Colony Ships

There are 5 colony ships


 * Huangdi
 * Zhuanxu
 * Ku
 * Yao
 * Shun

The ships were constructed in orbit around earth to allow for departure with less gravity

Each ship carries:


 * 1000 colonists
 * Shuttles large enough to transport people and equipment, both in space and through atmosphere
 * Massive fabrication equipment that'll allow them to rapidly build tools, supplies, resources, factories, etc., once they arrive on Arca
 * Livestock and agriculture to feed people for 3 years plus buffer after arrival
 * unmanned drones that can return to earth to share information (since it's too far for a broadcast)
 * A large data store was sent with the ships so they’d have ample reference information to draw from.

Food
Average human eats about 1,500lbs of food per year. Need to account for some waste. For 1000 people for 3 years, that'd be 2,041,165kg of food. Instead of storing it, there's some nutrient dense food stored for backup and emergencies, but they generally keep their hydroponic and agricultural systems operational both to test them before settling on the planet and to save storage space.

So, there are robust agricultural systems at work. They're not the most humane or pleasant, but they'll keep people alive and they can figure out a more human system on the other side.

In addition to staples, there are also various herb gardens to help add some variety, and many people have small gardens in their quarters and they barter them to add some flavor and specialness to their meals.

There's also a seed archive and various other preserved measures to try to grow familiar human foods on Arca.

Water
The ship is a closed system, so water is aggressively reclaimed from waste, air, etc. However, there are also containers of water that, when used, can be repurposed for other uses. Additionally, there are stores of compressed hydrogen and oxygen that are used in a complex process (not just mixing) to create new water to supplement the losses.