- "I remember this Space Center well. The mass driver was built by Osea and Yuktobania as part of their collaborative efforts to construct an international space station. Our anti-war President used the surplus funds that came from cutting the defense budget to build it."
- ― Kei Nagase
The Mass Driver is an spacecraft launch system jointly developed by the Osean Federation and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics. It was built on the Basset Space Center in the southwestern area of Osea, some time in the aftermath of the Belkan War. It employs electromagnetic energy to propel spacecraft to the atmosphere, essentially serving as a catapult.
The catapult appears as a bridge-like structure, the launch ramp curving upwards into the sky, having a length of 12 kilometers, or 7.5 miles. The large acceleration force generated by the launch procedure means that most vehicles launched from it are unmanned. However, in the case of Single Stage to Orbit craft, personnel transport is possible.
History
The mass driver was constructed jointly by Osea and Yuktobania after the normalization of relations in the aftermath of the Cold War, with the objective of creating an international space station. A portion of the project's funding was provided by President Vincent Harling, who used the money left after the post-war defense budget cuts.
In the early stages of the 2010 Circum-Pacific War, the Basset Center was attacked by the Yuktobanian army in an attempt to prevent the launch of an SSTO vehicle carrying supplies to the Arkbird spaceplane. The attack was foiled by the Wardog Squadron. Some time after the incident at Basset, the mass driver was used by the Grey Men to send supplies to the Strategic Orbital Linear Gun.