ND-001 Nadesico

The ND-001 Nadesico is a space battleship in the anime and manga series Martian Successor Nadesico.

Development
The Nadesico was constructed by the private corporation Nergal Heavy Industries, the first of a series of "high mobile battleship" vessels built by the concern. It was created in response to the United Earth Armed Forces' inability to effectively combat the threat posed by the Jovian Lizards. At the time of its construction, the Nadesico was considered the most advanced ship ever built by human hands and Earth's only hope for victory against the Jovian invasion.

Technical Information
Specifications & physical arrangement
The Nadesico measures 298 metres in total length by 148 metres in total width by 106.8 metres in total height. Its total weight is 37,530 metric tons. The main hull is divided into twelve decks. Typical crew complement numbers 214.

The main hull contains the bulk of the ship's crew accommodation, cargo, and tactical systems. The forward part contains launch tubes for the ship's Aestevalis humanoid combat mecha, as well as the muzzle of the ship's primary weapon, the gravity blast cannon. The rear of the main hull contains the ship's propulsion engines. Atop the main hull is an elongated, conning-tower like structure, at the front of which is the ship's bridge. Extending forward from either side of the forward main hull are two additional hull sections, which give the front of the ship a vaguely catamaran-like appearance. These sections contain various systems including the Nadesicos secondary armament, an arsenal of guided missiles.

Propulsion systems
The Nadesico derives its propulsion from a combination of four nuclear pulse engines and a pair of phase transition engines.

The phase transition engines is an incredibly powerful system apparently engineered by Nergal based on ancient Martian technology. It is not merely a powerplant but an advanced temporal/spacial manipulation device which generates graviton particles by harvesting the potential energy of the para-space-time dimension.

However, it only reaches its full output in a total vacuum, with an altitude of at least 20 thousand kilometers being necessary for peak performance. For transit within atmosphere at lower altitudes, the Nadesico relies on its far less powerful and advanced nuclear pulse engines.

Command and communication systems
The Nadesico is controlled from a bridge of a three-tiered design located at the front of the conning tower atop the main hull.

On the top level is the captain's station, flanked by additional places for the ship's first officer and other high-ranking command staff. Directly below and slightly forward of is the second level, where the work of controlling the ship is actually performed.

The second level has three crew stations: A center one for the operator of the ship's SVC-2027 core computer system, a helm station to the computer operator's right, and a communications station to the left.

The bottom level of the bridge is the largest of the three. Its floor is dominated by a large display screen which can be used for the display of navigational maps or other data, and is often employed in operations planning.

A main forward viewscreen affords the entire bridge crew a view of space outside the ship, and the entire bridge is liberally equipped with console monitors and holographic displays used for tasks from propulsion status to communication.

The SVC-2027 model core computer system, nicknamed "Omoikane" handles all of the ship's functions. Computer terminals throughout the ship are connected to the SVC-2027 mainframe, allowing the crew to access information from the computer's extensive library or important ship functions to be handled away from the main station on the bridge should it become necessary.

The Nadesico is equipped with a full suite of state-of-the-art communication systems, allowing for audio and visual transmission both externally, as with other vessels, space stations, or planetary installations, and internally, as for the delivery of bulletins to the crew or conversation between crew members. Holographic displays are present in virtually every part of the ship, meaning there is no place where a crew member cannot be reached with vital information.

Offensive tactical systems
The Nadesicos primary weapon is the gravity blast cannon, a massive gun which occupies most of the center of the ship's main hull. It is supplied with power directly from the phase transition engines and is capable of destroying a conventional technology fleet with a single shot. A huge amount of power is needed to fire the weapon, and since the phase transition engines can only operate most efficiently in vacuum or near-vacuum, it sometimes becomes impossible to fire the gravity blast cannon repeatedly at low altitude, as happened when the Nadesico was attacked by a Jovian fleet at the remains of Mars' Utopia colony.

The ship's secondary weapons array is relatively small and weak by comparison, but it includes a large number of missiles in launch tubes inside the ship's twin forward hull sections. These missiles can be fired in guided mode to track and hit a locked target or in proximity detonation mode where they will explode once entering within a specified distance from a target. This allows the missiles to be used as mines, as demonstrated during the Nadesicos engagement with the Kannazuki, a Jovian vessel equipped with a "leap cannon" which allowed it to boson jump bombs directly inside a target.

Defensive tactical systems
The Nadesicos main protection against attack is the distortion field, a projected warp in space around the ship which deflects or neutralizes energy and gravity weapon fire. It has only a limited effect on physical attacks. Throughout most of the ship's early engagements against Jovian forces, the distortion field rendered the ship virtually immune to damage.

Later, the ship's head technician Seiya Uribatake expanded on the concept to create the distortion block, a system of small distortion fields within the ship which serve to compartmentalize sections of the ship to prevent the spread of damage.

Embarked craft
The Nadesico has a spacious main hangar used for the storage and maintenance of its Aestevalis combat mecha. The Nadesico carries a variety of Aestevalis types for varying tactical situations, including the basic ground-based frame, Zero-G battle frames for space combat, aerial battle frames for extended atmospheric deployment, and artillery frames for ground combat situations where heavy firepower and armor protection are called for. Tubes allow for the catapult-style deployment of the space and aerial frames or manual deployment under the Aestevalis own power if a catapult launch is not possible.

A small shuttle craft used for transport and liaison tasks, the Hinagiku, is also carried. The Hinagiku does not deploy from the main hangar bay but instead has its own docking port on the Nadesicos ventral main hull. When docked, the Hinagiku fits almost unnoticeably into the ship's belly.

Ship AI

Omoikane (æ€?å…¼) is the artificially intelligent ship's computer of the Nadesico. It is named after the Shinto god .

In Episode 12, Ruri and Akito save Omoikane from being "reformatted" by the UEAF (who are now allied to Nadesico, but who suffer grievous losses through attacks launched by Omoikane, which remembers the UEAF as enemies) and stop it from attacking the UEAF, and we see that Omoikane likes Gekigangar III as well. Omoikane takes the form of a tree in the virtual reality landscape. The tree mirrors various legendary trees of knowledge and life. Akito trims a few branches to remove the part of Omoikane's memory that identifies the UEAF as the enemy.

The Japanese phrase "é‡?ã?„é?˜", which has the same pronunciation "omoi-kane", means "heavy bell". This meaning is also important in the anime series Nadesico. Sporadically, a logo is displayed for Omoikane, including the shape of a Japanese bell.

You can see the Kanji descriptions and translations for [http://www.solon.org/cgi-bin/j-e/fgr/dokanji?indext&ivalue=3b57 omoi] and [http://www.solon.org/cgi-bin/j-e/fgr/dokanji?indext&ivalue=3773 kane] (as used in [http://www.solon.org/cgi-bin/j-e/dosearch?sDicton&HPS&LJ&Tkaneru&NOFUZZYon&WCnone&fgr&S26&LI=on kaneru].)

Crew accommodation
As a privately constructed and owned ship, the Nadesico affords its crew a significantly greater degree of comfort than is probably typical of commissioned military vessels.

Crew quarters
Private staterooms of various sizes are available for most of the ship's senior officers and other important crew. Lower-ranking members probably have only shared accommodations, though this has not been confirmed on-screen.

Galley
The ship's galley is exceptionally well stocked and well staffed, with a small squad of cooks on hand to prepare a multitude of dishes to suit individual crew members' personal tastes in the goodly-sized cafeteria. Large refrigeration chambers make sure the ship can operate for extended periods without having to resupply.

Recreational facilities
The Nadesico has a large observation room through which the crew can observe space outside the ship. The room can also simulate a variety of environments through the use of holographic projection. Another recreation lounge is appointed with a variety of diversions including a ping-pong table and video game units. Meditation rooms are available for crew members seeking time alone for peace and reflection, and hot spring/sauna-style baths can be used for further relaxation.

Nadesico-class Ships
Four ships of the "Nadesico class" are known to exist. They are produced by Nergal and, like the Delphinium mecha wing, named after flowers.
* ND-001 Nadesico (ãƒŠãƒ‡ã‚·ã‚³): The focal vessel of the series
* ND-002 Cosmos (ã‚³ã‚¹ãƒ¢ã‚¹): Built while the Nadesico was travelling through time. A much larger ship with a multi-barrel gravity blast cannon array. Capable of opening up and functioning as a mobile servicing dock for the Nadesico.
* ND-003 Kakitsubata (ã‚«ã‚ãƒ„ãƒ?ã‚¿ ): Highly maneuverable, with vertically-stacked engines, a heavy gravity blast cannon, and the ability to independently boson jump. Defends the Nadesico and the alien Martian ruins from the Jovians, but is ultimately destroyed by numerically superior Jovian forces.
* ND-004 Shakuyaku (ã‚«ã‚ãƒ„ãƒ?ã‚¿): Originally built for and slated to receive the Y-unit. Ends up damaged beyond repair when the Jovians attack the secret lunar base at which it was being assembled, leaving the Y-unit to the Nadesico.

Y-Unit upgrades
The "Y-unit" (short for Yamato-unit) is a modular attachment which fits on the ship's forward hull and increases the ship's physical dimensions. It was originally designed for use on her sister ship, the ND-004 Shakuyaku, but was fitted to the Nadesico after the Shakuyakus destruction during a Jovian attack on Nergal's lunar base. Minor variations in the two ships' systems originally caused some teething problems with the Y-Unit when it was attached to the Nadesico, but these were soon sorted out.

The Y-Unit's purpose is, simply stated, to increase weapon and engine output. It increases the ship's phase transition engine complement to four, and by utilizing the phase transition engines in concert, the Y-Unit creates a new weapon, the phase transition cannon, which folds space around the target location and completely obliterates anything within the area of the reaction.

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