Knorr Class Light Cargo Transport

Name: Knorr
Craft: Knorr Class Light Cargo Transport
Type: Light freighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 20 x 45.7 meters (estimated)
Weight: 750 tons
Skill: Space Transports
Crew: 3; sksleton: 1/+5
Passenger Capacity: 5
Cargo Capacity: 210 tons
Consumables / Fuel Capacity: 15 tons (800 hours)
Cost: 22,500
Maintenance Costs: 900 per year
Nav Computer: yes (intra-system only)
Maneuverability: 2D
Space: 5; Hard Burn: 7
Atmosphere: 295; 850 kmh; Hard Burn: 50; 1,000 kmh
Hull: 4D+2
Sensors

• Passive: 20 / 0D+1
• Scan: 40 / 0D+1
• Search: 80 / 0D+2
• Focus: 2 / 1D

Weapons - None

Complement:

• Escape Pods: 8

Description: Some nine years before the Unification War, ship designer Contessa Herkeimer set about designing the light cargo transport to supply the needs of Border and Rim freight shippers. The result was the “Knorr.” Her design was fairly radical for the time, and seems to polarize opinions. People either love the vessel, or hate it. There aren’t many sitting on the fence.

Herkeimer’s first design decision was to make a fixed engine craft, to decrease complexity. Second was to make her a vertical lander, for the same reason. The Knorr class’s deck planes match the acceleration planes, creating less strain on [and need for] artificial gravity. Because of the slight tonnage of the vessel, there’re no secondary craft aboard—a design decision considered suicidal by some, although small two-man escape pods offset this to a degree. The cockpit is positioned smack dab above the main airlock, relative to a planetary landing, which allows a greater degree of control when docking. The pulse drive was positioned forward of the thrusters, another innovation which has raised a few eyebrows.

All of the design considerations reduce her crew requirement down to pilot, copilot, and engineer. Anyone with even basic technical skill can usually keep her limping along to a service location. Regardless, many bottom-of-the-barrel mechanics eke out a position aboard a Knorr as the ship’s engineer, kept aboard just in case.

The Herkeimer Knorr class has become a familiar sight in the light transport lanes away from the core. The vessel is not terribly competitive against larger bulk transports that ply the trades lanes of the core, and is therefore a less frequent sight there.

Source:

• The Firefly and Serenity Database: Knorr Class
• Serenity Role Playing Game: Six-Shooters & Spaceships (page 78)
• thedemonapostle