Delphinus-1 Subglacial Rover
Many of the larger icy moons of the Sol system's gas giants have interior oceans of liquid water, kept liquid through tidal heating caused by the interactions of the two gravity wells. The exoplanet Krysto, home of the famed ICEPLANET team 2002, was a true planet rather than a moon, but it did have a particularly large and close moon.
It took the Iceplaneteers some time to realize the potential of Krysto's subsurface ocean - the deeply hostile surface conditions combined with Blacktron factional conflicts meant that their limited resources were mostly put to other tasks - but after some time a mission was planned to melt a shaft through the thick icecap to the internal sea of Krysto.
The Aquarius Project, as it was called, centered initially around a large submarine, the Interior eXploration Vessel Aquarius, but there were other vehicles besides the IXV Aquarius. The Delphinus-1 was a rover used for exploring the subglacial seabed, though it did have a limited swimming ability. The rather large laser cannon proved necessary as there were a number of very large and rather dangerous creatures that called the interior ocean their home.
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This has a little too much yellow and not enough white to really mesh well with my previous "Alt-Seatron" Aquarius Project creations, but I'm mostly pleased with the overall design. In order to mesh with but remain distinct from the Ice Planet factional colours, the intent is that the IP2002 colours are used on the surface, and for the Aquarius Project interior exploration stuff the blue is replaced by yellow and the trans neon orange by trans red.
Delphinus-1 Subglacial Rover
Many of the larger icy moons of the Sol system's gas giants have interior oceans of liquid water, kept liquid through tidal heating caused by the interactions of the two gravity wells. The exoplanet Krysto, home of the famed ICEPLANET team 2002, was a true planet rather than a moon, but it did have a particularly large and close moon.
It took the Iceplaneteers some time to realize the potential of Krysto's subsurface ocean - the deeply hostile surface conditions combined with Blacktron factional conflicts meant that their limited resources were mostly put to other tasks - but after some time a mission was planned to melt a shaft through the thick icecap to the internal sea of Krysto.
The Aquarius Project, as it was called, centered initially around a large submarine, the Interior eXploration Vessel Aquarius, but there were other vehicles besides the IXV Aquarius. The Delphinus-1 was a rover used for exploring the subglacial seabed, though it did have a limited swimming ability. The rather large laser cannon proved necessary as there were a number of very large and rather dangerous creatures that called the interior ocean their home.
~~~
This has a little too much yellow and not enough white to really mesh well with my previous "Alt-Seatron" Aquarius Project creations, but I'm mostly pleased with the overall design. In order to mesh with but remain distinct from the Ice Planet factional colours, the intent is that the IP2002 colours are used on the surface, and for the Aquarius Project interior exploration stuff the blue is replaced by yellow and the trans neon orange by trans red.