The Allied Worlds Survey Ship Zheng He is wormhole-going long-range fusion ship. Together with sister ship Marco Polo, the Zheng He was designed to explore space beyond the Ten Stars.
History
The Zheng He is a refit of Buraq, the lead ship of a class high-performance patrol spacecraft used to respond (relatively) quickly to distant emergencies in Allied systems. Compared to the Buraq, the Zheng He has had its armor reduced and weapons eliminated in favor of an additional habitat ring, supplies, fuel, and landing craft.
Propulsion
To accommodate their long-range rapid-response role, the Buraq-class patrol spacecraft use deuterium/helium-3 fusion. (Most fast ships use deuterium/deuterium fusion or nuclear salt water reactors.) Helium-3 is considered a strategic resource by the AW; the same resolution of tensions with the Dirac system that has enabled the reexploration of connected space beyond it also makes the AW's Helium-3 extraction and production capacity more available for civilian purposes.