Bombshell Genius
The Jessica without the main rotational bearing
Image Source: Cornucopia 3D
Intent: To provide a landing gear for frigate-sized ships and larger
Development Thread: Did someone order landing gears?
Manufacturer: Ringovinda Systems
Model: Jessica variable geometry landing gear
Affiliation: Open market
Modularity: No
Size: Capital ship-mounted
Production: Mass-Produced.
Material: Alusteel, standard hydraulic and electronic components
Strengths:
- Can fit a wide array of capital ships ranging from frigate-sized up to Star Destroyer-sized
- Allows mounted ships to land on uneven terrain
Weaknesses:
- Maintenance-intensive due to the sheer number of actuators
- Requires special hardware for the variable geometry features to activate
- Does not negate the need for repulsorlift generators
Description: Born as a pet project of Jessica Med-Beq while she worked at Kuat Drive Yards, the project caused her to be fired from KDY over engineering disagreements and to made her vow vengeance on the company. She even accepted to lend her first name to the product, in exchange of which she was to receive 1/7 of the profits made on the resulting product. The load-bearing surface being equipped with fourteen alusteel claws that can be individually rotated and actuated for angular elevation and height. The main arm can also be actuated for height and angular elevation. Finally, the arm is attached to a rotational bearing, which allows the arm to rotate, for a total of about 200 actuators. With all these features, the Jessica can land on uneven terrain. Each of the fourteen claws has a plate of alusteel affixed to its end so that the load-bearing surface is a 15x15m square on a level surface. The maximum vertical clearance that can be achieved is about 150 meters. With that said, due to the high number of moving parts, the Jessica is rather maintenance-intensive.
The Jessica made its operational debut in the Maersk-class bulk freighter, equipped with seven of these units. It requires a minimum of three landing gears on any ship fitted with it. For the design of the control software, the help of Corellia Digital has been enlisted its design. In addition, special avionics are necessary for the variable geometry features to activate, namely a GPWS with ports leading to the landing gears themselves.
