Ships of the Convention - Data Rock

A Data Rock is a generic name for a low-grade, cheap, but resilient vessel with a range of purposes, but centering around data transfer, surveillance, communications, early warning, and or/traffic control.

Data Rocks become common at TL 10 or 11, and although are found in a variety of sizes, are most commonly configured around the smallest viable tonnage, to reduce cost, and allow the mass production common required to support the data and communications needs of technological societies spanning multiple worlds within one solar system.

Data Rocks are isolated lonely postings. they are largely automated, and the crew spend most of their time aboard on standby in low birth. They are not equipped with any conventional drive, but use a solar sail for station keeping maneuvers, the structure of the sail also acting as an antenna for broadcasting and reciting transmissions.

These vessels are designed for prolonged operations and carry enough fuel for 6 months of continuous high-level operation (in practice vessels may need to make a correction maneuver or minor orbital shift lasting just a few hours a month), as well as solar-powered high-efficiency batteries. This makes the operational insurance of the vessel in full terms virtually infinite. Such ships are also equipped with redundant systems and repair drones to increase resilience.


Scott's World - data rocks in use:
Scott's World and its attendant system is extreme - vast industrial complexes in close orbit around the main world, moons mined empty, and fuel refineries and mineral extraction platforms strip chemicals from gas giants. Vast flows of data are channeled around the system, controlling remote mining concerns, regulating habitats, tracking stock exchange transactions, updating gambling syndicate databases and religious cult membership lists.

Throughout this technologically advanced, over-exploited and highly occupied system, the data rocks orbit in their thousands - nodal points in the endless data flow, passing digital packets from rock to rock to rock. One estimate suggests that there are over 15,500, served by a fleet of slow-moving, ever orbiting resupply vessels. The network is so complex, however, that it is a common urban myth that some of the rocks have been dropped from the resupply schedules, and are never visited, their endless endurance keeping them running, their frozen crews held in forgotten suspended animation for decades.

Data Rock Example:

The example presented here is a typical example, based around a 100 ton planetoid hull.

Hull: 100 tons (Planetoid, self-healing, radiation screened)
Usable space: 80 tons
Solar Sail: 5 tons
Power Plant: 3 tons
Fuel 2 tons
Bridge 10 tons
Main computer 4
Auxiliary computer 2
Enhanced Sensors with improved signal processing 4 tons
Extended array (built into solar sail) 1 ton
Mail dispatch 'heavy data array' 10 tons
3 low births 1.5 tons
2 staterooms 8 tons
Common space 4 tons
Turret (beam laser) tracks around the girth of the asteroid. 3 tons
Repair drone (1 ton)
Workshop 6 tons
Ship's locker: 0.5 tons
Docking Clamp (1 ton)
Ship's launch - docked to a docking clamp - (20 tons)

The essence of the data rock is economy - so the cargo hold of the launch (14.8 tons) is used to full effect, and is configured to old 2 staterooms, three cold births, a ton of additional fuel which can be drawn on by the data rock to increase operational endurance, and 4 tons of technical supplies for the rock.

The launch thus serves as additional storage, but also as an emergency evacuation vessel and a service craft to assist in maintaining the rock.

The function of the beam laser is to deflect/destroy space debris, but can also be tuned to use as a communications laser.