Frontier Reach Expeditions

Frontier Reach Expeditions was founded on Callisto in 2170 by veterans of the Vanguard Cartographic Society. It offers chartered expeditions and prospecting surveys to the ice giants.

Two Odyssey Deep Explorers carry clients and scientists on multi-year voyages. Two Tempest Ice Runners act as supply tankers, and three Aurora Mk II couriers deliver samples and data. The Odyssey was the obvious choice for long expeditions. It has an 1,800 AU range, four pilots, 18 crew and a closed-loop habitat that supports up to six years. Each cost 1,240 million credits, which Frontier Reach financed through partnerships with mining companies interested in outer-system resources.

The Tempest Ice Runners, costing 520 million credits each, act as supply tankers. Their nuclear thermal engines use water-derived hydrogen, so they can refuel from ice found on outer moons. The three Aurora Mk II couriers, costing 38.5 million credits each, carry samples and data back to the inner system quickly. With a top speed of 1,450 km/s, an Aurora can bring samples from Saturn to Mars in a fraction of the time an Odyssey would need.

Frontier Reach also offers places on its expeditions to paying passengers, and has a waiting list of more than 3,000 people for its next voyage to Neptune. The company works closely with the Vanguard Cartographic Society, sharing data and occasionally crew.

In 2186 Frontier Reach found a large deposit of volatile ices on a Uranian moon. Mateo Silva, Halcyon's chief test pilot, flew one of the expedition's early test flights.