Lodos

Lodos - Medium freighter
Manufacturer	Auronox Corporation
Ship statistics
Price	2,541,351 Cr
Hull Mass	850 t
Capacity	3,100 t
Cargo capacity	2,800 t
Crew	min. 2	max. 5
Equipment
Hyperdrive mount	yes	Default class: 7
Scoop mounts	2
Max cabins	50
Weapon mounts	2
Max missiles	2
DeltaV
Fuel tank capacity	2,100 t
Exhaust Velocity	18,900 km/s
deltaV	empty: 23,518 km/s	full: 8,058 km/s
Acceleration
Forward acceleration	empty: 2.3 G	full: 1.65 G
Reverse acceleration	empty: 1.8 G	full: 0.55 G
Up acceleration	empty: 2 G	full: 0.55 G
Down acceleration	empty: 1.8 G	full: 0.21 G
Lateral acceleration	empty: 1.8 G	full: 0.21 G
Angular acceleration	empty: -	full: -
Atmospheric characteristics
Atmo. shield mount	yes
Atmo. pressure limit	3.2 atm
Lift coefficient	0.225
Aerodynamic stability	0.6
Frontal drag	0.32
Sideways drag	0.69
Top drag	0.83

Description

Lodos is a medium freighter designed by Auronox Corporation in the late 3100's. The ship has become known mainly for its performance. But, in return, it requires lots of maintenance. However, with proper maintenance, a Lodos has a relatively long operational lifetime.

Few of the most important features of Lodos are it's highly automated systems and compact aerodynamic design. The amount of automation on complex subsystems allows a single pilot to use the spacecraft with its full performance. This is mostly an influence of the automated fabricating technologies Auronox uses to make up for its lack of manpower.

Just like Auronox's other designs, the aerodynamic shape allows the spacecraft to travel safely through dense mediums such as thick atmospheres, stellar dust clouds and very dense nebulas. Combined with relatively good thrusters, the ship can land on most planets with little problem. This also makes fuel scooping much easier, making the ship a good choice for exploration.

Ironically though, the ship lacks the expected cargo capacity from a medium freighter. This lead the ship to be mainly used for many other purposes like exploration or search and rescue. To avoid further reducing the cargo space, the ship is not fitted with missile or weapon slots. The ship makes up with its powerful armor and high cruise speed. Even without a decent shielding, the ship offers rather impressive protection. Initially designed for micro-meteorite and high-pressure protection, the armor also performs very well against cannons and missiles.

 

History

While designing Lodos, Auronox had run into very unexpected situations. Throwing off enough resources for the Lodos project was too costly for this small company, so the administration decided to speed up the process to start the actual manufacturing phase as soon as possible. The administration wanted a half-completed Lodos prototype to be flown for testing purposes; however, some senior engineers angrily refused to let the prototype fly because of safety concerns. The fight between administration and engineers (and later the test pilots) lasted for some time. The Auronox administration, fed up with this fight, in a very shocking move, fired those engineers. Eventually the prototype was flown and fortunately, the ship has returned safely.

Although the design process was sped up after the event, Auronox hit other roadblocks. While the company was already in an unsettling mood after the fired engineers, they were also on the edge of bankruptcy. Auronox was in a very urgent need of cash and had to sell/close down some of it's ship/hyperdrive service branches, the backbone of their income, scattered around Sol and Epsilon Eridani systems.

Towards the end of it's design phase, Solar Federation Navy got interested in the Lodos' high performance and durability; the design could easily be converted into a powerful electronic warfare/early warning ship and even a forward command outpost with proper modifications. Solar Federation saw the Auronox's financial problems as an invaluable opportunity. To get and modify Lodos' design, SolFed offered the company a great amount of money that would allow Auronox to pay all of it's debts and not only restore their financial status, but also quadruple their total balance.

Although incredibly tempted by this offer, Auronox ultimately refused SolFed's offer to remain neutral and keep their influence on other factions (mainly CIW) which could, on the long run, allow the company to make more profit overall.

After a short time, the final test flights were complete. Auronox started manufacturing Lodos and the ship has become a success for the company. Their already good reputation among pilots have increased with the new ship that is good for both new and experienced pilots. Large amounts of Lodos' has been sold quickly and Auronox eventually got back on their feet.

Despite being a very reliable ship, the most notable event in the ship's history was a fatal accident near Jupiter's moon Europa. According to the Clarke's Station traffic control and a very detailed study of the accident, the ship was returning from the surface of Europa with it's four crew members. On the ascent, a faulty radiator unit burnt down the electronic aft fuel pump valve controls; causing thrusters to get stuck on their last state. With the rotational thrusters continuously working, the ship started spinning at a very high rate; and all four crew members died because of centrifugal forces before they could escape. Soon after that, the ship broke apart into two pieces - all the fuel leaked into space. The ship's pieces were found a few kilometers apart from each other on the surface of Europa, and they were mostly intact.

During and after the investigation, Auronox insistently denied any responsibility - stating that the design is fail-safe when used within limits, and that "The accident is only attributable to human error." blaming the ship's engineer and the maintenance crew.

Changes and Improvements

The ship is relatively new, but there has been improvements to the design.

Although the original design did not really put any emphasis on it, the newer versions of Lodos has really comfortable and mostly soundproof crew compartments. This is seen as a huge improvement compared to the original internal design; which was cramped up and full of equipment, more like those of 20th century submarines or an old classic Russian Soyuz TMA.

The cockpit has been redesigned, and panels have been rearranged to provide more space for larger displays. The cockpit panel layout now closely resembles an ancient BOEING/Airbus airliner.