Lego Space Exploration

Interplanetary Explorer

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Engine Assembly

This craft is a long range planetary exploration vehicle. It's designed to be able to reach the outer planets and safely deliver a science team to the surface of a low gravity moon (the ship can't land -and- expect to take off again unless the gravity is less than earth's). Since travelling to the outer reaches of the solar system takes a large amount of time, the vehicle relies on cryo-stasis pods and energy-effecient orbital transfers. The engines are capable of supplying a rather large amount of thrust, but fuel has to be conserved for a long journey.

Shown here is the rear of the craft. The center engine assembly is the primary propulsion system- a pair of nuclear rockets engines. The two engines on the sides are the backup engines, used in emergencies, or for extra thrust when necessary.

[The engine nozzles pop off easily, but the rear hull is probably one of the sturdier sections of the model]

Inspection

After a successful landing, standard procedure is for the ship's Systems Officer (engineer) to perform a post-landing inspection to make sure there's no damage, and to see if the ship is beginning to sink into the soil. So soft light dust on the surface of planetoids and moons sometimes can't support much weight.

[I like this shot because it shows the scale, and gives you a sense of being in a far away desolate location. The stars in the sky really add to that, I think.]

The Bridge

Welcome to the bridge! The standard crew compliment is 5 for this ship. The pilot/commander sits in the center front seat, and during any landing or take-off procedure will wear his complete air system as a precaution (should there be a catastrophic failure, he needs to stay as functional as possible). The rest of the crew have their own workstations.

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The Living Area

This is the living quarters. It typically houses 2 beds and 3 cryo-chambers (which also double as beds for those crew members when they're not frozen). In this shot it was configured a little oddly with only two pods and 3 beds (one of which is behind the column). In the foreground on the right is the airlock hatch. The airlock takes up all of the lower portion of the center segment of the ship, since it needs to store a rover and equipment. The remainder of the lower deck is not usable space, since that is where most of the ships systems are located (including fuel, electrical generators, computers, sensors, life support, waste management, food supplies, etc).

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Mission Preperation

Here we can see the crew getting ready to explore their surroundings. The equipment undergoes some checks, and everyone puts on their packs. Here you can also see the open airlock doors (with a funky droid standing in front of them, but you can't fully make him out in this shot).

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Heading Out

Here you can see all of the equipment packs on the backs of the science team. The Systems Officer is riding the buggy to escort them to the edge of the valley, but is not part of the actual expedition.

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Heading Out

The wall of the valley looked too steep, so they decided to go the other way. Here you can see the science crew from the front. On the left is the Systems Officer in the rover. The science team consists of (from left to right) a Mission Specialist (next to the buggy), an exogeologist (carrying various stone-cutting tools), and an exobiologist (who carries a weapon, just in case).

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Collecting Samples

Here we see the biologist giving the geologist a hand at collecting some rock samples after dropping their packs. The mission specialist is standing by, since this is just a small unplanned stop.

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Exploded View

Exploded View. (Warning- the clickable image here is very large)

[Here you can see how the ship comes apart to access its innards. The main decks are 16x16 baseplates. Since they're baseplates instead of standard plates, they slide in and out easily. The ship is held together with snap-together "pin and socket" sort of joints]

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