Mining Deck
The Heart of the Ishimura's Planet Cracker
The Mining Deck was the largest section of the USG Ishimura, the heart of its planet cracking operation, where asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted for valuable minerals. One of the last decks to be overrun, it was where Isaac Clarke again encountered the figure of Nicole Brennan.
The Mining Deck was the largest section of the USG Ishimura and the heart of its planet cracking work. It was where asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted for the valuable minerals the Concordance Extraction Corporation sought, and it occupied the bottom portion of the ship across four separate subdecks. Drifting asteroids were drawn in and held by gravity tethers, then sent through stages of extraction, processing and storage. One of the last areas to be overrun during the 2508 outbreak, it was also where Isaac Clarke, under the influence of the Marker, first met the figure of Nicole Brennan since she had left for the ship. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
Function and layout#
The Mining Deck sat on the bottom of the Ishimura and served as the working core of the planet cracker. Asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted within it, and because the operation required so much space it was by far the largest deck on the ship. Drifting asteroids were brought in through an entrance on the third level and held in place by gravity tethers, where they would then be sent on for harvesting or smelting. Like the rest of the ship it was served by a Tram Station, which in the 2023 remake shared its location with the Engineering Deck Tram Station so that the ship's computer reminded passengers to check their stop before leaving the tram. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
The first level handled preparation. Arriving miners changed into their gear, synchronized their RIGs with the Mining Deck systems and made ready for work on the lower levels, and the level included a Mining Operations room holding processed minerals and alloys ready to be moved to the Cargo Bay, along with a large RIG Room of locker rooms and showers. The second level was devoted to processing, where extracted minerals were refined through the Processing Chamber and monitored from Mineral Processing Control. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
The third level was where the mining itself took place, holding an enormous Mining Bay, an Extraction Room and a Mining Control station used to monitor the systems and launch beacons, along with an Ore Storage room for ore and other metals waiting to be transported away. The fourth and lowest level housed the deck's maintenance facilities, including Secure Storage, a Repair Room and various equipment and utility rooms. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
During the outbreak#
The Mining Deck was one of the last sections of the Ishimura to be overrun. Because it remained secure for so long, it is possible that a number of survivors were still sheltering there when the USG Kellion crashed aboard the ship's Flight Deck. Even so, the infection and the madness it brought reached the deck. In the 2023 remake, logs in the Ore Storage room reveal that the crazed colonist Brant Harris, sent down to steal materials for Dr. Challus Mercer's experiments, had been caught by a miner and used the room's store as a death trap to kill him, raving that the man would not laugh at him as others had on the Aegis VII Colony. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
For Isaac Clarke the Mining Deck held a more personal significance, as it was here that he first encountered the figure of Nicole Brennan since her departure for the Ishimura, one of the early apparitions through which the Marker worked upon his mind. The deck appeared again only briefly in later years, glimpsed as a flashback to the lost ship during the events on the Sprawl. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023); Dead Space 2)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Mining Deck on the USG Ishimura?
- The Mining Deck was the heart of the USG Ishimura's planet cracker, the section where asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted for valuable minerals. Spread across four subdecks, it was the largest deck on the ship, and drifting asteroids were brought in and held in place by gravity tethers for harvesting and smelting.
- How was the Mining Deck organized?
- The Mining Deck was divided into four levels, each with a different role: a preparation level where miners changed into their gear and synchronized their RIGs, a processing level where minerals were refined, a mining level with the enormous Mining Bay and Extraction Room, and a maintenance level for repair and storage.
- What happened on the Mining Deck during the outbreak?
- The Mining Deck was one of the last sections of the Ishimura to fall, and it is possible that survivors were still sheltering there when the USG Kellion crashed aboard the ship. It was also where Isaac Clarke, under the Marker's influence, first encountered the figure of Nicole Brennan since her departure for the Ishimura.
Sources
- GameDead Space, EA Redwood Shores, 2008
- GameDead Space (2023), Motive Studio, 2023 (remake)
- GameDead Space 2, Visceral Games, 2011
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Aegis VII Colony
The Aegis VII Colony was an illegal mining settlement built on Aegis VII by the Concordance Extraction Corporation. After the discovery of Marker 3A in 2508, the colony fell into madness and was overrun by Necromorphs before being destroyed in the planet crack.
Engineering Deck
The Engineering Deck was the section at the stern of the USG Ishimura where engineers maintained the ship's engines, fuel systems, ShockPoint Drive and Gravity Centrifuge. A dark and hazardous area open only to senior engineers, it was overrun by the Corruption and the Necromorphs during the 2508 outbreak.
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USG Ishimura
The USG Ishimura was the flagship of the Concordance Extraction Corporation and the first Planet Cracker-class mining ship. After recovering Marker 3A from Aegis VII in 2508, it became the site of a catastrophic Necromorph outbreak that wiped out its crew and bound its name to the history of the Markers.
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Concordance Extraction Corporation: The Planet-Crackers
The Concordance Extraction Corporation was the mining concern that pioneered Planet Cracking and ended the Resource Wars, operating the deep-space fleet led by the USG Ishimura. Its reach made it a vehicle for the Church of Unitology and the retrieval of Marker 3A.
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Engineering Deck
The Engineering Deck was the section at the stern of the USG Ishimura where engineers maintained the ship's engines, fuel systems, ShockPoint Drive and Gravity Centrifuge. A dark and hazardous area open only to senior engineers, it was overrun by the Corruption and the Necromorphs during the 2508 outbreak.
Hydroponics Deck
The Hydroponics Deck was the USG Ishimura's internal farm, growing the food and producing the oxygen needed to sustain the ship's crew. During the 2508 outbreak the deck was overtaken by the Leviathan, which polluted its air and destroyed the ship's food supply.
Jacob Temple: the Ishimura's acting chief engineer
Jacob Temple was a Concordance Extraction Corporation engineer aboard the USG Ishimura who inherited the chief engineer's post after the outbreak killed Ariel Rousseau. He held the ship together, built a sanctuary on the Mining Deck, and in the 2023 remake was lured away by a false distress call from Challus Mercer, who executed him once his work on the Marker failed.
Nicole Brennan
Nicole Brennan was the Senior Medical Officer aboard the USG Ishimura who tried to halt the Necromorph outbreak before taking her own life, and whose image the Marker then used as a hallucination to manipulate Isaac Clarke toward Convergence.
Stasis Module
The Stasis Module was a RIG accessory that produced a field of slowed time, suspending whatever it touched in a slower state for a short period. Used to slow dangerous machinery, it became an essential survival tool against the Necromorphs.
Terrence Kyne
Terrence Kyne was the Chief Science Officer of the USG Ishimura, a Unitologist Marker expert whose conscience turned him against the Church and who fell to the artifact's hallucinations of his dead wife.
The Hunter
The Hunter was a Regenerator Necromorph deliberately engineered by the Unitologist Dr. Challus Mercer aboard the USG Ishimura, grown from the living patient Brant Harris in the 2023 remake. Able to regrow severed limbs in seconds, it could not be killed by dismemberment and stalked Isaac Clarke across the ship.
Tram System
The Tram System was the USG Ishimura's automated monorail, which carried crew between the decks of the vast mining vessel. Built around a single rail, it linked the ship's major sections through a network of stations and a central maintenance bay.
USG Ishimura
The USG Ishimura was the flagship of the Concordance Extraction Corporation and the first Planet Cracker-class mining ship. After recovering Marker 3A from Aegis VII in 2508, it became the site of a catastrophic Necromorph outbreak that wiped out its crew and bound its name to the history of the Markers.
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