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Austreydian XOCINT'I Explorer

The xocint'i (star bird) is a bird-like creature native to Austreya, fabled for always finding its destination, as well as its way back home. For a long time, the Austreydian people believed the bird to navigate by the stars. Although it was later discovered to use magnetic fields instead, similar to birds from Earth, it remained a totem and omen of good luck for travellers. That is why the first long range explorer built by the Austreydians was given this name, and why the ship carries the symbol of the bird.
The xocint'i explorer is 167 meters (548 ft) long and carries a crew of 60. It is powered by a fusion reactor, fusing hydrogen into helium. This creates a lot of heat, which is then turned into electricity. Since this process is not 100% effective, waste heat is constantly being radiated into space via large radiators in the back. The fusion process produces highly energized helium plasma, which is stored in the large central ring and vented into space via jets to create thrust. This is the ship's primary method of sublight propulsion.
The ring also houses the ship's distortion field generator or, for the Star Trek fans out there, its warp drive. Using the 3 nacelles, the ship emits a conical distortion field, contracting space-time in front and expanding it behind it. This allows the ship to reach relativistic velocities, although it will rarely go above 0.6c otherwise time dilation effects will become to severe.
To reach superluminar speeds, the xocint'i will create a distortion field magnitudes stronger, practically folding space-time around it, pulling it into a higher dimension where certain laws of physics change. This dimensional drive allows the ship to fly faster than the speed of light in 3 dimensions, although not actually breaking the laws of physics in higher dimensions.
The dimensional drive requires large amount of fuel, however, thus limiting the range of the ship. Because of this, it will typically fly from star to star, skimming the atmosphere of a star or suitable gas giant after each jump, utilizing the two large hydrogen scoops to refill its tanks.
The ship carries 4 lander modules, each is designed for 8 passengers but can take on 16 in case of emergencies. These double as escape pods.
There are two launch tubes at the nose, which are used for missiles. These missiles are modular and can carry various payload, such as sensor equipment or warheads.
The xocint'i is armed with three double-barrel coilgun turrets, each capable of firing metal slugs at a rate of 1 shot per second. These slugs are 40 cm (16") long and 15 cm (5,9") in diameter. The coilguns accelerate them to up to 3,000 m/s. When a projectile impacts, it has about as much energy as 60 kg of TNT. However, the ship does not possess any shielding technology.
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It may not look it, but this is actually the most elaborate ship I ever designed. There's a lot of ideas crammed in there, I tried to create something that really could be a spacefaring species' first long-range interstellar ship. Think Enterprise NX-01 style. Also quite happy with how it turned out, even though the design process and texturing were a pain.

A lander having just launched from the XOCINT'I.

A lander having just launched from the XOCINT'I.

3D view of the ship. It carries the symbol of the bird, although the xocint'i more closely resembles an archeopterix than a modern bird from Earth.

3D view of the ship. It carries the symbol of the bird, although the xocint'i more closely resembles an archeopterix than a modern bird from Earth.

I put a lot of thought into trying to making the XOCINT'I a believable design.

I put a lot of thought into trying to making the XOCINT'I a believable design.

Visualization of the conical distortion field which allows the XOCINT'I to reach relativistic velocities. It also serves as sort of a track guard, pushing aside small objects, such as micro asteroids.

Visualization of the conical distortion field which allows the XOCINT'I to reach relativistic velocities. It also serves as sort of a track guard, pushing aside small objects, such as micro asteroids.

The lander is a rather simple capsule design. It runs on battery power and solid fuel that is stored in inert form aboard the mothership. The lander is 8 m (26'2") wide, the XOCINT'I carries 4 of them.

The lander is a rather simple capsule design. It runs on battery power and solid fuel that is stored in inert form aboard the mothership. The lander is 8 m (26'2") wide, the XOCINT'I carries 4 of them.

I always had a sort of oval ship in mind that fits into the conical field, but the original design looked rather different. Eventually it turned into a sort of retro-ish rocket, but I like the result.

I always had a sort of oval ship in mind that fits into the conical field, but the original design looked rather different. Eventually it turned into a sort of retro-ish rocket, but I like the result.

Managed to upload the model to Sketchfab for you to explore.
Textures may take a moment to load.

Short animation of the XOCINT'I activating its warp drive. Watch with sound for the full experience.