Civil Warp Shuttlepod, Mk I

General Specifications:

Length: 5m
Width: 2.6m
Height: 2m
Max Warp: 3.2 (burst speed 4.5)
Cruise: 2.6
Max Impulse: 0.53 lightspeed
Crew: 1 person, and up to 3 passengers

Armaments: None.

Type: Civil Shuttle Pod, Mark I

Status: Civil Shuttle Pods (CSP) are being manufactured at an undetermined rate throughout Federation space. There is a 6-month waiting period to take delivery of a CSP at this time. As demand is met, the waiting period is expected to diminish to normal levels.

About Ship: Since the start of the Dominion war, there had been a severe shortage of small, warp-capable vessels throughout the Federation. Although there were many higher priority projects, Starfleet encouraged engineers at shipyards throughout the Federation to devote some amount of spare time to devising an inexpensive warp-capable shuttlepod which could be easily manufactured at any shipyard using a minimum of strategically-important materials.

Meanwhile, with the introduction of the SARPEV MK II, Starfleet found itself in the possession of over 12 thousand obsolete SARPEV Mk Is. They had been placed in storage at the Jupiter Boneyard in the Sol system, and were awaiting disposition, when an engineer at the boneyard applied for and received permission to "tinker" with one.

After gutting the spaceframe of military-spec hardware, the engineer and a team of assistants began modifying the SARPEV. Frequent communications between this team and the nearby Utopia Planitia shipyards determined the least critical materials to incorporate in the modifications. Transparent aluminum was used for the expansive "greenhouse", while flat sheets of monocrystalline aluminum alloy were welded together for the rest of the hull additions.

Modifications to the stardrive section were largely concerned with the removal of classified equipment and the installation of standard elements such as life support and a small fusion generator as an emergency backup. The impulse and warp engines were derated to reduce the amount of stress they would have to bear, resulting in an efficient package that has an estimated mean time between failure rate of 20 years. When completed, the shuttlepod prototype was submitted to the Utopia Planitia shipyards for certification and testing.

After several months, a group of Utopia Planitia engineers submitted a petition to Starfleet, requesting that they enter the Civil Shuttlepod, Mk I into production immediately. Cost cost-analysis indicated the design not only met or exceeded all applicable Starfleet spaceworthyness regulations, but that with the large number of SARPEV MkI hulls available, the first years' production could provide 43% of small craft requirements at a cost less than 20% of any other currently projected design.