About Space Stations.

The Von Braun Station.

It is a single rotating ring style station, of a 200-meter diameter, with a docking bay at its centre. The rate of rotation can be adjusted, but initially was set to be halfway between Earth and Lunar gravity. 

 

 

The Von Braun Station is composed of 24 cylindrical modules, each one is 20-meter long and has a diameter of 12 meters. Each module offers a total of 500m2 of habitable surface spread over 3 floors, so that’s a total of 12,000m2 for the 24 modules. Four elevator shafts connect the ring to the central hub and a small service corridor runs all the way around the ring, offering access to all the modules.

Out of the 24 modules, one will serve as kitchen restaurant bar (KRB), and another one will be a gymnasium & auditorium (GA). 10 modules will be dedicated to living quarters, offering 60m2 and 30m2 rooms. (30m2 = about 322 square feet. Which is double the size of the standard starship crew quarters.) The station will have a crew of 100 and room for 250 visitors.

In addition to the central docking control room, there will be one module dedicated to orbital traffic control, communications and general administration. This will serve as the main space control centre for any new colony. In the case of Earth, it was quickly replaced by a bigger and better facility, but still served in a back up role.

One other module is set aside for agriculture, so there will be some fresh food to supplement to canned goods sent up from the planet below. Thus 14 of the 24 modules are accounted for, the remaining 10 being rented out to various interests. 

 

The first Von Braun station took 2 years to build, as it was a learning experience. Colonial stations based on it, have a target time of 1 year, assuming no interruptions of the supply ships.

So as not to recreate the Titanic, each module will have quick access to an escape craft; the Sierra Delgata, each able to carry 10 people. It is a reusable space-plane, not able to reach orbit on its own, but perfectly capable of landing anyplace on the planet, or making a short flight to a nearby vehicle. A total of 40 escape craft will provide more than enough capacity for the entire population.

There will be 2 docking ports at the centre of the station for Earth to Orbit shuttles. The hub will also have cargo bays and various equipment that does not need gravity to function. Two areas of 500m2 each will be available for scientific use or 0-G manufacturing.

Energy will come from solar panels. The station will be placed in an orbital path such that one side of it will always face the sun no matter what. In terms of shielding against solar flares and cosmic rays the Von Braun will sit in a low orbit to be protected by the Earth’s magnetic field.

Defences; almost none. With out a GCU it has no force field. Its hull will be resistant to small impacts like space junk and micro meteors, but offers no true armor. It will mount 8 central and 8 ring Point Defence Guns and have one launch bay for drones that can handle MK-7 missiles.

The Gateway Station

A rotating space city with a diameter of 500 meters and a large spacecraft parking deck, it has a capacity to house 400 crew and 1,000 visitors. Because of the spacing of habitation decks within the ring it can (and indeed must) provide 3 differing amounts of gravity. If the outer section is spun to Earth normal, the middle section would be at 50% and the inner section at 25%. While the hub remains at near 0-G, the nearby cargo bays, industrial and science areas would have between 5to10% gravity.

Unlike the Von Braun that uses a frame and module construction for rapid and easy assembly, the Gateway is a more solid and traditional structure. Although mainly a civilian station, it does have an armored hull and a lot of point defence guns.

Just like the Von Braun it offers a mix of 60m2 and 30m2 rooms for living quarters. But it has 4 KBR areas and 2 GA areas, in addition to a strip of retail stores and restaurants. The recreation facilities on Gateway are large and include a near 0-G sports arena.

 

In addition to the docking control room, there s a large orbital control room and a solar system traffic monitoring room. These are connected to a powerful array of sensors and communications systems.

Main power comes from a pair of small fusion reactors, with solar panels providing backup energy. The system is designed to run off a single reactor when maintenance is performed or in case of emergency.

The Gateway station uses internally mounted Trevor Coplin drop pods, instead of the externally affixed Sierra Delgata escape craft. Each TC holding 10 people for evacuation, they are more durable but less manoeuvrable than the Delgata craft. A result of numerous disaster scenario testing the TC can survive a lot more punishment and make an uncontrolled landing with maximum occupant suitability. However the station only has 100 drop pods. The rest of the people must evacuate on shuttles or other craft, which is not expected to be a problem.

On a related note, Gateway will have a search and rescuer team, comprised of 4 shuttles and 2 Worker-Bee type craft. Also it will house a police squad of 4 patrol craft and 8 fighters.

The main mission of Gateway is tied to its name. It will act as a stopping point for anyone coming to or departing Earth. Except for UN-EDF personnel who may obtain clearance slips, for travel within the solar system. The real aim being to quarantine and examine everyone arriving from outside the system before they go down to Earth. The general rule that all persons must check in at Gateway was established. This does create something of a bureaucratic nightmare, as some nations insist on direct flights to their outposts within the solar system.