The payload bay, located behind the erosion shield in the nose, contains decks for disposable probes, telescopes, "wardens", and computers. The master computer - the complete navigator - runs the entire ship, undertakes scientific observations, even carries out running repairs via remote controlled "wardens". It also releases the disposable probes which return scientific data for on-board analysis. All data gathered by the ship are predigested by the master computer and refined results, video, pictures, data on the target star, planets and moons, magnetic fields, radiation belts etc. are relayed to Earth.

The starship would be assembled in space, probably in the region of Jupiter because of the special fuel requirements of Helium 3 production.

At the high speeds the ship travels - 12 to 13% of the speed of light at the end of the boost phase - in -flight erosion due to collision with dust particles becomes most serious. For this reason, the ship has an erosion shield of beryllium with a diameter sufficient to protect the second stage engine. Beryllium was chosen as it is light, and has the highest latent heat of vapourisation of any material, making it ideal for dealing with small impacts. Closer to the target system, a cloud of cigarette smoke size particles would be created and maintained 200km ahead of the ship to take care of larger debris.