Specifications - Class A Shuttlepod

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Summary

Short-Range Sublight Shuttle

General

Class		A
Role		Short-Range Sublight Shuttle
Duration		6 Years
Time Between Refits		1 Year
Time Between Resupply		After Every Other Deployment
Description		Shuttlepods are far from a "new" concept to Starfleet, having been in use with their fleet from the United Earth days. They have historically fulfilled a more utilitarian role compared to their Shuttlecraft contemporaries, ferrying both personnel and cargo across extremely short distances, usually exceeding no more than 400 Kilometers. While they had their purpose in the United Earth days, the advent of both Shuttlecraft, and later transporter technologies rendered them obsolete, and were more-or-less phased out completely by 2230. While under ideal circumstances, Starfleet wouldn't have seen a need to waste their resources on the development of technology that they considered to be outmoded, ongoing reliability issues with transporter technology necessitated a temporary workaround. Thus, in 2253, Starfleet began development of what would come to be their first shuttlepod in 23 years, the Class A. Designed with an extremely short range in mind, the Class A was intended to fulfill lesser transport duties that would've been considered "wasteful" by their larger Class F contemporaries. To keep costs low, the Class A was only ever fitted with impulse drives, making it less than ideal for interplanetary travel. However, atmospheric travel was factored into the design, allowing for routine flights between orbiting craft or stations and planetside facilities. Even with that, however, most crews who have operated a Class A for atmospheric flights have commented that the ride is "rough" on a good day and "insufferable" on a bad one. Their small size and limited budget also hampers their defensive capabilities; while a small handful early models were fitted with Type-I Phaser Emitters, this feature was ultimately scrapped in 2256 due to budgetary cuts. It was instead presumed that, in an emergency situation, a Class A could act something like an escape pod, with enough power to quickly get its crew out of harm's way, and then emit a distress beacon so that they could be rescued by allied ships. While the project to develop long-range interstellar transports has long since been cancelled in favor of the more cost-effective Class F Shuttlecraft, the Class A Shuttlepod has only ever been treated as a temporary measure, designed purely to fulfill short-distance transport duties where the use of a Class F would be a waste of fuel. That being said, they are fast nearing the end of their usable lifespan, and are expected to be phased out by 2270 in favor of a more robust Shuttlepod, the Class AA.

Dimensions

Length		3.6 Meters
Width		2.4 Meters
Height		1.6 Meters
Decks		1

Personnel

Officers		2
Emergency Capacity		5

Speed

Cruise Speed		Warp 1
Maximum Speed		Warp 2