2.5 DY-500 Wheeler Class

DY-500 Wheeler Class

Service entry date (old calendar): 2019

The DY-500 series was rushed into production ahead of schedule in order to fill the gap caused by the failure of the DY-300 prototypes in testing. In a seeming fit of whimsy the Dyson-Yoyodyne Design Bureau gave every ship in the class names that started with the letter “W” (Wheeler, Wilson, Woden, etc.). Company scuttlebutt had it that it was an inside joke and the “W” stood for WAIT, which is what Dyson-Yoyodyne had wanted to do with this class. The real design intended for the DY-500s was incomplete and untested; therefore, a fallback solution was adopted. Vessels in the aging DY-100 class were brought back in and extensively modified to produce the “new” DY-500 class. A new fusion power plant was installed as well as the new magnetohydrodynamic generator (MHD unit). This provided onboard power directly from the thrust from the ship’s engines. MHD units were safer than previous systems and this innovation soon became standard in Terran spacecraft of the day. The unused design would eventually become the DY-430 series.

The DY-500 is forever affiliated with the First Great Space Rush. Many were purchased by eager homesteaders for the trip to the Sol System inner asteroid belt. Some of their cargo modules would then be turned into quick-fab homes while the others were used to ship their mined materials back to Mars and Terra. So many DY-500 conversions and new builds happened during the First Great Space Rush that they remained a common sight on the space lanes for centuries. Even today a few of these aging relics can be found in the possession of cash-strapped intersystem prospectors, still slowly plying the spaceways as they did back in their heyday.

Specifications:

• Length: 145 m
• Beam: 33 m
• Draft: 47 m
• Mass: 4.2 DWT
• Crew: 36
• Range: 1150 megameters maximum limit
• Cruising speed: 135,000 km/hr
• Avg. voyage duration: 185 days (Terra-Asterpolis run)

Innovations/Experiments:

• First Terran spacecraft fitted with MHD power units

DY-245 Class “Stretch” Transport

Service entry date (old calendar): 2025

The DY-245 class was a stopgap design like the DY-500 intended to cover for the delayed DY-300 program. It was essentially an extended DY-100 with two extra anchor sections for four times as much cargo capacity. It could mount either standard Dyson-Yoyodyne cargo containers or several of the new, smaller “Beach Ball” series in their place for bulk transport of liquids. The design benefited from the advanced power plant of the DY-200 series; however, it was the slowest Dyson-Yoyodyne design in operation (when fully loaded) because of its heavier mass. Even so the DY-245 would become a common low-cost alternative to the Galileo transport, shuttling high-volume cargoes on the Terra-Mars and Mars-Asterpolis runs. Many would wind up as impromptu colony ships for trips to the Ficus Sector once that was opened for exploration.

As built the DY-245 series was not given a class name. Most of the vessels were named, if at all, according to the whims of their owners. This practice would be followed with subsequent Dyson-Yoyodyne spacecraft classes.

Specifications:

• Length: 195 m
• Beam: 35 m
• Draft: 50 m
• Mass: 5250 DWT
• Crew: 35
• Range: 1.15 billion km at maximum endurance
• Cruising speed: 135,000 km/hr

Innovations/Experiments:

• First of the DY series to carry the “Beach Ball” bulk liquids cargo container.