Whiskey SHITS

The Subluminal Hypersonic Interorbital Transatmospheric Shuttle is manufactured by a SpaceBus-Boening collaborative group for the Virgin Galactic corporation. It's rather unfortunate designation was released to the press by a Chinese media relations officer who was in a hurry to meet a deadline. Internally, it is referred to as the Number Two.

The Whiskey class shuttles are designed to dock with Series I MARVs. They offer little in the way of comfort, and are used for quick runs to the surface planets. It can be used as a cross-system shuttle, although it is painfully slow, cramped, often messy, and can be quite smelly. It is very well suited as an atmospheric transport, however.

Since the Whiskey SHITS is a transport only, it carries no weapons and has very limited shielding.

Whiskey SHITS Features
Dual He3-Dt Fusion Thrusters
1 Emergency Ion Drive array
Scramjet atmospheric compressor
Hypersonic aerodynamics
Active cryo-ceramic heat shielding
18 months basic Life Support
Top Atmospheric speed: Mach 25
Crew: 2 (Pilot, Copilot)
Passengers: 6
Empty Mass: 95 tons
Cargo Capacity: 20 tons
Fuel Capacity: 20 tons (9 tons He3, 6 tons Dt, 5 tons Xe)
DeltaV: 1257.1 km/s
Max Acceleration: 41 m/s^s
Estimated Range: Earth to Mars in 12 days
Avg. Ion Drive DeltaV: 4.06 km/s
Ion Drive Estimated Range: Earth orbit to Mars orbit in 8.5 months