alpha Centauri. With flight time data from these two reference points compared to the Emissary's internal atomic clocks, the LRPS can establish a coordinate position in space relative to Sol and Alpha Centauri to be used for warp navigation.
The LRPS can also function as an independently-powered lumicom distress beacon, capable of broadcasting an automatic superluminal identification and status package to both Sol and Alpha Centauri base stations for 120 days without power; any other manually entered lumicom receiver code can also be targeted by the LRPS' distress broadcasts.
SD/EEY-9 LIDAR
The Emissary's 905nm near-infrared LIDAR also functions as a powerful navigational tool — outside of combat, the SD/EEY-9 constructs a constantly-updating laser return map of all nearby space objects and reflectors out to a configurable range, essentially creating a 3D map of nearby space, used to plot trajectories and avoid obstructions or collisions. Compared to radar systems, LIDAR lasers are much more discrete and precise, and micrometeroids are easily detected and either avoided or laser-ablated away from the Emissary's flight path.
Star tracker
An evolved, interstellar version of the venerable star tracker, the Emissary's four reference star trackers use AI imaging and recognition algorithms to locate and track a growing database of known reference stars (such as Sol, Alpha Centauri, Sirius, and Procyon), placed within an interstellar coordinate grid. With two or more reference stars tracked, parallax-calculating navigation computers can determine the cruiser's position and orientation relative to the interstellar coordinate grid, allowing the vessel to navigate accurately both in-system and in warp travel.
The Emissary carries aboard three redundant INS units — combinations of accelerometers and vibrating gyroscopes that precisely record changes in velocity and orientation. By combining the last known position from other navigation systems with this data, the Emissary can maintain mostly accurate position recording even in the absence of reference objects, like stars, space objects, or other vessels.