LL-X² "Swordfish"

Type of ship: Experimental Space Explorer

Provisional Registration: LL-X²

Nickname: X² or "Swordfish"

History:

During its first presentation, the LL-X² was so promising that it quickly earned all the attention and dreams of the aerospace industry. Equipped with two powerful studoniques engines powered by crystal brickonium, its bold design was and still is unique, even today. Yet despite its unequaled capabilities, only the experimental prototype was to ever leave the Federation’s factories.

During the mission that was to precede its large-scale production, the device was lost in mysterious circumstances, and the mystery remains even today.Yet this was a banal mineral exploration mission. The X² was to conduct reconnaissance work within a planetary system in formation only a few parsecs away. Preliminary analyses had revealed that there were conditions conducive to the presence of brickonium in the area. So the X² was embarked in the hold of a cargo vessel with the appropriate equipment. The first part of the trip went off without a hitch. According to the last conversations exchanged with the crew, an anomaly was detected near the space-time jump coordinate. However it was considered minor and ignored. The cargo ship then effected the jump ... only to never reappear. Thus vanished the only copy of LL-X² and with it all its prospecting and mining equipment, including an armada of first generation exo robots. This was a big blow to the Federation's aerospace agency, which very nearly did not recover.

Despite an official investigation and multiple search missions, this disappearance remains unexplained for over forty years.

Ironically, a second prospecting mission was finally sent some years later and concluded that there absolutely no brickonium in this sector. This ore proved to be so rare and difficult to synthesize that the aerospace industry definitively renounced using it as a fuel, even though its performances were exceptional. The hope of one day seeing a spaceship based on LL-X² technology are vain.

But? ... Wait ... I’ve just received some startling information ... a Federation probe has apparently picked up a signal from an unidentified wreck on a minor planet. Could it be that ...

The project:

As you may have guessed, this project is a continuation of Lego Ideas Exo Suit, with the aim of bringing a bit of company to Pete and Yve. While imagining this spaceship I’ve tried to stay true to the spirit of the classic lego space theme of the 1970s & 80s: of peaceful and mysterious adventures around space and scientific explorations. While designing these I tried to take into account the current availability of lego parts.

You can see alternative versions of this project (different colour schemes, simplified mechanism, additional features), just click on "updates". You can also visit this Flickr gallery to see high-resolution images.

Features considered:

- A working cockpit

- A transparent opening cover to access the crystal brickonium

- A retractable landing gear mechanism.

- A hold up a container for brickonium

- A spider robot

- One or two astronauts

- And perhaps even more (why not?) :)

Estimated numbers of parts: 500.

You’ve read this far?! Thanks!

So now, click "support"!