A Prospecting ship is used in Asteroid Mining operations.
Description
Prospecting ships are used to mine ice, mineral and metal ores from asteroids for commercial purposes. The ships that prospect and mine asteroids are varied and run the gamut from well-equipped corporate survey ships to barely functional rock hoppers.
Larger ships have internal ore bays while smaller ships tow ore loads in mining nets.
Maneuvering with an Ore Load
1. Towing an ore load requires keeping a constant tension on the tow cables attached to the mining nets.
2. Thrusters are used to rotate and re-orient the ship and cargo for deceleration burns, without changing momentum.
3. The ship fires thrusters to slow momentum of ship and cargo.[1]
Defensive Tactics
While most prospecting ships are unarmed, Belters have developed a tactic to defend themselves using their cargo. After re-orienting the ship and cargo as they would to decelerate, the ship instead disengages their mining net allowing the asteroid rubble in the net to continue on to strike their target.
Known Prospecting Ships
- Xinglong
- Azure Dragon
- Cassandra
- Rosy Cross
- Adrianopole
- Tucumcari
- Highland Swing
- Inverted Loop
- Gozerian
- Caustic Bitch