Free Blenderings: VASIMR Interplanetery Spacecraft

NASA VASIMR propulsion Mars mission spacecraft

VASIMR drive over Mars(not mine)

   This blend is my own take on the spacecraf in these two pictures.
 It combines elements of both spacecraft, but without the badly placed engine radiators.  I also have 4x VASIMR drives as I've read they will be mounted in pairs to prevent magnetic torque.
   The pods on the three booms are small nuclear reactors, the large tanks hold hydrogen for the VASIMR drive units.  The stumpy rocket mounted on the bow of the spacecraft is the landing/return vhicle, and the crew is housed inside the main cylindrical body, with radiation protection provided by the reaction mass tanks.

Another VASIMR ship(not mine)

   I couldn't find any specs for the spacecraft, but it is likly to be fairly fast, although limited by the low power of the reactors, which appear to be thermovoltaic, like the SNAP series NASA experimented with.

   In a hard science 'Verse this spacecraft could be a interplanetary yacht, courier, patroll craft, small passenger liner, or goverment vessel.  Replace some of the remass tanks with habitat pods and it could carry large numbers of people or medium sized cargoes between the moons of a planetary system with ease.

This is my own attempt.

   Feel free to change. add to, render, modify, etc. the mesh.  If you do use it in a finished work, however, I would appreciate recognition for it, thanks.

DOWNLOAD NASA Mars mission spacecraft  (WARNING, partially unfinished.  Needs a little work on the landing vehicle.)