Serven Tadel Aero Astro
The Serven Tadel Aero Astro Design Company was a small High Steelforge-based spacecraft design bureau and light shipyard which operated between 2148 and 2163. Founded during the first spacecraft manufacturing bubble on High Steelforge in its rush of post-Silence expansion, the firm focused on light light transports and couriers for operations out of low-infrastructure “bush” spaceports, particularly targeting use by VIPs. Although staffed by a number of the most talented starship engineers of the time, the firm’s monomaniacal focus on performance, excessive use of bespoke in-house subsystems, and poorly-organized manufacturing led to a series of flops which left the firm bankrupt. Despite the impressive performance of its designs, their involved maintenance requirements and scarceness of the special tooling required for many components led to the firms ignominious dissolution.
Some years following the firm’s demise, a handful of their surviving ships clinched a number of unexpected victories in long-distance interplanetary races between High Steelforge and Seaton IV; these successes led to renewed interest in the firm’s output. Shortly thereafter, a nearly complete database of the firm’s design materials was discovered in their then-abandoned offices. These examples became widely circulated, and in the mid 2200s, a number of small shipyards and manufacturing firms on High Steelforge announced a new serial production run of lightly modified STAAD designs, from which approximately 50 examples were produced with modest commercial success. Most of these examples went to data-running and VIP transport operations with a flair for exotic designs, and had notably successful and long-lived careers. A handful of additional runs in various parts of the Nova Compact followed, none larger than 100 units, with a various modifications reflecting improved technology and practices, and many more individual yards doing one-off builds. Despite the firm’s cult following among enthusiasts in the 2300s, STAAD designs have slowly fallen into irrelevance after their renaissance. Those few that still fly are heavily modified historical pieces, which putter along the provincial spaceways of remote systems or the demonstration fleets of spaceflight museums.
Ship Models
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Model 5
Model 13
