Thumper

"Getting to work on a thumper? Now that would be a dream. Likely much too large for our facilities, unfortunately."

-Cue Carium, higher-up at Cabrakan Retrofits

A thumper is a type of ship that uses a nuclear pulsed propulsion system as its primary method of propulsion. Their name comes from the rhythmic thumping noise produced by the drive on early models, which has since been mitigated. The earliest full-scale test models were built by RCCM in [REDACTED]. RCCM primarily used them as long range cargo vessels due to their high ISP combined with high thrust. Today, they are used for the same purpose. 

Most operators considered thumpers unsafe and sporadic, so their use was not widely adopted. Common safety concerns include high amounts of dangerous radiation emitted by the drive, jerky movement, and spontaneous combustion. The issue of radiation is solved by thick shielding and jerky movement is solved by an array of shock absorbers between the pusher plate and the upper section of the drive that allow the rest of the vehicle to maintain a smooth rate of acceleration.