Star Station India

Main Orbital Facility: Starbase 37

Thought I would create a page dedicated to my space station project. Since my Starbase 37 images are all focused on planetary surfaces, I suppose I’ll eventually get around to placing the station itself in eye-shot of its host world, but so far, everything here is dedicated to showcasing the construction of the facility itself.  She’s a work-in-progress and probably will be for some time, Universe willing. I’ve added some new images on 3/12/19, since most of the images on this page were uploaded as late as 2015 or as early as 2010.

One of the latest wide shots (2019).

Wide shot from the dark side.

View from slightly on high.

Zooming in on the core area a bit.

View from beneath the South pier complex where the Impala is docked in the central slip.

Some earlier test renders below

One of the latest wide shots (posted in 2012 – not so “latest” anymore).

View from atop with starships docked for scale.

A zoom in on docking procedures.

View from below in the shadows.

The inner pier evolves

Observation viewports and maintenance bay doors are bestrewn all along the jetties and core of each pier grouping.

Most of the large doors accessing the huge maintenance bays are in place, with a plethora of smaller doors setting up shop for secondary bays and airlock facilities. The large bays are freely interconnected, essentially creating one immense bay throughout the pier structure, though sections can be isolated should the need arise. The bays are the primary staging area for the transfer and storage of cargo, as well as the parking and maintenance locale for all the station’s auxiliary service craft. There are also many alternative docking ports for maintenance vehicles and shuttlecraft.

Concourses for arriving and departing starship passengers and crew.

The piers have two major concourse levels which sandwich the main gangway extensions from above and below.  The primary cargo and maintenance bays are directly beneath the lower concourse level.  The upper concourse is similar to the interconnected maintenance bays, in that it fills the majority of its occupied level. The lower concourse, though taller in ceiling height, does not extend so widely without major structural interruption.

The large bay doors employ a cutting edge technology that has only recently spread into widespread use within Starfleet and across the Federation:  Force fields for large scale atmospheric pressure containment.

The Concourses provide some remarkable views of any docked ship and the activities surrounding its upkeep.  The Central bays, are partially enclosed due to the large jetty structures that define the individual piers, and are slightly better for berthing ships requiring more extensive maintenance.

 Large bays for maintenance and cargo storage run throughout the piers to keep the docked ships fully fit.

Seen from here, large pylons connect to a huge toroidal fueling hub below the rest of the station, along its central axis. This hub is where the station’s primary engineering facilities are located and contains matter charge reversal refineries for generating the antimatter necessary for starship propulsion. All fueling tasks are completed utilizing the station’s primary fuel reserve: four enormous deuterium slush tanks positioned at the station’s base, directly beneath the fueling hub (also visible here).
​
​

Ships can either be fueled from any one of the central main docking slips, or one of four convenient fueling stations attached to the lower pylons.

Maintenance doors finally get some numeric labels. There are a total of 18 such doors in succession, surrounding the entire outer pier structure.

More shots of an empty central pier slip. This was rendered mostly as a backdrop tests for rendering ships separately from the station, should the need arise.

Inward Projecting Docking Port & Lower Pylon Fueling Station

View ports help to define the station’s shape whenever it falls into the enormous shadows of her host moon or its master gas giant.

large bays taking shape on the inner pier structure. These two bays are separate from the large maintenance level, and can house nominally larger craft: most notably, long range warp shuttles and even a few merchant trader vehicles.

Some new details forming on the inward facing sections. And the planet appears!

Platforms on the lower pylons house equipment for pumping fuels and other vital consumables through the station’s structure to individual ships docked at the station.

A single, but larger, docking port projects inward toward the station’s central axis.

All four of the major pier assemblages feature one large docking port, centrally located at their primary station junctures. These docking ports are slightly more imposing than other pier gangways, but offer the same standards for all docking connections. Each projects inward toward the station’s axis of symmetry; Also, they’re level with all the other major gangways, situated just beneath, and completely connected to, the upper concourses of their respective pier structures.

The fueling station’s riser tower.

A relatively short riser tower extends a set of connection clamps well above the platform level of the pumping station. The riser’s clamping section is adjustable and helps provide an impediment free hard dock with resupply access ports on the underbelly of appropriately equipped starships. Once a ship is secured and all its inlet valves have been coupled with matching nozzles from the station’s outflowing conduits, a wide variety of vital bulk materials can be separately, though simultaneously, pumped directly into that ship’s assigned containment units, all to pressure and/or fluidity standards.

The inner pier evolves.

Of course, not all substances can be delivered concurrently, and some materials actually require a dedicated injection cycle as a precautionary measure to prevent contamination or volatile interactions. However, these are usually the final routines performed on all outbound vessels. Anti-matter supplies are rarely delivered directly into starship stores, although the station’s antimatter refineries do keep a supply on hand. Most Federation starships have some means of generating their own supply on board, though at a premium cost in energy. For that reason, the matter portion is usually delivered alone, and then converted aboard ship, compliments of a boost from the station’s power output. Individual magnetic bottles that meet containment certification standards can be filled directly with antimatter product within the station, but as protocol dictates, only within the station’s own primary generator torus. If and when that antimatter must be delivered in its primed state, vessels are usually moved well clear of the station where it can delivered in its bottled format by special tender craft.
Though the refuel/resupply procedure can be implemented at any of the station’s central pier slips, this riser method offers a quick and convenient alternative, especially if the station’s port arrivals have unexpectedly exceeded its docking schedule and pier slips are at a premium.

More details to the underside of the inner pier area.  View ports and mechanical detailing are falling into place. The doors servicing the large contiguous maintenance bay, now have their numeric markings in place.

Most of the maintenance detailing is being squeezed into the angled nook where the lower pylons intersect the main pier base.

Docking rings can be seen here, installed on the pier hull perpendicular to the large bay doors.

Oldest Attempts…

Though they still offer some decent insight

15 years and counting?

This is some of my earliest work on Ray Dream Designer, probably 15 years old by now.  There have been some significant changes and many refinements, but I’ve tried to aim for this same “feel” ever since I took on this subject again.

Early command hub.  Other than surface textures it has changed the least.

These fuel storage details have changed significantly, and I still haven’t worked out their final presentation.