Drones

Disposable Nanodrone System

The latest breakthrough in remotely controlled spacecraft technology consists of palm-sized disposable spacecraft remotely powered by a ship's on-board laser array. The nanodrone system consists of remote laser array, control computer and a nanodrone assembly plant.

The assembly plant is capable of rapidly assembling hundreds of tiny spacecraft from on-board component storage. Drones can be outfitted for on-the-fly repairs, ore haulage and other purposes.

Each drone contains a solid block of aluminium propellant that's vaporized by directed laser heat to provide thrust, using an array of mirrors to control thrust vectoring. Drones are expected to perform their role in less than a minute and are considered disposable after launch.

Drone assembly plants

Drone assembly plants occupy a hardpoint and require onboard companion nanodrone components to function.

Drone assembly plants

Name	Effective range	Drones per second	Drone wet mass	Drone thrust	Power draw	Mass	Price
MPI Tug drones	400 m	50	0.1 kg	1 kN	50 MW	4,000 kg	250,000 E$
MLF Haul Drones	400 m	50	0.1 kg	1 kN	50 MW	4,000 kg	350,000 E$
OME Maintenance Drones		32			50 MW	4,000 kg	400,000 E$

Nanodrone Components

Nanodrone components must be purchased when launching, or fabricated from processed minerals using the Voyager RSLS Fabrication Plant.

Nanodrone Component storage

Name	Storage	Delivery	Price	Exclusive to
Basic nanodrone storage	1,000 kg	20 kg/s	20,000 E$
Industrial nanodrone storage	5,000 kg	20 kg/s	120,000 E$
Military nanodrone storage	10,000 kg	100 kg/s	250,000 E$
Harvester-class nanodrone storage	20,000 kg	100 kg/s	500,000 E$	Cothon-212, K225, OCP-209
Station-class nanodrone storage	50,000 kg	100 kg/s	1,250,000 E$	K225, OCP-209