![]() It looks like the Samson takes its real world inspiration from a couple of different helicopters - namely the Boeing AH-64 Apache and the Bell UH-1 Iroquois aka the Huey, which played a huge role in the Vietnam war that Avatar takes some of its inspirations from. When the RDA started preparing large-scale operations for Pandora, the Samson’s reliability and sturdiness made it the ideal candidate for everyday operations in uncharted alien territories. Trial runs in Antarctica, the Himalayas, and Honduras proved the Samson could fly well in difficult atmospheres and/or extreme temperatures with minimal maintenance work needed. The Samson stands out as the main workhorse of RDA operations on Pandora thanks to its cargo-carrying capabilities, detachable rocket pods, and side-door guns. Fans of James Cameron’s filmography might make a clear connection between the Dragon’s design and that of the Colonial Marines’ dropships in Aliens (a movie worthy of a top spot on our Alien movies, ranked worst to best list).Īnother impressive example of the spaceships and vehicles of Avatar, the Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson are ducted-fan crafts that can be easily mistaken for Scorpion Gunships from afar. It makes up for its movement-related shortcomings with a vast array of heavy machine guns, dozens of rocket and missile pods, and the possibility of using complements of door-gunners. Unsurprisingly, the Dragon’s size and heavy armor make it slower and less maneuverable than the SA-2 Samson and AT-99 Scorpion (more on those later). It’s a heavy gunship used for full-scale military operations, or as support during smaller incursions into hostile territory its specs make it the most powerful non-nuclear weapon on Pandora. The C-21 Dragon Assault Ship only appears in the film during the attacks on the Omaticaya Hometree (which is completely destroyed) and, later, the Tree of Souls, but it gets plenty of screen time. Mitsubishi MK-6 Amplified Mobility Platform As seen in Avatar, Valkyries also have vertical take-off and landing capabilities and can even be used for military operations despite their massive size and limited maneuverability. While these vessels are designed mainly for transport activities, some are left on Pandora and later re-purposed to serve as automated gas harvesters that skim through Polyphemus’ (the planet which Pandora orbits around) upper atmosphere to obtain the anti-hydrogen and deuterium used to refuel ISV spacecrafts. Two Valkyries are carried by each ISV Venture Star. On the trip back home, around 25 tons of refined unobtanium can be fit inside. The Valkyrie SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit)-TAV-37 B-class shuttlecraft is, as stated above, of utmost importance to the Resources Development Administration’s (RDA) operations on Pandora – they’re the ships which offload new personnel, armed troops, and Earth-manufactured machinery and supplies. We've recently spotted a potentially habitable planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A While there is obviously a fair bit of artistic license here, it's an entirely plausible set-up. Unobtanium, the extremely valuable mineral only found on Pandora, is key to the construction of these spacecraft, as it helps contain the matter-antimatter reactions needed to space-travel within reasonable time frames. ![]() ![]() That speed is then maintained for nearly six years until the ship decelerates with another months-long process. The Venture Star covers the 4.37 light years of distance between Earth and the Alpha Centauri system in an expected timeframe of 6.75 years – an initial acceleration takes place for about six months, reaching 0.7 times the speed of light. As stated in the movie, the trip between Earth and Pandora takes more than five years, so each Venture Star carries a substantial amount of cargo and over 100 passengers, plus four crew members who also hit the sack in cryosleep for the entirety of the trip. It kind of looks like a space station, and that’s because it was designed to operate only in deep space shuttle-like ships called Valkyries (more on them below) are the vehicles that actually land on Pandora’s surface. The first man-made creation we see in the movie is the most important of the spaceships and vehicles of Avatar the Interstellar Vehicle Venture Star (ISV) is one of ten interstellar spaceships used for the looping Earth – Pandora supply chain.
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