DeLuna Prime Voyager

A draft of the design of the gen one Prime Voyager

### Model years

456OT - 465OT (first gen), 466OT - 474OT (second gen), 475OT - 481OT (third gen)

The **DeLuna Prime Voyager** is a light long-distance passenger craft manufactured by the DeLuna Ethermotive Company for three generations from 456OT until 481OT. The craft features a sport-style clipper cockpit affixed to a two-room passenger cabin including a cockpit overhead sleeping area, a kitchenette-dining area, and a mechanical room containing the bulk of the craft's power systems and a lavatory.

The Prime Voyager was conceived as a competitor craft to the Reliacore Odyssey CS, a common light transport craft which, in its time, was popularly repurposed as a passenger craft. Though lacking the speed and expansive interior of the Odyssey CS, the Prime Voyager boasted greater fuel and energy economy as well as greater durability, meaning it could travel further and for longer periods of time at lesser cost to the owner.

Though first generation sales were considered disappointing, revisions in later generations of the craft saw it gain great popularity in the civilian market, selling over eighteen million units from 465OT until production ended in 481OT.

## First generation (456 - 465OT)

The Prime Voyager was introduced in 456OT as a part of DeLuna's initiative to expand into vehicle production -previously, the company solely manufactured parts - and immediately became known for its unusual construction and bizarre control layout, reminiscent of those of land vessels such as automobiles, featuring a throttle in the center console, an electric steering wheel for controlling yaw, with two buttons on either side of the steering wheel controlling pitch, and a foot lever for controlling roll. It was largely due to this control layout that the gen one Prime Voyager underperformed commercially. The design also featured, as would later generations, a single door located on the passenger side of the cabin and no doors leading directly into the cockpit. The door opened to the outside and was equipped with fold-out stairs which often failed to deploy.

Despite its idiosyncrasies, the gen one Prime Voyager received praise for its ample storage space and comfortable, if diminutive, cabin.

### Development

The Prime Voyager was engineered by Mecaen automotive engineer Odomas Elanin, and was the third of five craft he would design for DeLuna. The first prototype was completed in 453OT and featured a DeLuna "One" prototype engine mounted in the cockpit instrument compartment, unlike the production model, which mounted the engine in the mechanical room, instead utilizing the instrument compartment to house the craft's navigational computer and CE drive. The production model was also outfitted with the higher-power LS300 engine, a choice which was criticized for demonstrating DeLuna's lack of faith in their own engineering capabilities.

## Second generation (466 - 474OT)

DeLuna responded gracefully to the criticisms of the first generation of the Prime Voyager, making several alterations addressing common problem points for the design of the second gen craft. The control layout of the second gen Prime Voyager was revised to follow a more typical control scheme, with a right hand throttle and left hand snap-operated gyroscope controlling pitch, yaw, and roll. The second gen craft was also outfitted with DeLuna's own mid-performance distance optimized passenger engine, developed 465OT, increasing the craft's top speed while maintaining the economy of the previous model's LS300. Cosmetically, the second generation sported a stouter cockpit as well as a rounder and slightly larger cabin. The cabin interior maintained its homey aesthetic.

The second generation was very well received and performed very well in the market, becoming one of the most popular crafts of the decade. The second gen Prime Voyager would later be recognized as an iconic vehicle of early human expansion into the far reaches of space.

## Third generation (474 - 481OT)

Eight years after the introduction of the massively popular second generation craft, public interest in purchasing new Prime Voyagers had waned considerably. DeLuna saw fit to completely redesign the Prime Voyager for its third generation, and in doing so introduced their first *Elanin*-class craft. Odomas Elanin was again brought on to engineer the vehicle, which was designed to keep all the functionality of the earlier generations while adding capabilities of a light freighter and recreational-sporting craft. Rather than adopt the cockpit-forward design of the earlier generations, DeLuna settled on a mid-cockpit design seating the cockpit on top of the cabin, which was increased from 460sqft to 1150sqft including five rooms.