Merkur(2001)

Merkur docked to Cytherean Station One over Venus

The Merkur is the craft from the World of 2001. It is a Soviet equivalent of Polaris 1-XE, an experimental craft for a propulsion of the larger ship(Leonov).

The Merkur was a testbed for the first Sakharov drive unit, flying to Venus and back in record time. As with its equivalent the Polaris, the ship and fuel tanks are too small for practical use as an inner-system transport. Only one example of this ship exists.

After finishing it's record trip Merkur was hired as a super-efficient space tug, used to eject Mars cargo boxes.

• World of 2001 homepage