TFL/Spacecraft

Spacecraft is the generic term for any vehicle capable of travelling through the vacuum of Realspace. Spacecrafts are generally categorized as:

* Starships, spacecraft with Necklin Rods, capable of entering Hyperspace, and optimized for rapid travel through the luminous ether
	+ Starfighters, starships with insufficient life support and cabin space for extended journeys that have to be carried on other ships
* Spaceships, spacecraft intended to travel long distances (0.5 AU or more) in Realspace. They may have Necklin Rods but are very slow in moving through the luminous ether
* SSTO Shuttles, spacecraft that are winged and streamlined for atmospheric flight and do not have the habitats or supplies for long distance travel. SSTO shuttles are used to travel between orbital stations and the planetary surface of worlds that are too poor to have an Orbital Beanstalk or for travelers that cannot use the beanstalk for some reason. Some ships carry their own SSTO shuttles but most do not bother.

Space stations are technically spacecraft, but they generally have minimal engines to adjust their orbit and generally are not considered spacecraft.

## Commercial spacecraft

Depending the size and capability, a spacecraft can be fairly expensive. Galactic Shipyards charge nearly $8 billion for one of their "Atlas" class, 150-kiloton freight carriers. But they are not so expensive as to be unaffordable - a new shipping line might start heavily in debt and working its way up to afford an Atlas, but private citizens are capable of owning smaller and cheaper ships.

On the low end, Galactic Shipyard's "Hermes" class, 500 ton SSTO cargo shuttle is a mere $40 million.

## Operating costs

Anyone - or any corporate entity - fortunate enough to own a spacecraft will quickly discover that the purchase price isn't the only cost associated with the ship.

### Bank Loans and Depreciation

The largest and most frequent cost associated with a spacecraft is servicing the bank loan necessary to purchase it. Reputable shipping lines buying huge starships can get loans at 8% interest and pay 1% of the purchase price every month for 12 years. Most people have to get loans at 12% interest, and pay 1.5% of the purchase price every month for 9 years. People with bad credit get loans at 16% interest, and pay 2% of the purchase price every month for 6 years.

A wise ship-owner will depreciate a ship that is fully paid off. Depreciating 0.5% of the base cost every month is reasonable, and allows for ship-owner to expand their fleet, or replace a ship destroyed in accident, war, or act of Piracy.

### Crew Salary

Commercial spacecraft usually have crew that expect to be paid on a regular basis. Stewards, engineering technicians, and command deck watch standers are usually paid $5K to $6K per month. Officers are usually paid twice that, though the captain of a small ship or the senior officer of a large ship will make around $30K per month. The captain of a large ship (over 10 kilo-tons) can usually expect $60K each month.

Smaller spacecraft after often owned by family groups or other partnerships. Partners get paid less - usually 25% to 50% less - but get a share of any profits earned by the ship's servicese.

Crew Requirements
SSTO shuttles can fly with a single pilot onboard, though most also have a systems operator that handles astrogation, communication, and sensors.

Spaceships are generally not legally permitted to leave an orbital with an accredited Master and an accredited Engineer on board, though not all orbitals enforce this. The Master must know ship-handling and be capable of handling in flight emergencies; the Engineer must be capable of maintaining the ship's life support systems (and the repair systems for any automated systems). Two additional crewmembers to stand watches on the command deck and two technicians are advised, but can be replaced with automated systems and often are. Larger ships do not strictly require more crew, but with more things to maintain and more capital at risk if something goes, they usually do. Stewards (crewmembers responsible for cooking and cleaning) are only absolutely required on passenger vessels, but even freighters find the morale and efficiency benefits of having dedicated stewards are worthwhile for even small crews.

Starships have the same legal minimum crew requirements as spaceships, but starships are much more strongly encouraged to keep a constant watch on the command deck by an organic or SAI: Hyperspace is a strange place, and purely automated systems have failed to catch problems as early as organics. The TFL/Commission for Interstellar Commerce has pushed, with some success, to make 3 command deck watchstanders and 3 engineering technicians (including officers in both cases) to the legal minimum, but that requirement is by no means universal in the Fringe or even strongly enforced in places where it is present.

### Consumables

While bank loans and crew salaries need to be paid regardless of what a ship is doing, consumables only need to be purchased for replacement as they are consumed.

Life support
Crew and passenger rations, air, and water can generally be purchased for $40 and 10 lbs per man-day, usually in 200 man-day blocks for $8,000 and a ton.
Luxury passengers expect better food and beverages, and supplies cost $400 and 10 lbs per man-day, or $80,000 and 1 ton for 200 man-days.
Reactor fuel
Reactors consume fuel constantly while in operation, but can be turned off if no power is required in order to save costs.
Fusion reactors need to refilled with H3 after a year's operation; this costs 10% of the original cost of the reactor.
Matter-anti-matter reactors need to be refilled with anti-hydrogen after a year's operation; this costs 50% of the original cost of the reactor.
Refueling either type of reactor takes a full 5 days.
Reaction mass
Spacecraft change speed by ejecting some kind of reaction mass away from the desired direction of travel, and then being pushed in the desired direction. Reaction mass is usually fully consumed during a journey and must be replaced before going anywhere else, but a stationary spacecraft doesn't use any reaction mass.
Hydrogen hypermass is the most common reaction mass, as it gives amazing thrust and delta-V that cannot be matched by standard matter. Hydrogen hypermass costs $20K per ton and most ship require thousands of tons of the stuff per voyage.
Water hypermass is a less common reaction mass for spaceships and starships, but a common reaction mass for SSTO shuttles and any spacecraft that wishes to take off from a planetary surface. It costs $50K per ton and usually 2.5% of the ship's loaded mass of the stuff is enough to reach orbit.
Reaction mass is generally loaded at the rate of ship SM x 100 tons per hour, with the labor cost included in the price of the reaction mass. Ships in a hurry can pay more to load faster; see *Freight transfer fees* below.
### Fees

Docking, Berthing, and Pad fees
It generally costs $2/ton of ship loaded mass per day to dock at an orbital station, with a minimum charge for 7 days and a reduced rate after that. Surface landing pads are generally half as expensive.
Airdocks on orbital stations - necessary for some of the larger repairs and maintenance - are significantly more expensive at $50/ton per day with no minimum.
Freight transfer fees
Loading or unloading freight or cargo usually costs $25 per 100 tons and usually takes 1 hour. Multiple loads can transferred at the same time, up to the craft's SM, for proportional cost. Additional simultaneous loads are twice as expensive, up to twice the normal rate. Increases past that are four times as expensive.
*Example*: A Starling tramp freight is SM+10 and has 1,800 tons of cargo capacity. It can normally be fully loaded or unloaded in 2 hours (for each operation) at a cost of $450. It is possible to fully load or unload the ship in an hour at the cost of $650; fully unloading and reloading the ship in a single hour costs $2,350.
Tramp freighters usually pay extra for expediting unloading; large bulk freighters rarely do.
Registration
Generally $2/ton per year but depends on the registry.
### Maintenance

Ships need constant maintenance and assorted spare parts.

A new ship can expect to pay about 0.25% of the purchase price every month and spend 1 day per month in the shipyards, though maintenance can be deferred for up to a year at a 25% increase in price per month of deferred maintenance, for a total of 5% of their purchase price in maintenance fees and spend 12 days in the yards per year.

A ship that is more than 15 years old can expect to pay 0.5% of the purchase price every month and spend 1.5 days per month in the shipyard, though again maintenance can be deferred by up to 6 months. Old ships generally 3.75% of their purchase price in maintenance fees every 6 months and spend 18 days in the yards per year.

Ships more than 40 years old require constant maintenance and minor repairs, and spend 1% of the purchase price every month and 3 days in the shipyard per month. They spend 7.5% of the purchase price every 6 months and spend a month in the yards every year.

In all cases, half the maintenance time needs to be spent in airdock.

Ships without engine rooms or engine workspaces need to spend an additional day per month on maintenance. This does not require a shipyard but does require a docking berth or landing pad; maintenance cannot be done while underway.

Highly automated ships need to spend $9K/month in extra maintenance fees for every crew position that is automated. Ships with more than the minimum number of technicians save $9K in monthly maintenance per extra technician, but have to pay the crew salary, provide quarters for the crew, and deal with complications of having more crew in general.

Take-offs and landings
Taking off or landing on a planet is extremely stressful on a craft, even one designed to do it. Each take-off and landing cycle counts as a month of operation for maintenance requirements.

Reactor overhauls
Fusion reactors need to be overhauled every 5 years. This takes 15 days and costs 10% of the original cost of the reactor; it can be done at the same time as other maintenance.
Matter-anti-matter reactors need to be overhauled every other year. This takes 15 days and costs 10% of the original cost of the reactor; it can be done at the same time as other maintenance.
Reactor overhauls do not have to done in an airdock and matter-anti-matter reactor overhauls are preferably done in a vacuum.

### Repairs

Many spacecraft do not experience any damage in their careers. However, piracy and acts of war do occur.

Spacecraft systems damaged in combat or accidents can usually be jury-rigged back into operation by the crew in short order. However, maintenance costs are doubled on spacecraft with jury-rigged systems. Permanently fixing a jury-rigged system costs 20% of the original cost of the system and takes SM days in a shipyard capable of performing the repair. Most Star Systems have a shipyard capable of repairing structural damage and all systems except nanocomposite armor, tactical or multipurpose comm/sensor arrays, matter-anti-matter power plants, smuggler holds, and military weapon batteries (missiles, U-V lasers, or particle beams). Black shipyards and systems noted for their shipyard capability can fix anything, though some non-black shipyards may report the ship if they are called on to repair smuggler holds or military weapon batteries.

Destroyed systems need to be replaced at full cost, plus a 20% labor fee, and takes twice as long as repairing a jury-rigged system.

Fully repairing a disabled system repairs 2% of the spacecraft's dHP and 2% of the spacecraft's ablative dDR. Replacing a destroyed system repairs 5% of the spacecraft's dHP and 5% of the spacecraft's ablative dDR. Any additional structural damage can be repaired at $500 per dHP or $50 per ablative dDR, regardless of ship size.

Repairs to and replacements of an engine need to be done in an airdock.