USS Magnitude

USS Magnitude

the very first purpose built Science Corps / Science Counil expedition vessel. The 8,000 meter long USS Magnitude was not armed and built for one mission only.

The ship, a multi stage vessel designed to reach a point no regular space ship could reach.

Crew: 40 Mission Specialists Command: Captain James Balford

It was decided to not arm the vessel as it was unlikely the ship would encounter anyone.

The crew spend most of the travel time in suspended animation.

The Mission was called :

Mission to Point Z


Point Z
Right after the Union was founded, new Science Council was tasked with the complete survey of the M-0 galaxy .This enormous project, expected to be complete in 12- 14,000 years, seeks to survey every star and feature go the M-0 galaxy. The very first survey was to establish a true image of the galaxy. At this point no known active society / species had yet left the galaxy far enough to produce an image of the entire star island (and return with that image)

The Science Council decided the first expedition / survey mission should be gaining a picture of the whole and a special designed ship (the USS Magnitude ) was to fly along the Z axis (vertical to the galaxy plane) to reach Point Z, a mathematical determined spot in Transgalactic space from where the Galaxy could be seen as whole.

Point Z was beyond the range of any known space ship at that time ( 1,000,000 LY) So a multi stage ship was developed much like the old Chemical rockets of Earth with.

Dates
The expedition left the Sol System on 4.5.2249 and reached Z Point on the 12th of December in 2309 and sending the first complete image of the Galaxy back. They established an automated observatory[1] at Point Z and returned in 2,369 with the cone module only. The stages jettisoned on the way.

The Mission Parameters


Travel one million light years vertical to the plane of the M-0 Galaxy to establish a permanent Observatory at a point where the entire galaxy can be seen. Take images of the galaxy as whole and return. While traveling outbound communication relay buoys were to be placed to keep contact and to send back the images and survey results.

RESULT
Transmission 12122309-001 included a high resolution image of the M-0 Galaxy as a whole and is considered an important historic event.

The automated Observatory has been expoanded into a permanently manned station