Though many have regarded the Scout-class JumpShip as the smallest in use today, such claims have long overlooked   the tiny Explorer-class, a civilian JumpShip that enjoyed a long--if uncelebrated--history in almost every Successor State.   Massing a mere 50,000 tons and reliant on small craft for in-system flight, the Explorer was introduced at the peak of the Star League era, primarily as a touring craft to ferry VIPs or the wealthy elite when DropShips weren't required.   In its heyday, there wasn't a major corporation or important dignitary in any realm who didn't have access to one of these reliable vessels. The passage of time and the ravages of the Succession Wars, however, winnowed these vessels to a mere few handfuls.   Today, Irian Technologies maintains the largest concentration of the remaining Explorers, a minor surprise considering that their Clipperton factory once produces this humble spacecraft.
       The Explorer was actually designed along utilitarian lines rather than luxury travel, catering to the practical as well as the affluent.   Built as small as possible to minimize cost and unarmed so as not to appear a threat to hostile traffic, this JumpShip relies on a quartet of shuttlecraft for in-system transit, saving the tonnage normally allocated to a DropShip's docking collar for cargo space and passenger quarters.   An 80-meter grav deck allows shipboard personnel and passengers alike the comforts of home, and can adjust its rotation to that of the local planet, which greatly aids acclamation to alien worlds.   The vessel also features a number of fully automated systems that can--in a pinch--allow a skeleton crew to operate it during long voyages.   Indeed, Irian Technologies has often done just that over the years, sometimes dispatching Explorers with a mere four crewmen on board during the leaner years.
       A single variant emerged during the closing years of the Star League mounting an HPG.   This exuberant cost was incurred only by large corporations, the ultra rich and in many cases, government diplomats.
         The modern Explorer, both refits of existing units and a trickle of new construction, sport the ComStar K-F Drive and a 1 Gee-capable of Transit Drive. Capable of moving between the jump point and the target destination at a reasonable rate, it also carries extra fuel and several thousand tons of cargo to keep them in space for extended periods of time. Irian Technologies does not mass produce this design, only building them to order for those organizations willing to pay up front for the cost of the JumpShip.