Gato Class Landing Craft
The Gato is a small drone landing craft designed primarily to be carried inside of the landing bays of the Edward Deming to support its landing operations.
While it is more maintenance and supply intensive than similar craft, it can drop off cargo into just about any atmosphere and can rapidly make multiple trips to and from orbit before needing maintenance. This makes it well suited for Exploration craft's typical long journeys followed by short intense periods of ground operations.
Overview
Class: Gato
Operators: The Magnetic Assembly
Manufacturer: The Magnetic Assembly
Length: 10.26 Meters
Height: 1.8 Meters
Diameter: 8.2 Meters
Crew: 0 persons
Propulsion: x8 Small Aneutronic Fusion Engines
Maximum Acceleration: 10g
Range: ~30 minutes of operation at full thrust
Sensors:
x2 Ground Tracking Radars
x4 Electro-optical sensors
Cargo Capacity:
x1 Cargo Container
History
The Gato was developed in 2321 specifically to support the Edward Deming and its long range operations. After the New Years Revolution, the Magnetic Assembly would find itself with many of its ships and SLEs completely in use, requiring the Deming to conduct more operations on its own. The crew could no longer count on having larger landing ships or an abundance of supplies that they could drop from container ships. Similarly they would also need a way to deploy their own ground transports or other equipment that wouldn't fit in the smaller, Gleesman class shuttles.
The initial design had the question of just what type of environments the transport would need to operate in. Ultimately the size of the vehicle was constrained by the size of the Edward Deming's launch bay, and the need to carry cargo containers. This precluded the use of a large and aerodynamic shape, so efficiency was considered a secondary concern. Instead, powerful engines would be used to slow the ship for descent, and to ascend back into orbit.
The unimproved environments that the Edward Deming often found itself operating above would also mean that there would likely be no landing points for a shuttle to land. The flight profile would then involve coming low to the ground and lowering the payload on target before a return to orbit burn.
Finally, the design was optimized to be as flat as possible to store more of the shuttles inside of the Edward Deming's launch bays.
The initial two Gatos, Felix and Salem, would be delivered to the Edward Deming in late 2321. Further Gato landers would end up being used in low gravity / no atmosphere areas like around Rotislav where their atmospheric drag drawbacks aren't as much of an issue. The additional landers would soon end up being modified to transport people or carry out other tasks.
Gato Lander with Crew Compartment and thruster armor.
The initial design had the question of just what type of environments the transport would need to operate in. Ultimately the size of the vehicle was constrained by the size of the Edward Deming's launch bay, and the need to carry cargo containers. This precluded the use of a large and aerodynamic shape, so efficiency was considered a secondary concern. Instead, powerful engines would be used to slow the ship for descent, and to ascend back into orbit.
The unimproved environments that the Edward Deming often found itself operating above would also mean that there would likely be no landing points for a shuttle to land. The flight profile would then involve coming low to the ground and lowering the payload on target before a return to orbit burn.
Finally, the design was optimized to be as flat as possible to store more of the shuttles inside of the Edward Deming's launch bays.
The initial two Gatos, Felix and Salem, would be delivered to the Edward Deming in late 2321. Further Gato landers would end up being used in low gravity / no atmosphere areas like around Rotislav where their atmospheric drag drawbacks aren't as much of an issue. The additional landers would soon end up being modified to transport people or carry out other tasks.
Gato Lander with Crew Compartment and thruster armor.
Layout
The Gato is a lightweight design with an H shaped main structural support that has the craft's main components attached to it. The core of the craft houses the crane assembly that can carry cargo, as well as the fuel tanks, flight electronics, and sensor systems. The supporting arms that extend outwards house the craft's RCS thrusters as well as primary landing engines/fusion reactors, and landing gear.
The craft is lightly armored against micro meteor strikes but lacks any kind of cohesive outer shell.
The craft attached to the Edward Deming would have lightweight add on armor sections added around the main thrusters, and a "crew area" added on top for people to ride in while in low gravity environments.
The craft is lightly armored against micro meteor strikes but lacks any kind of cohesive outer shell.
The craft attached to the Edward Deming would have lightweight add on armor sections added around the main thrusters, and a "crew area" added on top for people to ride in while in low gravity environments.
