Venturestar

Venturestar - Freighter
{{{sketchfab}}}
Manufacturer	[[{{{manufacturer}}}]]
Ship statistics
Price	930000 Cr
Hull Mass	200 t
Capacity	500 t
Cargo capacity	{{{cargo_capacity}}} t
Crew	min. 3	max. 5
Equipment
Hyperdrive mount	yes	Default class: 4
Scoop mounts	{{{max_scoop_mounts}}}
Max cabins	{{{max_cabins}}}
Weapon mounts	{{{max_weapons}}}
Max missiles	{{{max_missiles}}}
DeltaV
Fuel tank capacity	200 t
Exhaust Velocity	51784e3 km/s
deltaV	empty: {{{deltav_empty}}} km/s	full: {{{deltav_full}}} km/s
Acceleration
Forward acceleration	empty: {{{forward_accel_empty}}} G	full: {{{forward_accel_full}}} G
Reverse acceleration	empty: {{{reverse_accel_empty}}} G	full: {{{reverse_accel_full}}} G
Up acceleration	empty: {{{up_accel_empty}}} G	full: {{{up_accel_full}}} G
Down acceleration	empty: {{{down_accel_empty}}} G	full: {{{down_accel_full}}} G
Lateral acceleration	empty: {{{lateral_accel_empty}}} G	full: {{{lateral_accel_full}}} G
Angular acceleration	empty: {{{angular_accel_empty}}}	full: {{{angular_accel_full}}}
Atmospheric characteristics
Atmo. shield mount	{{{atmo_shield}}}
Atmo. pressure limit	{{{atmo_pressure_limit}}} atm
Lift coefficient	{{{lift_coef}}}
Aerodynamic stability	{{{aero_stability}}}
Frontal drag	{{{front_drag}}}
Sideways drag	{{{side_drag}}}
Top drag	{{{top_drag}}}

History

After the success of the Deneb, Albr Corp was one of the corporations approached by the Federation Navy to produce designs for a low cost, atmospheric capable "drop ship" for ferrying troops / equipment / armored vehicles from orbiting carriers to front line battlefield locations and vice versa.

The basic specifications:

• Low maintenance
• Atmospheric, aerodynamic design
• Robust design with redundant system protection
• Earth to LEO in < 2 minutes
• Mechanism for quickly loading / unloading without the need for cranes

Albr Corp based its whole ship design around two large engines (that were designed for a much larger ship and would never normally be fitted to a ship this size) and a large loading ramp at the rear, leading to a spacious cargo hold, that would allow troops / vehicles to drive on and off.

Even with stiff competition from several other corporations, Albr Corp eventually won the contract with its design, mainly because the ship was designed from the ground up as a military drop ship and not a "militarised" version of a civilian ship like most other corporations proposed.

This ship was named the AC33 but was more widely known as by its project name "Dropstar".

Venturestar

Once the initial rush of manufacturing had tailed off, Albr Corp saw the opportunity to make more money with a civilian version. The original design was edited, removing the large engines and fitting regular more economical versions (which also drastically improved cargo space), and also adding crew cabins and finishing the interior with less sparse fittings.

Improvements and changes

Initial uptake of the Venturestar was not as high as expected, so after a few months of very low sales, the design was modified to add the same main engine nozzles (the cooling fins of the Dropstar are now redundant with normal engines) and wing end plates as the Dropstar, giving it a more utilitarian look.

The advertising campaign was stepped up to market the Venturestar as a military grade civilian freighter which set it apart from all the other similar ships which were marketed as "Luxury" freighters.

These small changes, as superficial as they were, pushed the Venturestar from obscurity to being a ship that can be found throughout the known galaxy.