Space Mine (TL10) Copyright (c) 1996 by Sean Barrett This anti-shipping space mine is armed with a single-shot railgun firing a three-inch long aluminum dart at over 14 miles per second. Firing the railgun destroys the entire mine, as the energy bank is detonated to provide the power surge, and the rails of the gun are collapsed inward by explosive charges, boosting its efficiency.) The mine consists of a large toroid, nine feet in thickness with a twenty-foot-diameter hole. The seventeen-foot long railgun is suspended through the hole by cables. The small (one-foot cube) control box is attached to the end of the railgun. This configuration is highly stealthy, and allows the mine to operate at full efficiency except that it cannot maneuver. It is most effective in a significant magnetic field or plasma wind. It can deploy a small magsail (see Barrett, Roleplayer #29) for maneuvering in such a regime. The magsail over fifteem minutes to deploy, and from the beginning of that operation the stealth design is severly compromised. While still in stealth mode, the magsail cable is furled within a large toroidial ring. When the sail is deployed, the ring's stealth covering breaks away and the structure is jettisoned (more than halving the mine's mass), and the cable unfurls. In either mode, its energy storage will keep it "live" almost indefinitely until it detects a target on its passive sensors. (Sophisticated "target-prioritizationalizing" criteria can be programmed, but most ship commanders prefer to stay far away from live mines even if the mine have been programmed to ignore them.) It then confirms the target with its short-range targetting ladar, and broadcasts targetting data over its simple radio set. Any other mines within range receive that data and either detonate themselves or maneuver to intercept. Subassemblies: Magsail ring, railgun spine, control box. Propulsion: One TL10 13 lbf thrust magsail (ring, 637 lbs., 16 mile radius, $318,252, 47,000 kW-s). Weaponry: One railgun (spine, 192 lbs., 13 cf, $317,057, 17 ft long, 8,333 kW-s to fire, doing 6d X 48 (3) impaling damage. Communications: One radio with short 500 mile range (box, neg. weight, size, and power, $13). Sensors: Ladar with 50 mile range, space scan and targeting options (box, 50 lbs., 1 cf, $46,875, 100 kW, scan 27). Radiation imager with 50 mile range (box, 25 lbs., 0.5 cf, $60,000, scan 27). Computers: One small computer, complexity 4, IQ 7, DX 10 (box, 1 lbs., $325, neg volume and power). Programs: Gunner (level 12, complexity 4, $90,000), Datalink (complexity 1, $200), Transmission Profiling (complexity 2, $250), Transmission Recognition Database (1 GB, $1,000), Magsail Pilot Skill (phys/ave, 4 points, level 11, complexity 4, $4,000). Targeting Systems: Targeting system for radar (see above, +2 to hit). Energy Bank: Non-rechargeable power cell stores 115,316 kW-s (box, 12 lbs., neg volume, $1,168) charges magsail, operates ladar for ten minutes, and fires railgun. Volume: Box (1.6 cf). Spine (13.4 cf). Ring (1,800 cf). Surface Area: Box (8 sf). Spine (34 sf). Ring (889 sf). Total area (932 sf). Structure: Box: super-light frame, standard materials (2 lbs., $40). Spine: incorporated in gun. Ring: super-light frame, standard materials (178 lbs., $4,447). Hit Points: Box (12 HT). Spine (51 HT). Ring (1,334 HT). Armor: DR 3 ablative (box, 1 lb., neg cost; spine, 3 lb., $2; ring, 80 lb., $40). Surface Features: 1,000 PF radiation shielding (box, 1 lb., $5). Radical stealth (box, 8 lbs., $6,228; spine, 34 lbs., $25,356; ring, 889 lbs., $667,110). Statistics: Weight 2,100/955 lbs. (stealthed/deployed). Volume 1,820 cf (7,000 cf to contain). Size modifier 5. Price $1,550,000. Space Performance: sAccel, sDecel, sMR 0.013g at 1 AU from Sol (varies greatly elsewhere).