Maintaining awareness of what’s happening in space around the ship is one of the most critical functions performed by the tactical team. Unlike in science fiction other vessels don’t just automatically appear on “long range sensors”. They can only be detected and tracked by the radiation they emit, ideally before they have a chance to detect your own ship.
How many crew does Endeavour need to successfully carry out her deep-space mission? This is a question being asked throughout the vessel development team, not least because they need to ensure room for everyone to sleep. The question is also critical to the design of vessel systems that will need crew to support them. Automation and AI built into the command and control system significantly reduces the number of crew needed to operate most systems, but there must still be sufficient crew to cope if systems malfunction or are damaged and manual intervention is required.
The size of the vessel’s crew is a critical element in the vessel’s design. Crew numbers and structure will need to be sufficient for achieving mission goals (including scientific and diplomatic), maintaining vessel operation and supporting the crew. This draft proposal is intended to provide guidance on expected crew disposition.
