time pressures on finishing the prototype design were mounting, and he had to make a go/no-go decision on the double hull soon.
Over lunch in the factory cafeteria, Aidan expressed his concerns to Sted and asked for suggestions.
“Would it be possible to make the contact struts into telescoping pins?” Sted asked. “Perhaps then the pins would collapse under the pressure of an external explosive force and the gel would absorb the majority of the force.”
“If we did that, then we would have to create a way to shed the entire external shell after it was breached,” Aidan replied. “Perhaps the gel could be used to reflect the force off the interior hull and cause the entire outer shell to peel away. In fact, we could use the collapsing of the first pin to cause all pins to collapse simultaneously and detonate small skin-shedding explosions from the area of each of the pins. I think I’ll pass this idea to my engineering group and see what they can do with it!”
“How do we mount the defensive lasers on the inner hull so they can remain intact after the outer hull sloughs off?” Sted asked. “We have to maintain defensive capability throughout any contact with an enemy.”
“We’ll have to make transparent ports over the lasers so they can transmit directly through the outer hull,” Aidan replied. “Maybe we can use transparent sapphire ports. I know that many of our lasers use the same material for the lens to focus the light as it exits the light chamber. The laser should not lose much power if it passes through a sapphire port. I’ll get some measurements this afternoon on the attenuation of the laser beam through one of Cam’s extra window panels that we stored down here. That will give us some real world figures to work with.”
“Assuming this works, how long until we can get the outer hull manufactured and installed?”
Aidan thought for a moment. “We should be able to get a prototype built for testing within one month. If everything works as planned, it will take our machine shop another two weeks to manufacture the telescoping pins and brackets to fasten to both the inner and outer hulls. I would guess that we can be ready to layer on the outer hull in little more than two months. The transparent gel we’re using between the two hulls is already in the warehouse, so we should be ready to leave for our first field test in eight to nine weeks.”
Sted smiled. “I like the ‘we’ in ‘we should be able to leave’. With all of this new technology, you definitely need to be in the field with me.”
“Not a problem,” Aidan replied. “I really have to see this ship in action from the inside in our first field trials. While the crew is finishing the ship assembly, I’ll be building my test equipment to measure the stress on the telescoping pins during acceleration to make sure we don’t lose the outer hull by accident.”
Sted nodded. “Okay. I’ll head up to the tower to advise Cam that we are planning to field test the ship in eight to nine weeks. He and I are going to have to do a lot of planning between now and then to get the testing organized properly.”
Chapter 26 – Delta One First Trial Run
The first trial run for the new Delta class ship was underway. Sted had prepared the trial workout plan carefully and was observing from the mobile mining platform used to transport the prototype vehicle halfway between Earth and Mars and on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. AMC did not want anyone to know about the new ship’s capabilities. It might cost the company an extra month in their development program, but the need for secrecy was paramount.
Only the test pilot and engineer were on board for the initial flight test. The small size of the ship obviated the need for extensive structural testing of the inner hull under acceleration. The new connections between the outer and inner hulls were a different story. Aidan
Over lunch in the factory cafeteria, Aidan expressed his concerns to Sted and asked for suggestions.
“Would it be possible to make the contact struts into telescoping pins?” Sted asked. “Perhaps then the pins would collapse under the pressure of an external explosive force and the gel would absorb the majority of the force.”
“If we did that, then we would have to create a way to shed the entire external shell after it was breached,” Aidan replied. “Perhaps the gel could be used to reflect the force off the interior hull and cause the entire outer shell to peel away. In fact, we could use the collapsing of the first pin to cause all pins to collapse simultaneously and detonate small skin-shedding explosions from the area of each of the pins. I think I’ll pass this idea to my engineering group and see what they can do with it!”
“How do we mount the defensive lasers on the inner hull so they can remain intact after the outer hull sloughs off?” Sted asked. “We have to maintain defensive capability throughout any contact with an enemy.”
“We’ll have to make transparent ports over the lasers so they can transmit directly through the outer hull,” Aidan replied. “Maybe we can use transparent sapphire ports. I know that many of our lasers use the same material for the lens to focus the light as it exits the light chamber. The laser should not lose much power if it passes through a sapphire port. I’ll get some measurements this afternoon on the attenuation of the laser beam through one of Cam’s extra window panels that we stored down here. That will give us some real world figures to work with.”
“Assuming this works, how long until we can get the outer hull manufactured and installed?”
Aidan thought for a moment. “We should be able to get a prototype built for testing within one month. If everything works as planned, it will take our machine shop another two weeks to manufacture the telescoping pins and brackets to fasten to both the inner and outer hulls. I would guess that we can be ready to layer on the outer hull in little more than two months. The transparent gel we’re using between the two hulls is already in the warehouse, so we should be ready to leave for our first field test in eight to nine weeks.”
Sted smiled. “I like the ‘we’ in ‘we should be able to leave’. With all of this new technology, you definitely need to be in the field with me.”
“Not a problem,” Aidan replied. “I really have to see this ship in action from the inside in our first field trials. While the crew is finishing the ship assembly, I’ll be building my test equipment to measure the stress on the telescoping pins during acceleration to make sure we don’t lose the outer hull by accident.”
Sted nodded. “Okay. I’ll head up to the tower to advise Cam that we are planning to field test the ship in eight to nine weeks. He and I are going to have to do a lot of planning between now and then to get the testing organized properly.”
Chapter 26 – Delta One First Trial Run
The first trial run for the new Delta class ship was underway. Sted had prepared the trial workout plan carefully and was observing from the mobile mining platform used to transport the prototype vehicle halfway between Earth and Mars and on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. AMC did not want anyone to know about the new ship’s capabilities. It might cost the company an extra month in their development program, but the need for secrecy was paramount.
Only the test pilot and engineer were on board for the initial flight test. The small size of the ship obviated the need for extensive structural testing of the inner hull under acceleration. The new connections between the outer and inner hulls were a different story. Aidan
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