Background:

The nature of its missions in the galaxy requires that the all ships carry a set of small spacecraft for dedicated escape and rescue operations. Located throughout both the Primary and Secondary Hulls, these ejectable lifeboats are designed to meet the short-term survival needs of the Starship crew in the event of a catastrophic emergency. As set down in the original Starfleet specifications, the standardized ASRV, or autonomous survival and recovery vehicle, is capable of the following operations: Rapid departure from its parent Starship with a minimum velocity of 40 m/s

Maneuvering Ability:

Independent maneuvering with a total delta-v of 3,600 m/sec.

Life Support:

Life support for a total of eighty-six person-days.

Life support on the ASRV is maintained by its automatic environmental system, providing complete atmospheric composition, pressure, humidity, and temperature control. Stored food and water supplies as well as a waste management system are included. Lightweight environment suits are stowed with portable survival packs for planetside operation.

Communications:

Subspace radio signaling for location and recovery and automatic distress beacons

Atmosphere Entry and Landing:

. The first group of ASRVs were delivered in 2337 in time to be fitted to the last Renaissance class Starship, the USS Hokkaido, and with minimal hardware and software changes were chosen as the lifeboats for the Galaxy class. Automated facilities on Earth, Mars, Rigel IV, and Starbase 326 produce 85% of the ASRVs, with satellite facilities on Velikan V and Rangifer II acting as industry second-sources for the remaining 15%. The ASRV measures 3 x 3 x 3 m and its shape is characterized as a truncated cube. The total mass is 1.35 metric tonnes. Its internal spaceframe is a standard beam and stringer arrangement, constructed from gamma-welded tritanium and frumium monocarbonite. The frame is skinned with single-crystal microfilleted tritanium, with umbilical pass-throughs, conformal emitters, and sensors doped with hafnium cobarate for passive thermal control during atmosphere entry.

Capacity:

The normal lifeboat crew capacity is four, with provisions for as many as six if necessary.

Added Features:

One important feature of the ASRV design, the in-line twin hatches, allows it to dock with other lifeboats to form larger clusters. This capability, nicknamed "gaggle mode" by experienced pilots, dramatically increases in-space survival rates by affording access to wounded crew members by medical personnel, combining consumables supplies, and adding propulsion options. Gaggle mode must be terminated prior to atmosphere entry, as the structural loads cannot be handled by the combined craft. Out of four hundred ejectable lifeboats installed within the Galaxy class, eighty are specialized ASRVs with two additional docking ports to increase the packing density and structural integrity of the gaggle.