S-class starship

S-class Starship

The S-class designates small-to-mid sized starships, generally limited to a crew (or crew plus passengers) count of about six, although some models trade off crew accommodations for additional cargo or fuel space.

Both Jason Curtis and Jackie Roberts fly S-class ships, specifically variations on the Mitsubishi Sapphire hull. (In the era of T-Space, this is no longer the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries company, but a descendant of their aircraft division by way of various mergers and acquisitions by other aerospace companies. The (fictional) Sapphire is roughly the same dimensions as the (real-life) 1980s Mitsubishi Diamond business jet, although longer, but the lifting body delta planform gives it much more interior volume, as needed for interstellar trips.

It's typical warp speed is about 500 c, it can make the Sol-Alpha Centauri run in just over three days, plus additional time for in-system manoeuvring.

Specific Ships

• Jason Curtis' ship is the Starfire, with a custom interior.
• Jackie Roberts' ship is the Sophie, acquired second hand.
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar belongs to Drake University on Sawyers World, piloted by Rajesh Gupta in the beginning of The Chara Talisman. Although not specified, it is an S-class but not necessarily a Sapphire. It is (somewhat confusingly, alas) named for both the astrophysicist and the first ship to land on an extrasolar planet (specifically, on Kakuloa, see Alpha Centauri: First Landing