Cornicipia - Technical notes

The space elevator caused great uncertainty about the future of space shuttles so, from the mid 21^st century, few companies or governments were willing to invest in their development and few succeeded. One of few developed in this period was the "Cornicopia", a fairly simple unmanned space shuttle.

This was largely a simplified version of the original NASA space shuttles, although it did incorporate some nanotechnology. Being unmanned, it had no need for a life surport system or docking hatch, although these could be incorporated into the payload (usually a docking hatch with a minimal life support system reliant on the other vehical). Unlike the old manned space shuttle, it was equiped with a solar pannel and small ion drive, for longer missions giving it the ability to reach higher orbits (although in practice this was only exploited during the China war). It was also designed to be launched from most heavy lifters, rather than having specially designed booster rockets and external fuel tanks.

In practice the "Cornicopia" shuttles were mainly used to supply the Omega space station until it's destruction in 2137. It was also used in 2146 to supply the Santa Maria in an abortive plan to send it on a second exploration mission after it's return from Centauri. The abrupt cancelation of this mission (a controvertial cost saving measure by Pressident Fenc) left a Cornicopia docked with the Santa Maria until 2159.

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