Ambitious

The Ambitious (IE-1) is an interstellar superluminal spacecraft designed by scientists at Vega Aerospace to achieve warp travel, and it is the first Earth ship to achieve warp travel. It was the culmination of Project Argonaut, an interstellar exploration project designed to take humans to nearby stars in a fraction of the time of sublight spacecraft. The Ambitious was the first of the Interstellar Explorer-series spacecraft, launched on behalf of the International Space Commission on September 26, 2026. This spacecraft makes use of a modified version of the Gauthier drive. This warp drive uses negative energy derived from isoridium found in the asteroid that nearly struck Earth in 1999 to travel faster than light. The spacecraft is notable for its groundbreaking explorations to nearby stars to Earth and navigational surveys of the wormhole network. The Pegasus is also notable for being the first starship to open commerce between the nations of Earth and Crose.
The energy required to power the warp drive is approximately the negative mass-energy equivalence of Voyager 1, which has a mass of approximately 700 kilograms. The ship has two outer rings (to reduce required energy) that generate the warp field- a contraction of space ahead and an expansion of space behind it. The space inside the rings is optimized to fit more space for cargo, crew, and equipment. 
The ship's designation is IE-1, which means Interstellar Explorer-1. 
It has generally been regarded as a quantum leap in technology since the start of the jet age. 
== Design ==
The design of the spacecraft is based on an early design of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series, which was designed by Matt Jeffries. The two hoop-shaped warp field generators encompass most of the spacecraft's mass. The design is also similar to the IXS Enterprise concept art designed by Mark Rademaker. The Jeffries-designed spacecraft is suggested to be 120 meters long and carry a crew of 35. Visual artist Rick Sternbach suggested the spacecraft was 300 meters with a crew complement of 950. 
The Ambitious has a crew of four astronauts and an SSTO lander vehicle for extraterrestrial visits. The spacecraft also boasts an array of solar panels for power generation. It is unarmed but can utilize the plasma envelope generated by the spacecraft's warp field as a makeshift shield. 
== History ==
In the 1990s, Dr. Jean-Michel Gauthier theorized that faster-than-light warp drives were possible and imminently so. In 1999, the asteroid designated 1997 DOA1 was deflected from Earth orbit and discovered to possess heavy amounts of isoridium, a rare material that when refined can release large amounts of negative energy allowing for faster-than-light travel. 
In the aftermath of the crewed mission to Saturn in the mid-late 2000s, plans were drawn to test the precursors to the Ambitious. One test at light speed in 2012 showed that warp drive was not only possible but that even faster multiples of c could be achieved in due course. This test showed that the testbed platform could complete the journey from Earth to Pluto in less than a day—the roundtrip journey was completed in 12 hours.
Project Argonaut was announced in the early 2010s after the conclusion of Project Juno. Construction on the spacecraft took the same amount of time as Juno, two and a half years, while crew selection and training took around the same duration. 
Ambitious was delayed several times but was officially launched in September 2026. 
== Crew ==
The Ambitious is crewed by four astronauts.
Prime Crew of the Pegasus (2024)
Position 	Astronaut 	Organization 	Nation
Commander 	Frank Sawyer 	Vega Aerospace	United States
Pilot 	Alanna Olson 	ANSA 	Australia
Flight Engineer 	Quinn Moseley 	NASA/JPL 	United States
Science Specialist	Dr. Sebastian Eckels	UKSA 	United Kingdom
Category:Spacecraft
Category:Vega Aerospace