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(HDY) Challenger Recon Frigate

The Challenger was developed during the early days of the exploration of the Betelgeuse system, when most of the planets in the system were untouched and many "small steps" were required. This called for a multi role ship that could adapt well to many environments and had the ability to support a small crew over extended periods of time by producing necessary goods themselves.

The Challenger, though classified as a military grade vessel, does carry only a light anti-fighter and anti-personnel armament and a central rocket launcher, and will be little but a nuisance to bigger and tougher opponents. However, the Challenger was never designed for combat.
The ship excels at scouting an unexpored planet or moon and gathering vital data, that will later be reviewed by a large scientific commitee that will decide whether the planet is worth being permanently colonized, and which sorts of endeavours can be developed on the surface. For example, should a planet be rich in ressources, HDY will turn to a secondary company that specializes in mining and ressourcing operations. The second company will (hopefully) start ressourcing the planet. In return, HDY demands a tax of 10% on every good sold from the planet, as they were the original discoverers.
Although HDY is the main user of the ship, the Ori Republic also showed its interest in the Challenger, however, the more military focussed ACI Warden beat the Challenger by far, and the Republic only ordered a handful for planetary troop support.
Civilians also make use of modified Challengers occasionally. For example, a common modification enhances the ship's cargo capacity, allowing it to be used as a space-to-ground cargo transport. Science remains the ship's primary purpose however, and as such, many renowned academies own a small fleet of Challengers for a multitude of applications ranging from gravimetrical science to geology studies and cartography work.

Development of the Challenger was a long and costly one: Two of the three prototypes were lost early on in the development, with only a single survivor. This was due to HDY's inexperience with large, atmosphere capable crafts. After months of analysis, a team of crash inspectors revealed in their final report that the atmospheric desnity calculation program that had been written by HDY was malfunctioning when the air was humid, causing the thrusters not to fire, which in term lead to a crash-landing.
After this issue had been fixed, the ship was progressing nicely, and before long it could be mass produced.

Flying the Challenger in atmosphere requires a bit of practice, and entering from orbit isn't a task for the faint hearted. The ship's hydrogen propulsion can't fully compensate for the vessel's mass, so above 0.9G, the ship will not be able to maintain a controlled descent and will go into freefall until the atmospheric engines kick in. Therefor, HDY recommends to find a landing spot that is as close as possible to sea level. However, HDY officials reassure us that this method of entry is perfectly safe, and any "close calls" are merely the consequence of inexperienced pilots flying too fast during the initial descent.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
When descending from orbit, keep your speed below 50m/s as long as possible to avoid hitting the ground. Don't panic if you fall, the atmospheric engines should be able to catch you just in time. Forward thrusters should not be used simultaneously with backwards thrusters on full hydrogen mode. In atmosphere, it is recommended to shut down the hydrogen thrsuers so that the remaining hydrogen is diverted to the lift engines and not used for acceleration, as this will result in a shortage, and your ship will descend! Getting out of the atmosphere is easy: Just come to a halt and burn up, you will be able to break free without much difficulty.

Hades Driveyards.
Warships since 2016.