Epsy Gundam

The Epsy Gundam (also Epsilon Gundam) was a mobile suit featured in Gundam WARS I: Project Z design series. It was designed by Masahiro Koda.

History
The Epsy-0 Gundam was an obscure project developed in an attempt to create a mobile suit capable of traveling extremely long distances to attack and destroy enemy fleets outside the combat range of allied ships. The design effort was carried out in a joint venture between Anaheim Electronics and AEUG. Designed around the same time period as the MSN-001 Delta Gundam, it's most noteworthy feature was a relatively new type of nuclear propulsion system, Nuclear pulse propulsion, whose concept was to utilize small directional nuclear explosives to "push" the mobile suit across space. Theoretically, the thrusts from the system were in the millions of tons, which would allow the Epsy Gundam an incredible operational range. This method is also one of the techniques used for moving around large asteroids like 5th Luna. The Gundarium Epsilon alloy was developed over the course of the project, due to the rigors (shock, radiation, etc.) the Epsy Gundam had to withstand because of its propulsion system. A bizarre design detail of the unit was the fact that it featured a head component composed of both the RMS-099 Rick Dias' Mono-eye and the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II's camera sensors, and due to its immense weight (due to the Nuclear pulse propulsion system installed on its back), most of its armor is stripped at various points. Although the system appeared to be entirely workable, the project is ultimately canceled, the main reasons being idea conflicts and confusion within the design team (speculated to be due to the sheer complexity of the propulsion system), and the Espy-0 remained in the end as a paper plan.

However, an actual production model was constructed in the form of the TYPE-99-E1, and had received high expectations among veteran pilots, Unfortunately, the unit would be destroyed only two months after its creation, due to disclosure of intelligence operations. The Espy Project was considered a failure for Anaheim Electronics, and the fact the company moved into the trend of variable (transformable) mobile suits ensured that no successor to the Epsy Gundam would be developed.