Dragonfly Carrier

Written by skairunner

A titanic spacecraft laden with thousands of brightly painted containers filled with the works of millions accelerates out of the station, joining dozens of other craft like itself in years-long journeys between the planets.

Dragonfly carriers are spacecraft that carry cargo in standardized containers. They are most commonly used to carry massive amounts of cargo between planets, though smaller models are often employed on particularly high-traffic routes within a planet's gravity well, and are almost always the cheapest method of moving things from one point to another in the Solar System.

Design

Dragonfly carriers are named after the distinctive appearance that practically all container carriers have converged to: a long, largely hollow spine with a bulbous 'head' to the fore and powerful engines towards the aft. Containers in the form of trapezoidal blocks are then mounted encircling the spine and locked into place. Upon arriving at a destination, the containers are transferred to smaller tugs for transport to local shipping facilities.
Dragonfly design takes advantage of the unique characteristics of space to accomplish cheap shipping. Spacecraft can afford to take very long times to accelerate due to lack of resistance from water, air or ground, and do not need to provide further acceleration once underway. Additionally, because there are no constraints of either gravity or standing friction, Dragonflies can have abysmal thrust-weight ratios compared to typical spacecraft and still accomplish their journeys. These savings in fuel and hardware cause Dragonflies to have the absolute lowest shipment costs per unit mass of any other interplanetary transport method.

Dragonfly Shipping Containers by Annie Stein

Advantages and Drawbacks

Advantages

Cheapest method of transporation
Can be fully automated
Infrastructure well developed in most of the Sol System

Drawbacks

Slowest form of transit
Not suitable for perishables
Requires specialized infrastructure

Dragonfly carriers are the slowest form of transit currently in use in the System. This is because they generally take ballistic routes between planets rather than burning more fuel for direct approaches, like courier or liner transports do. Transit times are typically in the range of months to a year, compared to liners which range from weeks to months. As a consequence, Dragonfly carriers are not suitable for perishable goods.
Many modern Dragonflies are unmanned and operated by computers. Although automation is not without its own costs, the benefit of not requiring a life support system is considerable. Additionally, the extended isolation required by a typical cargo route tends to take a toll on the mental health of pilots, as well as carrying a risk of Deep Space Syndrome.
The biggest challenge of an automated Dragonfly is in the 'last mile' of entering port. So far, most cargo ship operators have solved this problem by sidestepping it: Dragonflies are maneuvered to a healthy distance from stations, and containers are unloaded by a small fleet of shuttles. Destinations where this is not possible are either avoided, or necessitate the use of tugs, as Dragonflies are incredibly unmaneuverable thanks to their extreme mass compared to their propulsion.

---

Related Articles

Crystal Technology
Spacecraft Kallisti Aerospace ( Sunderer SF-1 · Sunbreaker SF-2 ) · Jupiter Stella ( Aerie O-1 · Cyklopes SSF-9 ) · Heretic GA-7 · Dragonfly Carrier · Airdocks Telepresence Interlace ( Super Wide Access Network ) · Remote Projection ( Remote Personality Cache/Display ) Other Bosonic Clock · Gateway Portals · Gravity Plates · Personal Computer Materials Astrallite · Aurorite

Outer Space

Outer Space
Locations Asteroid Belt ( The Collision Course ) · Oort Cloud Species Deep Space Leviathan · Orbitross · Astroplankton Materials Astrallite Technology Crystal Technology · Super Wide Access Network · Spacecraft ( Dragonfly Carrier ) Society Traditions ( Dumplings in Space ) · Organizations ( Sentinel ) · Conditions ( Deep Space Syndrome )

Speed 1/7

Mobility 1/7

Cargo 7/7

Toughness 1/7

Table of Contents