[Spaceships] Control Rooms With Reactionless Drives

[scc]

Originally Posted by munin

Just for fun…

Looking at the crew stations in Ultra-Tech (p. 24), each Spaceships control station probably weighs 100 lb., so make up at most 3.33% of the Control Room's mass (at SM+5).

Looking at the computers in Ultra-Tech (p. 22) and comparing Complexity, the computer in a Control Room makes up at most 0.5% of its mass.

Compared to an Enhanced Array, the comm/sensor array makes up at most 10% of a Control Room's mass.

That leaves about 86% of the Control Room's mass for RCS. We have six possible rolls and six possible drifts (assuming reactionless engines can only thrust in one direction). If we divide the remaining mass between those (rolls might be engines or gyros, but call it the same mass), that's 7.17% per control. So each direction can generate 7.17% of what a full-size reactionless engine could generate.

Comparing the prices of a Control Room and Reactionless Engine, the RCS is probably based on a Rotary or Standard Reactionless, so 0.1 to 0.5 G times 7.17%? That could get you to Mars in a couple months.

Personally I'd assume that the engines are gimbaled or something like that.

Originally Posted by munin

No, that's handled by auxiliary power (Spaceships, p. 10).

I'd assume that the mass for auxiliary power is included in the Control Room mass