The SDF-1 Macross (also called the ASS-1) is a fictional interstellar spacecraft from the The Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime series and its American rendition: Robotech. It is an abbreviation which stands for "Super Dimension Fortress." The SDF-1 Macross is indeed a maneuverable space fortress capable of travelling in different dimensions for faster-than-light movement (Space Folding, in which the ship basically creates a wormhole to move through).

Background

In the original Japanese version of the story, the Macross ship was a spacecraft formerly created by the alien Supervision army. After being damaged in a battle against their long-time enemies the Zentradi and abandoned, it wandered through space for some time, and in the year 1999 it crashed onto an unsuspecting Earth.

Inspection of the wreckage showed both technology centuries and probably millennia beyond ours, and huge humanoid users. In the course of a decade, the spacecraft was rebuilt on the island where it crashed (South Ataria Island in Macross, Macross Island in Robotech). Originally codenamed ASS-1 (for Alien Space Ship) on its arrival, it was now called the Super Dimension Fortress 1 Macross (a term coined from Macro to imply its massive size). (Note: English-speaking fans have extrapolated that the "-ss" suffix stands for space ship, but this is not an official explanation from the Japanese creators. The "-ss" originated from "-su" in the Japanese pronunciation, which in turn was derived from the Japanese pronunciation of Macbeth ("makubesu"), a pre-production name that the main production sponsor initally wanted.)

In 2009, the ship was prepared for its maiden voyage. The captain of the ship was Bruno J. Grobal (Henry Gloval in Robotech) with an all female bridge crew. First officer: Misa Hayase . Chief Communications Officer: Claudia LaSalle . The final three members of the bridge crew (known in the Robotech novels as the "bridge bunnies" and the "terrible trio") were Kim Kabirov , Shammy Milliome , and Vanessa Laird .

History

On the day of the maiden voyage, the Zentradi try to capture the former Supervision craft. The Macross takes off using its rocket thrusters and attempts to escape using its space-fold capability to escape from the moon. However, the space-fold calculations were off, and the Macross ended up near Pluto's orbit. At the same time, the Macross was close enough to the city on South Ataria Island that the entire city was caught in the space-fold bubble and transported to Pluto's orbit also. After the space-fold, the Macross's fold drives mysteriously vanished.

The civilians from the city (who survived in sealed shelters), were transplanted onto the Macross, and the entire city was rebuilt on the ship. The ship made its way from Pluto back to Earth, pursued by the Zentradi the whole way. During this time, the pinpoint barrier system is created from energy remaining from the fold drive. Also during this time, Captain Global ordered the ship's modular transformation, and Misa Hayase developed the Daedalus maneuver. Eventually, it splashed back down to Earth. Its stay on the Earth is brief, and the civilians forced to remain on board, because the Earth government wants to use it to lure the Zentradi from Earth. The new barrier system overload, which destroys a significant part of Ontario Quadrant on Earth, cements the ship's fate. It is sent back into space.

It is during this time that Zentradi deserters begin taking asylum on the Macross and the first Zentraedi-human wedding takes place on board. After the bombardment of the Earth, the Macross plays its role in winning Space War I by burrowing into the Zentraedi flagship and generating a barrier overload. After that, the Macross lands on Earth once more, too battered to rise again.

However, during Kamujin's final attack on the Macross (Khyron's Deathride in Robotech), the space craft manages to get the energy to lift off again to defend Macross City. It destroys the attacking ship, but is itself grievously damaged in the process, including the loss of its main cannon and the Daedalus landing craft. (The bridge crew survived almost unscratched.) The ship is repaired and refit, and it returns to service.

The SDF design inspired a second battleship, entirely human designed and built. The SDF-2 Megalord was being constructed at the Apollo Base on the Moon since November 2003, but it was only partly completed when work stopped during Space War I. However, after the end of the war, the ship underwent a massive redesign and became the colony ship SDF-2 Megaroad-01, the flagship of the fisrt long-distance colonization fleet. It was launched on September 2012, under the command of Captain Misa Hayase (Ichijyo) and hosting the famous Skull Squadron.

(It is interesting to note that originally, the launch of the Megaroad was to be portrayed in the final chapter of the original Japanese Macross television series, and character and mechanical designers Haruhiko Mikimoto and Kazutaka Miyatake even made designs for the event. However, this was scrapped, and the designs were left unused. The original design of this ship is very different from the one showed in Macross Flash Back 2012 four years later. It's a military ship, and included the bow similar to the original Macross that was altered to house the colony section of the ship in the later design. One could say the final design is a bigger and better non-transformable Macross with a new bridge section).

In Robotech, the SDF-1 is an operational total loss at Macross City and her radioactive hulk is buried under a gigantic earthen mound. Captain Global, the Bridge Bunnies, and Claudia Grant perished in the attack, but Lisa Hayes was ejected in a escape pod at the last possible moment by the Captain himself, and survived.

During Khyron's Deathride, SDF-2 Odyssey, which is SDF-1's sister ship, is also destroyed when Khyron attacks her in orbit with his ship's Reflex Cannon. Odyssey was to be Lisa Hayes's command.

Features

The SDF-1 Macross has numerous notable features including:

• Main cannon - a "super dimension energy" cannon capable of taking out multiple large Zentradi spacecraft in a single shot. It cannot be fired often because it drains the Macross of its energy. Also, due to the vanishing of the fold system and its power conducts, energy from the engines cannot travel directly to them, and the ship has to undergo a modular transformation to reconnect the cannon to another energy hub for use. (The main cannon is called the Reflex Cannon in Robotech)
• Gravity control system (although the system burst through the ship in Episode 2, the system was restored later on, and as of March 2040 they suffered no further problems)
• Space-fold Drive - allows faster than light travel (the original, repaired Supervision Army drives vanished in episode 3, taking with it energy conducts that fed the main cannon)
• Macross City - a complete city built within the ship to shelter and bring normality to the lives of over 50,000 civilians within. It also inadvertently provided an invaluable psychological advantage against the Zentradi, who were profoundly confused by civilian society.
• An air group of 212 VF-1 Valkyrie variable fighters
• 1 semi-submersible aircraft carrier + 1 semi-submersible assault landing vehicle - the Prometheus and Daedalus carriers, also taken in the space fold mishap, are docked onto the ship and look like arms in its humanoid configuration. Their semi-submersible nature allowed them to operate in space normally. Misa Hayase develops the idea of using the Daedalus to punch through Zentraedi ships (aka Daedalus Maneuver) (docked in Episode 4; Daedalus Maneuver first seen in Episode 5)
• Modular transformation - the ship's design is reconfigurable, and it can assume a humanoid configuration though the transformation procedure was the cause of much destruction and many casualties within the city (first seen in Episode 5) until the city buildings were arranged to accommodate the ship's various configurations.
• Pinpoint barrier - three crew members control three shielding spots with trackballs to reposition the spots on the ship that are threatened by enemy fire. If necessary, they can position together for maximum protection against a particularly powerful attack (developed in Episode 6 from the residue of the space-fold drive)
• Omni-directional barrier - a version of the pinpoint barrier that envelopes the whole ship, but overloads under too much stress (introduced in Episode 19; overload in Episodes 19 and 27)