Pegasus

The **Pegasus (IE-1)** is an interstellar superluminal spacecraft designed by scientists at Vega Aerospace with the goal of achieving warp travel as well as the first Earth ship to achieve warp travel. It was the culmination of Project Nomad, an interstellar exploration project designed to take humans to nearby stars in a fraction of the time of sublight spacecraft. The Pegasus was the first of the Interstellar Explorer-series spacecraft, launched on behalf of the International Space Commission in 2024. This spacecraft makes us of a modified version of Gauthier drive. This form of 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 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 meaning Interstellar Explorer-1.

It is generally 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 designed by Matt Jeffries. The two hoop-shaped warp field generators encompass the bulk 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 actually 300 meters with a crew complement of 950.

The Pegasus has a crew of four astronauts and a 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 spacecraft's warp field as a makeshift shield.

## History

In the 1990s, Dr. Jean-Michel Gauthier theorized that faster-than-light warp drives were not only possible but 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 up to test the precursors to the Pegasus. One test at light speed in 2012 showed that warp drive was not only possible but 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 Nomad 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 to complete while crew selection and training took around the same duration.

Pegasus was delayed several times but was officially launched in September 2024.

## Crew

The *Pegasus* is crewed by four astronauts.

**Prime Crew of the Pegasus (2024)**
 Pilot
 Flight Engineer
 Science Specialist