Idea Arrow Freighter Reentry Vehicle

[Ghostrider]

The Arrow Freighter has a max crew complement of 20. the DGIV can take 4, the XR2 14 and XR5 18.

Me thinks we need a bigger lifeboat

Nah, you only have to increase the number of straws to draw...:lol:

 

[C3PO]

The Arrow Freighter has a max crew complement of 20. the DGIV can take 4, the XR2 14 and XR5 18.

Me thinks we need a bigger lifeboat

Load 5 of [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4488"]these[/ame].

 

[wehaveaproblem]

The Arrow Freighter has a max crew complement of 20. the DGIV can take 4, the XR2 14 and XR5 18.

Me thinks we need a bigger lifeboat

Fair point, squeeze em in the cargo bay too?

The DGIV with full fuel and life support supplies is already more than adequate as a lifeboat because it can handle an Earth-Jupiter trip, although I guess cabin fever would have the crew go Evil Dead on each other in less than a week.
Having the forward section detaching in an Eagle/Event Horizon way would be cool., however. It would make for some interesting atmospheric flight profile for sure.

The forward section wouldn't need to do atmospheric reentry, just keep the crew alive for long enough for rescue I guess. Although, what happens when the meteor strikes that part of the ship, its a big target after all....?

Load 5 of these.

Oh man, can you imagine even imagining being in one of those things for 5 months....

 

[C3PO]

Oh man, can you imagine even imagining being in one of those things for 5 months....

From the Manual:

The Inflatable Space Rescue Unit is the much-needed solution to this problem. Its unique, compact cryogenic systems allow a standard crew of 3 to survive approximately 6 months isolated in space or on a planetary surface or 5 months with a larger crew of 4.

See? No problem. :lol:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

From the Manual:


See? No problem. :lol:

And no toilet.... :lol:

 

[Izack]

The forward section wouldn't need to do atmospheric reentry, just keep the crew alive for long enough for rescue I guess. Although, what happens when the meteor strikes that part of the ship, its a big target after all....?

Hold it...why does it even have to detach, in this case?

And no toilet.... :lol:

I'm sure whoever rescues you (if anyone) will have accomodations for the ice cubes you'll be crapping when it's all over. :lol:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Hold it...why does it even have to detach, in this case?

Well i figure if there was a problem bad enough that you would want to abandon ship in a detachable nose, then the important thing is to separate and be safe from whatever catastrophe is about to consume the rest of it... I could understand the need for that, but I don't get what being able to renter would really add, since you could fly up a rescue mission, rather than over engineer the arrow's nose for aerodynamic reentry. If you're around earth, rescue would be easy, if you're around another planet, atmospheric reentry wouldn't help you any more than being in space.

 

[garyw]

And considering the habitable volume of the Arrow you'll probably have more resources aboard the arrow so it's going to be better to wait there for rescue rather than on a planet.

Also, the Arrow has a lot of dV so if the engines, heat, navigation and oxygen are working a direct abort is another option.

 

[Izack]

What sort of catastrophe would that be? An impact sufficient to destroy the Arrow would probably do so immediately (exploding propellant, etc.) without time to separate the saucer section nose. I suppose a reactor meltdown (if there is such a device aboard the Arrow), poorly-planned boarding action or nanomachine / bioweapon impact might warrant such an escape... :hmm:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

What sort of catastrophe would that be? An impact sufficient to destroy the Arrow would probably do so immediately (exploding propellant, etc.) without time to separate the saucer section nose. I suppose a reactor meltdown (if there is such a device aboard the Arrow), poorly-planned boarding action or nanomachine / bioweapon impact might warrant such an escape... :hmm:

Yeah given the dimensions of the arrow, I'm a little hard pushed to think of enough scenarios to warrant a removable nose in emergency, hence why I prefer a much smaller docked craft for the purpose, since its less likely to suffer damage from internal or external catastrophes.

 

[Tycho]

Another possibility would be to utilize a detachable nose, not for escape, but for a tail-sitter earth-return vehicle to be landed (unmanned, perhaps?) on Mars and returned to earth as an alternative to the DGIV (especially in the event of a main engine failure in the main Arrow), provided engines with sufficient DV could be installed on the nose.

Such would provide a back-up vehicle to return to Martian orbit in the event of a DG-IV failure, and would provide a secondary means of returning to Earth. In the event of a failure in the main engines of the Arrow, the nose could be flown back to Earth (provided DV requirements are fulfilled), while the main Arrow body is left in Martian orbit as an outpost/staging area for future sorties to the surface. Even without a failure of some sort, this would be an intriguing idea for a mission profile.

Mission Profile:
1. DGIV transports crew to Arrow in Earth or Lunar orbit, with an optional stop-off at Moon for supplying at lunar outpost.
2. Arrow, with DGIV docked, flies to Martian orbit.
3. Upon arrival in Martian orbit, cone section is detached and sent to landing site unmanned (a backup control center would be needed aboard the Arrow in case of a catastrophic failure).
4. DG-IV, with surface crew, lands on surface while orbital crew remains aboard Arrow (draw straws, I guess )
5. DG-IV returns to Arrow, while nose ERV is left to become surface base, or flown (again, unmanned) to rejoin Arrow.
5a. In event of DGIV failure, nose ERV is used to return to Arrow.
6. DG-IV re-docks, Arrow is flown back (via backup control center) to Earth
6a. If ERV is used, it re-docks and Arrow returns to Earth
6b. As an alternative to 6a., the nose ERV flies back to Earth after picking up orbital crew at Arrow, while Arrow is left in Martian orbit to become an orbital outpost.

Alternatively to the above, the nose ERV could be used instead of the DGIV for the sortie portion of the mission. The ERV and DGIV (which is used as a surface rescue vehicle) return to Earth as a stack, leaving Arrow as Martian orbital station on purpose (and, possibly, to be used as an emergency Earth-return vehicle by a future crew--the possibilities are almost endless).

There are lots of kinks to be worked out of this profile, but I think it's a rather neat idea. :thumbup:

Now I'm in the mood to fly the Arrow...

 

[Ark]

I can't really come up with a scenario that meets all the following:

-Bad enough to require abandoning ship
-Not bad enough to kill all the crew immediately or soon thereafter
-Unable to be resolved with use of a DG/XR in the bay or ISRUs.

It's the old escape pod fallacy: The ship isn't sinking, so why abandon it and throw out all those resources?

 

[Ghostrider]

The problem with the nose section detaching, landing and then lifting up again from Earth would be power - power that needs engines and even with the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fuel used by the DGIV & Co the Arrow's nose would end up very heavy and cluttered.
A scenario that would be bad enough to require abandoning ship and not bad enough to be immediately fatal could include an out-of-control fire, massive contamination or even a complete system failure. If you're stuck with an Apollo 13-style situation while returning on Earth and the ship is not on a direct collision course (and it shouldn't be), detaching the nose section makes sense: you're leaving behind a lot of dead mass (including cargo and vehicles), you can do a midcourse correction that allows you to either aerobrake and enter orbit with the nose section and then use the Delta Glider to reach the surface, or landing with the nose section (probably at sea). The rest of the ship goes off into deep space where you can think about it later - or not.

Not using the onboard craft makes sense where you either don't have the right one on hand (if you're running the Saturn-Earth route and you're out in the Black going back on a XR-1 isn't really an option) or simply it's not feasible. The nose section can carry the whole crew and save the DG's supplies for the last leg.

Besides, it's cool. You can't go against Rule of Cool.