USS Robert A. Heinlein

USS Robert A. Heinlein

Background

The United States Starship Robert A. Heinlein is the (non-landing) flagship of the first Alpha Centauri expedition, as described in Alpha Centauri: First Landing. It is named (both in the book and in real life) for renowned American science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (1926-2001), winner of, among other awards, nine Hugos (including Retro Hugos) and the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master award.

Alastair Mayer, the creator of T-Space, is a fan of Heinlein's work and was fortunate to meet and work with him at the 1986 meeting of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy, hosted by Larry Niven.

The book Alpha Centauri: First Landing is dedicated to both Robert A. Heinlein and Poul Anderson (after whom a lander is named).

Details

In contrast to the landers, the USS Heinlein is not intended to land on any Earthlike planets (it can, however, land on smaller airless bodies like Earth's Moon). As such the warp pods and fusion reactor are part of the structure, not in an external detachable warp collar. This also means that space required for landing and launch fuel tankage on the landers is available as cargo space on the Heinlein (and on the Chinese counterpart, Xing Hua). One critical, large piece of "cargo" is the nuclear (fission) powered refueling module which is landed separately and ahead of any crewed landing. (Carrying sufficient fuel to launch again would make the landers too heavy to land, they have to refuel on the surface.) Prior to that, the fission reactor can also serve as a source of anti-neutrinos for the planetary tomography scans.