Project Cold Boot

Project Cold Boot was a MISC High Industrial (MISC-HI) spacecraft project launched to develop additional revenue streams from existing MISC assets using limited resources. The Prospector is the most famous ship to come out of the project.

Review of the Freelancer light transport
In 2910, after the successful modification of the base Freelancer for both survey and fire suppression missions, MISC was keen to study even more niche uses for the chassis. To that end, MISC’s management reluctantly agreed to write off nine Freelancers which were transferred to the Cold Boot team. The Cold Boot team began by spit-balling potential roles for a purpose-built Freelancer variant, which ranged from ordinary combat support drones to fire suppression spacecraft. With nearly three hundred rough concepts, the team voted to divide into three design groups to pursue more advanced physical development of the top three options.

Freeminder
The Freeminder was a business-oriented design which was to be a secure data relay. By 2914, the Freeminder team proved unable to produce an effective prototype, with the Freelancer’s internal space unsuited to shielding the number of system blades needed for the project.

Observer
The Observer was an armored space-to-ground reconnaissance vehicle aimed for a military contract. The concept had proven spaceworthy in simulations and a great deal of work had been done constructing the alternative, transparent nose cone for the physical build when word that the rumored ground reconnaissance contract had been withdrawn due to a shifting military budget. The incomplete prototype remained on display at MISC’s Los Arenas laboratory for years and was eventually scrapped.

The Miner / Prospector
The Miner was a dedicated mining ship and it was considered the least likely to go forward in 2910. It was widely considered that both terrestrial and asteroid mining were simply operations to large-scale and could only be profitable when funded by major corporations, not by individuals with small mining ships. In a world where 400-meter mining platforms could strip small asteroids in a matter of hours, it didn't seem practical that an individual operator would ever pursue mining. Despite the odds, the ship ultimately developed into the Prospector, the most famous ship to come out of the project.