Discovery One is a fictional spacecraft shown in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Discovery One is a large nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship.

Specifications

Official Name: USSC Discovery One
USSA "Registration Number": XD-1 (X-Ray Delta One)
Overall Length: 140.1 m
Overall Beam: 16.7 m
Overall Draft: 17 m
Command Module Diameter: 16.5 m
Reactor Module Length: 32.2 m
Reactor Module Draft: 8.8 m
Mass: 5,440 tonnes
Life Support: (two men, out of hibernation): 90 months

Engine Type: Cavradyne Plasma Propulsion System (Six Engines)- Liquid Ammonia Fuel- Thrust Deflector Plates- Maximum Thrust 280,000 kgf (2.75 MN ).

Computer: HAL 9000 Logic Memory System (Completed Jan. 12, 1992 at the HAL Plant in Urbana, ILL.)

Suspended Animation System: Meditech 712-R Hibernacula (3 Centrifuge, 5 Medical Level) EVA Craft: Grumman DC-3 EVA Pods (3)

Pod Bay features: Three each Pod turntable Base, Extension motor, Extension Platform, Outer hull door, Space suit rack. Test bench with two LCD screens and HAL 9000 terminal. Two large emergency oxygen bottles. Nine small emergency oxygen bottles. Circuit Breaker Box. Manual control station with HAL 9000 terminal, Six LCD screens, and full control set.

Pod Bay Deck: Along with the Pod Bay, the Pod Bay Deck also features an emergency airlock, circuitry storage bay, two fresh water tanks, a maintenance equipment room, an emergency shelter and space suit rack, emergency batteries for the centrifuge and pod bay, and a zero-g toilet.

Living Module: Centrifuge, Magnetic-Drive type. 11.6 m. diameter. Rotation Rate 3 RPM. Living Module Control Stations: 12-screen HAL 9000 interface/ communications module, Nuclear reactor monitoring station, Remote probe control, Radar mapping station, Climate Control, and Revival Monitoring Station.

Living Module Habitation Features: Sanitary module, (Shower, Sink, Waste water recycling Control) Three Meditech 712-R Hibernacula, Sun-ray tanning station, Water Closet (Head), Three Circuit breaker panels. One emergency space suit locker, Two spare part lockers, Three clothing lockers.

Cockpit: Two seats for Mission Commander and Deputy Commander. Full range of instruments and control panels. Two sets of four LCD screens and HAL Visual Sensor.

Command Deck: The Command Deck includes the cockpit, zero-g astronomy lab, zero-g sciences lab, two fresh water tanks, six-spacesuit recharge unit, a pre-launch personnel clearance area, the circuit breaker room, and a zero-g toilet. The Command Deck also includes all HAL 9000 related systems (see below).

HAL 9000 systems: Logic memory center, auxiliary power unit, computer climate regulation system, autonomic systems control center, and reactor control system.

Thrusters: Eight Mk 114 on command module. 720 kgf (7.1 kN) thrust each. Two forward and two aft of reactor module. Nine Mk 29 vernier thrusters; three clustered around each Cavradyne engine exhaust. 1,600 kgf (15.7 kN) thrust each. Eight mid-course correction thrusters (four on each TJI propulsion mount) Four emergency escape rockets at Command Module rear.

Central Communications Complex: Discovery One's central communications complex is mounted atop the seventh fuel module aft of the command section. The main audio-visual communications antenna measures 4.13 meters in diamater. Both telemetry antennas measure 1.26 meters across. The entire assembly can be swiveled 360 degrees or folded downwards at any angle between 0 and 285 degrees.

Misc. Equipment: An emergency communications antenna, about half the size of the main antenna, is stored beneath the blow-away cover at the command module's top. Four probes (two atmospheric, two remote-controlled landers) and a telescope array are stored beneath the bottom blow-away cover.

Structural Support: Discovery One's reactor module is secured to the aftermost fuel module by four heavy-duty docking latches. Twelve reinforced coupling units along the spine provide additional support. The spine and reactor module are held in place by six docking latches at the intermodule adapter plate. The entire spine/reactor assembly can be jettisoned in an emergency by 8 explosive seperation bolts installed in the adapter plate. Finally, the entire Emergency Propulsion System can be jettisoned using a ring of 16 explosive bolts installed in a ring around the forward section of the EPS. There are no re-docking capability for any assembly.

Crew:
David Bowman (Mission Commander)
Frank Poole (Deputy Commander)
Victor Kaminsky (Jovian Survey Commander)
Jack Kimball (Geophysicist)
Charles Hunter (Astrophysicist)

Technical Notes by the British Interplanetary Association

Discovery: The vehicle selected for the Jovian mission is the impressive, 460-foot (140 m) long spaceship Discovery. So-called "Cavradyne" gaseous core, nuclear reactor engines at the rear provide the craft's propulsion. 275 feet (84 m) of tankage and structure separate the spherical part of the ship where the crew quarters, the computer, flight controls, small auxiliary craft, and instrumentation are located. In the centrifuge, the crew enjoy Moonlike gravity conditions created by spinning; it is there that they spend most of their time and where the hibernating astronauts sleep in their Hibernacula. Actual piloting, navigational checks, and the like take place in the zero-gravity environment command module. Other sections of the sphere include the pod bay, where three one-man repair and inspection craft are housed, and the HAL 9000 computer with its level-upon-level of memory storage and related elements.

Cavradyne Engines: Propulsion controls, designed with the assistance of General Electric's Valley Forge Space Technology Center and the UK Atomic Energy Authority, are located in the command module. Honeywell's nuclear reactor control panel displays information on such parameters as turbine, compressor, heat exchanger, secondary circulatory, and radiator liquid helium storage, generator and recuperator performance, and pressures and temperatures at various stations. Precise present readings can be obtained instantaneously on the control screen, if desired, as well as past performance and predicted future performance. The Cavradyne engines are based on the assumption of years of research and development, during the 1980s and '90s, of gaseous core nuclear reactors and high-temperature ionized gases. Theory is presumed to have showed that gaseous uranium-235 could be made critical in a cavity reactor only several feet or meters in diameter if the uranium atomic density were kept high, and if temperatures were maintained at a minimum of 20,000 °F (11,400 K). At first, progress was slow because of such early unsolved problems as how to reduce vortex turbulence in order to achieve high Separation ratios, and how to achieve adequate wall cooling in the face of the thermal radiation from the high-temperature ionized plasma. In the Cavradyne system, the temperature of the reactor is not directly limited by the capabilities of solid materials, since the central cavity is surrounded by a thick graphite wall that moderates the neutrons, reflecting most of them back into the cavity. Wall cooling is ensured by circulating the hydrogen propellant prior to its being heated. Fissionable fuel energy is transferred to the propellant by radiation through a specially designed rigid -- and coolable -- container.

Centrifuge: The centrifuge consists of rim-installed consoles, panels, screens, and devices. There is an automated kitchen developed with the assistance of RCA Whirlpool; a ship-to-Earth communications center; a complete medical section where the astronauts undergo regular automated checkups (results are displayed and recorded, diagnosis of deficiencies is given directly on a readout screen, and medicament or other treatment prescribed) an observatory, created with the help of astronomers at the Royal Greenwich Observatory; and a geophysical exploration module worked out with French engineers from the Paris-based Schlumberger firm. The latter permits a wide variety of surface and subsurface experimentation to take place on an alien body, such as an asteroid or a moon. Since subsurface structure could be extremely important in the spaceship's investigatory program in the Jovian system, a drill is incorporated into a remotely-controlled surface lander. Controls on the console include a depth selector, drilling rate selector, equipment calibration, recording and error analysis controls, and various screen and gage indications of subsurface characteristics.

Communications: Despite its huge size, the Discovery can be handled by the two astronauts (Dave Bowman and Frank Poole) and HAL 9000. IBM predicted that computer development will have advanced to such an extent that the mission could be undertaken with all the astronauts placed in hibernation. It is desired, however, that regular communications be maintained throughout the voyage between the pilot and copilot and mission control back on Earth. During communication, account is taken of the elapsed time for electromagnetic waves crossing space between the spaceship and the Earth. Naturally, this time would depend on the relative positions of the bodies in the Solar System at any given moment.

Current Status: Following malfuction of the HAL 9000 unit and the death or disappearance of most of the crew the discovery was abandoned in Jupiter orbit. Nine years later the ship was reactivated by the CISSS Alexi Leonov and was later used to boast that ship to escape the Jupiter system just prior to the nova that created Lucifer. The Discovery was destroyed just after transmitting one last message to Earth.

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.

This message was sent by the parties responsible for Jupiter's conversion into a mini-sun and was later confirmed as sent by the "evolved" David Bowman mission commander of the discovery and believed dead after the disaster. The message was to protect the life on Europa from interference by humans. Since then it has been violated only twice. By the USSS Galaxy and USSS Universe in 2061 when the former was hi-jacked and crashed and the latter was premitted to retrieve the crew, and in 3017 by Frank Poole the second member of the Discovery crew after he was recovered and revivied by advanced science.