Hyperion

This was an old project I did back in 2014 for a fusion-powered mission to Saturn. I was experimenting with a kind of comic book style, which I think turned out okay but ultimately moved away from. The Hyperion mission was going to be part of the backstory to my hard SF worldbuilding project, but was eventually replaced with an entirely different series of events. The overall concept was later reused as a mission to Neptune, the Argo Expedition, which will eventually become its own art series here.

Hyperion was the first crewed expedition to Saturn, launched in 2190 from Lunar orbit. The ship itself, a huge vehicle over 800 meters long, was constructed in Lunar orbit over a period of 5 years. Its propulsion system is a gas-dynamic fusion engine, burning deuterium. Gas-dynamic magnetically-confined fusion rockets had very long reaction chambers lined with powerful electromagnets and capped with magnetic mirrors to keep the fusion plasma tightly contained. This design had several advantages, the most important of which was that it made confining the high-temperature plasma easier than in a tokamak, because the fields are essentially easier to align (Tokamaks use curved spherical confinement fields which can be difficult to keep perfectly aligned, often resulting in unexpected weak spots which can disrupt the plasma too much to allow for a sustained reaction). Gas-dynamic fusion rockets are therefore characteristically long and thin, and the reaction chamber is lined with enormous, broad radiators.

The crew of 10 spend most of their time within the cylindrical habitats on either end of the rotating arms. Spinning at around 4 rotations per minute, the crew experience about 0.7 g's of artificial gravity. The crew is a rather diverse mix of people from several nation-states on Earth and a few of the burgeoning settlements on Mars.

Hyperion is equipped with two landers; a spidery, airless lander hab designed for landing a crew of 4 on the surface of Enceladus and sustaining them for 2 weeks, and an aeroshell containing a Titan lander hab and ascent vehicle, which can house a crew of 5 for 3 weeks.