Manley-class Astrophysical Research Ship

The Manley-class is a class of astrophysical research ship operated by the Exploration Service since the 170s UE.

Design

Intended for long-range science missions away from the Starweb wormhole network, the Manley-class was ordered by the Exploration Service in the wake of first contact with the Quassep. Beginning from a chance encounter in a cataclysmic variable system, this process was only brought to completion by years of off-grid exploration to find their worlds of origin. The long duration of this task, combined with the difficulty of finding suitable ships, convinced the Science Directorate of the need for a new class of dedicated long-range explorer.

With a sleek spaceframe resembling a triple-edged arrowhead, the Manley stands approximately 400 meters tall and is based around advanced systems for relativistic travel, including a system of repulsor arrays for sweeping up interstellar gas to feed its conversion metrics, a strategy which eliminates the need for massive fuel tanks. Its cosmodrive was one of the fastest available upon introduction, rated with a maximum boost factor of Lorentz 400, though some vessels have been fitted with older models as a cost-saving measure.

Not intended for planetary landings outside of spaceport docking cradles, the class retains the classic "skyscraper" deck layout seen in vessels before the perfection of impeller warps and cabin simgrav. While not as architecturally efficient as a horzontal deckplan, splitting the crew and science sections across multiple small decks, this was thought safer and more suited to a ship which must undergo substantial accelerations for extended periods.

Habitat Modules

The class's pressurized volume is split across two modules: a combined crew cabin and command area near the ship's midsection, with spaces for engineering and science below. Life support equipment and a shuttle hangar separate them. With a design endurance of five years maximum, crew accomodations were given a high priority. Every crewmember is assigned a private, though small, stateroom with washroom, and has access to common spaces for meals and recreation. Wood furnishings, carpets, and other homely touches help to maintain a vibrant atmosphere.

Below the crew habitat is the bridge, located inside a shielded module. This is a double-deck compartment, the upper level being laid out as a conventional bridge for piloting the ship and controlling its systems, while the lower section is a hub for integrating scientific data and charting new observation sites, being dominated by a spherical holo-display at its center. Outside the bridge are offices for command-level staff, and briefing rooms.

A shuttle bay, the largest compartment in the ship, is fitted below the command module, featuring a flight hangar, maintenance deck, and cargo bays. An elevator mounted outside the hull facilitates loading and unloading when landed on a planet. The class is considered to have low cargo space for its size, being devoted more to collecting data than physical samples.

The final pressure module, sandwiched between the shuttlebay and engines, is a shared space consisting of science labs in the upper decks, for easier access from arriving shuttles, and engineering below, directly above the impellers. These decks give access to the main elements of the propulsion system, including the cosmodrive, and center on an engineering control room similar in design to the bridge.

Engines

Designed for interstellar travel via cosmodrive, which requires the attainment of at least low-relativistic speeds, the Manley-class necessitates a formidable propulsion system. Primary acceleration is provided by three Greason Gravitics gravitational impellers arranged in a triangular array, whose cores were salvaged from the ruins of Hexamite space. In "internal" mode, they project beams of gravitational radiation to propel the ship like rocket engines, or alternatively the impellers can be channeled through waveguides to project a warp bubble around the ship. This latter option provides acceleration without imparting any forces on the ship, as the interior of the bubble remains in free-fall. The impellers are capable of running on virtually any feed mass, usually this is water from internal tanks or interstellar hydrogen swept up by the repulsor scoops. A fourth impeller located in the bow provides redundancy and improved control authority in fast maneuvers.

Once at relativistic speed (above 14% lightspeed, or 0.14c), the cosmodrive allows for efficient superluminal transit. At a design boost factor of Lorentz 400, a starting velocity of, for instance, 0.2c will be converted into an effective 80c, allowing access to stars within a few tens of lightyears in a few weeks or months. Indeed, for short flights more time is often spend accelerating to or decelerating from jump velocity than at actual FTL speeds.

Weapons / Defenses

While the Exploration Service is not a military organization, being assigned under the Science Directorate, its designers nonetheless thought it prudent to equip it with a full suite of weapons and defenses, given the inherently unknown nature of speculative exploration, and a history of known threats lurking in deep space. Cruiser-sized, the Manley-class has the approximate armament of a frigate in the Star Patrol, centered on a trio of beam turrets, alongside missile batteries and torpedo launchers.

Defensive capabilities include a deflector for countering kinetic weapons, and high-Z polyalloy armor for counteracting beams. At five gees cruise acceleration, the Manley-class is also light on its feet and can usually outrun anything it can't fight.

Manley-class

Complement / Crew

100

Height

~400 meters

Mass

~100,000 tons

Powerplant

• 3x Greason Gravitics A-30 gravitational impeller
• 1x Greason Gravitics A-15 bow impeller
• Impeller warp
• Lorentz 400 cosmodrive

Cruise Acceleration

3-5 gees

Role

Featuring a design endurance of five years, expandable to ten or more with appropriate provisioning, the Manley-class fulfills the Exploration Service's ever-increasing need for investigations of interesting astrophysical targets driven by the expansion of the Starweb in the post-Nomad War age of peace. Common destinations include neutron stars, black holes, supernova remnants, and suspected paleotechnological artifacts like Geometrician Jumpgates.

History

Introduced alongside the Whistance-class Planetary Research Ship and Stratzenblitz-class Scout, the Manley-class is intended as one of the Exploration Service's mainstay classes for the next several decades.