Northstar SEV

The Northstar Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) is a crewed interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft designed and built in collaboration between Nova Aerospace, NASA (United States), Rosocosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), CNSA (China), JAXA (Japan), ASA (Australia), BSA (Brazil), CSA (Canada), and UKSA (United Kingdom). It is able to support science exploration or colonization missions to even Kepler-452b for a currently indeterminate amount of time.

In 2031, a year after the Sightseer 1 probe started getting within close proximity of the 1242 Astarte system, a crewed spacecraft capable of interstellar travel was needed for expanding humanity's reach to beyond the Solar System. Thus, the design phase of the Northstar SEV was started with once again returning participants from the Avalonia and Atlantica DSIVs.

At light-year distances, Fusion rockets and Solar Sails may be able to arrive to nearby planetary systems within a human lifetime however the travel time is decades which is considered far too long to be practical by Nova Aerospace. During this time, Alcubierre Warp Drives were still under research and were not considered viable. Thus, the only propulsion system that was even remotely possible and practical was an Antimatter rocket, which is capable of reaching 92% the speed of light. Two distinctively large radiators are attached to the side of the engine section to get rid of excess heat.

Antimatter mining has already been developed since 2028 during the Sightseer program but it was yet to be done at scales as large as needed for the Northstar, thus, construction of larger Antimatter mining stations around Saturn and Jupiter using modified Atlantica DSIVs was started and finished in 2031. In 2065 Particle Accelerators were constructed in orbit to produce additional Antimatter.

The Northstar's gravity rings are able to be deflated back into the ship to create a smaller profile, this alongside the rather long truss design of the ship is able to protect the crew from Gamma Rays produced by Antimatter annihilation without any shielding. Other protection includes translucent Carbon Nanotube Whipple Shields.