[89: Spaceship]
Some time has passed. Eleanor was wasting no time at all. Eleanor was determined to make this come to life.
"Theodore, have the AEGIS drone's main engine be a chemical propellant. Use a compact nuclear fusion reactor and an electronic propulsion system for the secondary and tertiary engines, probably ion propellant. Add multiple thrusters as well. Add radiators, heat pipes, and other compact heat management systems for any rejected energy. Add another compact nuclear fusion reactor to power all systems as well, and also include a converter to use the waste heat from the reactor to provide electricity, and add batteries as an emergency power source."
As Eleanor spoke, the holographic screen changed. Multiple complex parts, some big and small, moved all over the place. Numbers changed rapidly as theoretical results were provided by Theodore.
"Add navigation systems and autonomous capabilities. Computers, inertial measurement systems, cameras, radar, range finders, sensors, and all that stuff. It should be capable of independent navigation, system management, and mission execution. It should also be able to recognize when its own information is insufficient."
The drone slowly took shape. It wasn't pretty by any means or aesthetically pleasing, but that wasn't important at all. What mattered was that it was theoretically functional. A very large drone continued to take shape on the holographic screen.
"We're almost there. Add radiation protection, space debris protection, and fault-tolerant systems. Add shielding on sensitive components and electronics, electrical isolation between critical subsystems, independent backup controllers, and all that stuff. Add redundancy as well."
The drone continued to take shape. At this point, only Eleanor truly understood what she was looking at. The data would give the layperson a headache, and trying to understand the theoretical work would require a group of seasoned engineers. Of course, Eleanor had Theodore, her AI.
"Okay, let's go to weapons. Add guided missile launch systems as the main weapon. Use a large railgun as a special weapon. Add directed energy weapons for point defense, add kinetic point-defense weapons as a last resort for protection, and add defensive interceptors. Add energy shields as well." Eleanor was about to call it, but then remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot. Add cloaking and anti-detection systems as well."
Eleanor sat down and let out a large sigh. She rubbed her forehead. Her head hurt. Yes, she knew quite a bit about science. But designing spacecraft wasn't her strong suit, even though some principles she already knew did apply. She not only had to learn more, but she also had to learn some of the specifics. While she could be lazy with it, she wanted to get it right. Or at least, as close to right as she could. Her quirk would do the real heavy lifting.
She had to rely on abstraction for the most part; once she understood the granular details, she tried to simplify as much as she could. Beyond what was mentioned, she worked on a lot more.
{AEGIS Model 1 orbital drone complete. While this is theoretically possible, it would need immense breakthroughs in science and engineering in present systems to reach the projected power requirements as well as the heat management requirements. The projected length of the drone is 18 meters, and the projected weight is 35 tonnes.}
Eleanor smirked. "Heh. Theoretically possible is all I need. That's how I've been using some of my really advanced stuff. Drones that cloak, drones that put up energy shields while blocking projectiles but letting projectiles I fire go out, using unconventional aircraft design, propulsion systems, and other stuff."
Eleanor got up. She moved outside and looked up. It was nighttime. She summoned her bow. She nocked a yellow energy arrow and aimed at the sky.
Eleanor took a deep breath. "Alright, here goes nothing. If this works…Project THOR will be really fun to do."
Eleanor pulled the arrow back, feeling immense resistance. "Damn…this is more than the AC-130 I summoned that one time." Slowly, but steadily, she was able to pull it all the way back.
Eleanor let the arrow go. It flew true, a straight line toward the sky. It ignored conventional wisdom. The arrow kept flying, ignoring gravity.
Eleanor quickly went back inside. She reached for the tablet that was on the messy workspace. She watched her tablet patiently, waiting to see the connection to the space drone. The minutes passed. One minute became three.
'Okay, it should've crossed the Kármán Line by now. Maybe seven more minutes to reach LEO?' Eleanor thought to herself. Her leg was shaking, rapidly bouncing up and down. This was a different kind of nervousness she was feeling.
Three minutes turned into eight minutes.
For Eleanor, it felt forever. But just then, her tablet started to get a signal.
Eleanor shot up. She was fully standing, her eyes looking at the tablet intensely. She noticed it had been eight minutes since she started receiving a signal.
'Eight minutes. Okay, that's…amazing. That would mean the arrow was travelling at about 28,000 kilometers per hour. Holy cow.' Eleanor had not expected this at all.
Finally, her tablet gave an image. And it was beautiful.
A massive curving horizon that dropped away in every direction, allowing a view of thousands of miles of oceans and continents at a single glance. The oceans looked impossibly blue, deep and vibrant. Swirling white cloud decks, brownish-green landmasses, deserts, and mountain ranges contrasted with the ocean. Geographic features like coastlines, islands, river deltas, and lakes popped out clearly.
"I sometimes forget how beautiful this planet truly is. A beautiful blue ball in the cosmos." Eleanor admired the view for a bit before she focused again.
"Okay, this is LEO. If it's left here, the Earth will rotate under it. Assuming a standard satellite, that means it will be over multiple locations about 16 times per day. That means about every hour and a half it will be over Japan. That's too unreliable for a battlefield. It has to remain available at all times. That would mean it'd need to go into GEO. That's about 35,786 kilometers from Earth."
The view of Earth from the tablet slowly got farther. Eventually, the terminator line became visible. "At this height, latency shouldn't be an issue. Maybe about 500 milliseconds in total, give or take 20 milliseconds." (A/N: That time is about as fast it will ever be for a satellite in GEO. Even 22nd-century technology can't overcome fundamental physics. And by that I mean the speed of light. That's about as much of a hard cap anything can have.)
"But now the problem is the time it takes for a projectile to reach Earth from here. Hmm…this wouldn't be something used to hit rapid targets. But hitting stationary targets? Hmm…yeah, that would be the main purpose for being in GEO. If I need a rapid attack, I'd need to go to the lowest boundary of LEO possible. About 200 kilometers from Earth. Yeah, this is something to be used when the normal skies become too dangerous or crowded, and I need my drones to have more protection."
Eleanor tested out some of the drone's systems. For what it was, it worked so far. The only issue was the weapons. She couldn't test that without attracting major attention.
"Space treaties be damned, but I'm not risking anything. I'll label this a success for now."
Eleanor recalled the drone. She let out a sigh and decided to fully rest.
"I'll start Project THOR next."