GNY-001 Gundam Astraea

The GNY-001 Gundam Astraea (aka Gundam Astraea, Astraea, Gundam Astraea Type B) is a 2nd generation prototype Gundam in the side story of Mobile Suit Gundam 00P. It is piloted by Ruido Resonance and Chall Acustica. The Astraea was later upgraded by Fereshte into the GNY-001F Gundam Astraea Type F and later the GNY-001F2 Gundam Astraea Type F2.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Gundam Astraea is one of the many successor units to GN-000 0 Gundam and the predecessor to GN-001 Gundam Exia; a intermediary design and 2nd Generation prototype Gundam. The unit was designed and developed by Celestial Being's Krung Thep engineering team. It was a testbed for a number of experimental technologies (primarily in GN-weapons development) incorporated in pursuit of a greater combat performance and utility. While Astraea was not a specialized combat unit, the prototype helped fine-tune many weapons found in third generation Gundams. Of the four prototypes produced, Astraea's design and purpose mirrors closely to 0 Gundam: a general-purpose combat MS.

For weapons and combat, the Krung Thep team developed Astraea to be an adaptable and versatile combat MS. As a testbed for experimental GN technologies, Celestial Being engineers created a series of prototype weapons from GN Blades to GN Rifles to refine GN weapons development. Because of the wide range weapons developed for Astraea, it can easily be reconfigured to become a close combat-type, heavy assault-type or a combined variation with its assortment of equipment. Its the reason why classifying Astraea can't be specified.

The Astraea's basic armament consists of a pair of GN Beam Sabers stored on the rear skirts for quick access, a GN Beam Rifle for ranged combat, and a GN Launcher for heavier firepower. While the launcher itself can be powered directly from the drive, it involves removing one of the clavical antennae.

The clavical antennas on Astraea are not as advanced as those on the later Gundams and they have a large interference area. Thus, the head antennae are downsized to avoid interference and at the same time, powerful antennae are additionally installed at the side of the face to suppress the GN Particle interference to the minimum. Astraea's GN Drive featured a three-thruster design and its control mechanism differs from that of 0 Gundam; it has a higher output as the system pushes it to the limit in order to extract the maximum performance. However as a consequence, it made the drive more unstable.

A reason why 2nd Generation Gundams don't apply the cone-type propulsion system is because of the effect it has on their balance; the Gundams' systems aren't suitable for it. This was discovered during an experiment where Astraea was fitted with a cone type GN vernier thruster system, a configuraton that was classified as GNY-001B Gundam Astraea Type B. During its testing, Astraea contained the Trans-Am System. However, the black box within Astraea had yet to be activated and remained a hidden feature until the death of Aeolia Schenberg in AD 2307.

After Celestial Being engineers gathered enough data on Astraea, its technical and combat data was used to develop GN-001 Gundam Exia; Celestial Being engineers were not finished with Astraea either. Because Astraea still had tactical value, Astraea was transferred to the Fereshte team. Assigned as part of the shadow support team to the primary team (consisting of the 2nd generation Gundams), Fereshte redeveloped Astraea. Its overall system and combat capabilities was enhanced: its face is masked, given a red paint job, and was re-classified as GNY-001F Gundam Astraea Type F.

Armaments

 * GN Beam Rifle
 * A standard GN beam rifle. In order to improve firing rate and reduce the chances disruption due to shortage of power, it was equipped with an internal GN Condenser and is one of the earliest weapons that did so. Because it uses a lot of GN Particles, an additional solid connector is placed onto the arm in order to increase supply.


 * GN Launcher
 * Astraea's most powerful weapon. When it was in its early stages testing, the weapon was slightly unstable in its particle control/output. The GN Launcher yields higher output when directly connected to the GN Drive via the clavical antenna area. However doing this requires the removal of one of the clavical antennas, and will cause Astraea's particle control ability to deteriorate as a consequence. When it is detached from the connector, it still holds substantial fire power among portable GN weaponry, sourcing particles from its GN Condenser. More than one can be equipped at once, usually up to two (four in a one time experimental configuration). The data from this weapon was used in the development of Gundam Virtue's GN Bazooka weapon.


 * Quad Cannon
 * An experimental configuration whereby four GN Launchers was used at the same time. Doing so unexpectedly caused the four streams of beam fired to combine into one, and the output of the converged beam is also much greater.


 * Proto GN Sword
 * A physical blade that has its surfaced laced with GN Particles. As it's name suggests it's a prototype to Exia's GN Sword, and is the first GN particle-lined physical blade created by Celestial Being. It is a new type of weapon that was designed to incorporate the properties of both a beam saber and a physical sword. Due to its large size, it was designed to be foldable when not in use in order to prevent interference during battle. Even at the time of the construction of this weapon, a rifle function had already been planned and the "Proto" part of the name refers to the incompleteness of the weapon as its still in development.


 * GN Beam Sabers
 * The Astraea is armed with two beam sabers, docked behind either side of the waist. As the weapons themselves are test types, their performance versus the Exia's beam sabers is unknown as of this time. They possess extreme sharpness and can even come into contact against solid based swords. However since they are pure energy blades, it is possible for them to be diffused. During Astraea's time, a few countries were attempting to create their own beam sabers but Celestial Being was able complete theirs much earlier using GN Particles.


 * GN Shield
 * A powerful shield made from strong E-Carbon and Astraea's main defensive equipment. While Astraea's main armor is already made from E-Carbon, the shield has the advantage of being maneuverable since it is attached to the arm and can be used to absorb shocks from attacks. In addition, GN Particles are lined up on the surface in order to increase it's defensive properties. It is less streamline in appearance versus the Exia's shield design, with no sharp edges.


 * GN Sword Test Version
 * An experimental test version of the GN Sword that was eventually used on the GN-001 Gundam Exia.


 * Proto GN Short Blade & Proto GN Long Blade
 * Experimental test version of the GN Short Blade and GN Long Blade that was eventually used on the GN-001 Gundam Exia.

Variants

 * GNY-001B Gundam Astraea Type B
 * The original Astraea equipped with the cone type GN Drive extension.


 * GNY-001F Gundam Astraea Type F


 * GNY-001FB Black Gundam Astraea Type F

History
The story is that as HRL’s battleship has gotten closer to Celestial Being's Colony Krung Thep, 874 is gathering intelligence using the Sadalsuud, Ruido comes out in the Astrea to intercept. The instruction that came from Veda was “Defeat”. Here, Ruido in the Gundam starts attacking the person.

Later on, the second generation Gundam Meister arrived in a transport aircraft on a battlefield. Four HRL MS “Phantom”s against the Gundam Meister 874’s Gundam Sadalsuud fight a one-sided battle that ends in 36 seconds. Ruido Resonance in Astraea shoots down the first Hellion Platoon that was examining the AEU’s Orbital Elevator. In addition, 874 who intercepts in Sadalsuud, sees the shadow of an approaching aircraft and proposes that Ruido does a check. Ruido sorties in the Astraea in place of the injured Marlene. Ruido does not want Marlene to go out into the battlefield. If he was fighting very well, then there’s no need for her to go out into the battlefield. Ruido exterminates the Hellion force through Astraea.

When the primary Celestial Being team began their armed interventions, the Fereshte team was given the green light to use the four second generation Gundams and the original solar reactor in shadow interventions in order to aid Celestial Being's own openly conducted interventions. However because of the Plan, it couldn't be revealed that there were more Gundams aside from those conducted openly by the primary team. To disguise Astraea's true nature it was repainted and fixed with a mask, and operated under the orders of leaving zero eye witnesses. This version of Astraea was designated GNY-001F Gundam Astraea Type F.

Notes & Trivia

 * The unit name derives from the goddess Astraea, who is associated with the card Justice—one of the twenty-two Major Arcana in the Tarot. The other Gundam test-types follow this naming theme.
 * Although the Astraea's forearms are exactly the same as Exia's, whether they are equipped with GN Vulcans is debatable as some sources did not list the GN Vulcans as part of the suit's armament list.