Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
214,282
edits
Space Station: Difference between revisions
→International
m (update links) |
|||
| (14 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"''[[That's No Moon]] - it's a space station!''""|'''[[Eccentric Mentor|Ben Kenobi]]''', [[Star Wars]] [[A New Hope|Episode IV: A New Hope]]}}
An artificial structure in space, where people live and work. Unlike the [[Cool Starship]], the Space Station is usually fixed in orbit around a planet or at a particular point in space. It also allows for the construction of a standing studio set and avoids expensive location shoots.
Real-world space stations have existed since 1971 (Salyut 1).
Space stations in fiction have a tendency to be very large, sometimes housing an entire city. Many have adopted a wheel design for a centrifuge-based system of gravity (unless [[Artificial Gravity]] is employed), but this is not obligatory. If sufficiently large to support a sizeable permanent population, a space-station may be referred to as an "orbital habitat" or "space colony". [[Colony Drop|Don't drop it!]] The problem of gas exchange and food production is often solved by incorporating a closed ecosystem and green plants onboard, sometimes in dirt, sometimes hydroponics, sometimes algae aquaculture.
As ''The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy'' notes, [http://rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideS-Z.htm#station space stations] used to be common in [http://rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideF-L.htm#habitat habitat] role early on - in the context of colonizing Sol System. But between organizational and economic implications (it's essentially a space ship minus ability to move around at will, with the same requirements and expenses) those mostly vanished when interstellar settings with FTL became common. What's left are mostly mining bases attached to asteroids and orbital trade/supply ''ports'' over planets, both of which obviously make sense.
----▼
Please keep these to stations that play a major part in the plot of a show or movie. This trope is pretty much ubiquitous in [[Speculative Fiction]], of all levels on the [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness]].
▲----
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Very large space-stations are integral to the background of the ''[[Gundam]]'' anime universe(s). The designs are lifted almost verbatim from O'Neill's ''[[The High Frontier]]'', which was new when the first Gundam series was in development.
== [[Fanfic]] ==▼
* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|The Doom Satellite]] from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]''.▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The [[Justice League]] have the Watchtower and its larger, improved successor, Watchtower II. Its position in orbit with a giant laser cannon pointing down become a point of contention with the US government.
** And for many years before the Watchtower, the JLA had an orbiting satellite space station, through the 70s and part of the 80s (until the "Detroit League" era and the Crisis finished it off).
▲== [[Fanfic]] ==
▲* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|The Doom Satellite]] from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes:
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Moonraker]]''
* The wheel-like Station Five seen in the opening space scenes of ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' is perhaps the most famous of all sci-fi movie space stations.
* ''[[Star Wars
* ''[[Project Moonbase]]'' (1953) had the protagonists stop off at a US military space station on the way to the moon. We see people walking along the corridors upside down past people going the other way due to its variable [[Artificial Gravity]].
* ''[[Conquest of Space]]'' (George Pal's 1955 sci-fi flop after his previous blockbusters ''[[Destination Moon]]'' and ''[[When Worlds Collide]]'') had The Wheel, whose design was taken from the famous illustrated book of that name.
* The space station over Solaris in ''[[Andrei Tarkovsky|Solaris]]'' is large, but falling apart due to madness and disuse.
* Disney's ''[[Treasure Planet]]'' featured a space station shaped like a crescent moon.
* Disney Channel "[[Zenon]]" movies, a lot of the action is based in Space Stations.
== [[Literature]] ==
Line 56 ⟶ 57:
** Various fluff even call all ''Babylon'' stations ''O'Neill''-class.
** The other human stations are wheel-shaped. Centauri stations look like two pyramids attached at the base.
* ''[[Star Trek
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' is set on the titular station.
** Also Spacedock in ''[[Star Trek III: The
*** Plus Spacestation K-7, which had a problem with Tribbles...
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000
* ''[[Blake's 7
* ''[[Destination Space]]'' (1959). Pilot for a TV series that was never taken up. Involved a space station damaged by a meteorite and efforts to send a rescue mission.
* ''[[Earth II]]'' (1971). Another pilot for a never-filmed TV series about life on a large space station. The cast was led by Gary Lockwood of ''2001'' fame. The plot involved efforts to stop a nuclear weapon launched by the Chinese from reaching the station.
* Ingrid's space colony in ''[[Starstuff]].''
* ''[[Thunderbirds
* ''[[Stargate]]'' showed a few space stations, including the ISS. The only Goa'uld space station shown was in the Hasara system and used as a meeting place for the System Lords. It was later destroyed by the Replicators.
** The Midway station was located [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|halfway between]] the Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxies and served as a hub for the McKay-Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge, until the Wraith captured it and set the station to self-destruct.
** ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' also featured a moon base.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' has the M-BUS, the headquarters for the Anti Zodiarts Union. It fires a beam of Cosmic Energy that enables [[Second Rider|Kamen Rider Meteor]] to transform.
* Many space stations of various shapes and sizes are shown in ''[[Andromeda]]''. The largest one is the Arcology, a massive space habitat filled with [[Technical Pacifist|Technical Pacifists]]. The Arcology does have a [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|slipdrive]], although it's ancient (almost [[Steampunk]]-like) and non-functional.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Most Starports in [[Traveller]] have an orbital component to deal with heavier traffic and a component planetside. Aside from that there are research stations, minor outposts and the like and occasionally (if the jump range is
== [[Video Games]] ==
Line 98 ⟶ 100:
* Several space stations are shown throughout the ''[[Space Quest]]'' series. Galaxy Galleria is a large circular mall in space with a zero-gravity area in the center. The [[The Federation|StarCon]] Academy is located aboard a large space station. There's also Molly's Chug & Glug SpaceBar, which you end up destroying, Monolith Burger Fast Food Dive, Shar-Pei's station, Xenon Orbital Station 4, Vohaul's Asteroid of Doom, etc.
* The final levels of the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' (except ''III'' and ''IV'', although the latter was actually a battleship) [[Game Boy]] series take place on Space Stations; the one used in ''V'' looks like it was even based on the [[Star Wars|Death Star]]. And then, in ''[[Mega Man 10]]'', Wily builds another station that was just an extension of his castle. This one was notorious for the ''[[Overly Long Gag|lengthy]]'' tracking screen on the map.
* ''[[Vega Strike]]'' has a lot of orbital installations... which is a good thing, since ports in planetary gravity wells take a lot of time to visit even with very easy simulation. All 3 major spacefaring species and some of the others have Agricultural Station, Mining, Gas Mine, Refinery, Factory, Shipyard and Medical, plus military Fighter Bases and heavy fortresses; Human, Rlaan and Uln also have Commerce Center; Humans and Aera have dedicated Research stations, Humans-only (so far) installations include Outpost (habitat), Relay and (Shaper faction only) Bio-adaptation station. Also, there are occasional "Diplomatic Center" stations.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* There are two very important space stations in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]:'' the orbital headquarters of the Global Guardians itself, and the Stronghold Orbital Super-Maximum Detention Center.
* These are implied to exist in the universe of [[Nexus Gate]] though none have been officially named.
* ''[[Fenspace]]'' has over two dozen space stations at the Earth-Luna L5 point, and others elsewhere. They know in-universe about all the pitfalls described in ''The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy'' (as mentioned above), but they don't care.
=== USSR ===
* There were two different designs of the Salyut<ref>"Salute"</ref> series- the DOS and OPS (Almaz<ref>"Diamond"</ref>) designs. The Almaz stations were experiments into military applications of space stations, and secretly carried antiarcraft guns (suitably modified for space).
** Salyut 1/DOS-1 (1971): Only two crews went up to this. The first (Soyuz 10) couldn't open the door. The second (Soyuz 11) got on board and spent 23 days there, but died during reentry when a malfunctioning valve caused their capsule to depressurise.
** Salyut 2/OPS-1 (1973): An Almaz station. Depressurised on launch after being hit by debris from the Proton launcher, followed by an unknown explosion that destroyed the solar panels less than two weeks after reaching orbit. No attempts to visit.
** Salyut 3/OPS-2 (1974-5): Only had one crew visit. The only Almaz mission to actually do anything military related, it shot off its gun and destroyed a couple of satellites.
** Salyut 4/DOS-4 (
** Salyut 5/OPS-3 (
** Salyut 6/DOS-5 (
** Salyut 7/DOS-6 (
* Mir (1986-2001): "Peace". This included a core module (DOS-7) that could take four other modules on one end, with another (Kvant) attached on the other end. Later became capable of having the Space Shuttle dock through the use of a universal adapter. One of those modules, Spektr, was rendered unusable after a crew member, attempting to remotely dock an unmanned cargo craft, instead crashed into it, nearly killing everyone on board. First permanently manned station.
* Polyus<ref>"Pole"</ref> (1987): A planned Almaz station, carrying a CO<sub>2</sub> laser designed for anti-satellite warfare. Launched upside down due to space restrictions in the Energia, the intention was to yaw the station 180 degrees before firing rockets to place it in permanent orbit, but a failure in the inertial guidance system caused the maneuvering jets to rotate the craft 360 degrees, sending it careening into the atmosphere over the South Pacific.
===
* [[wikipedia:Manned Orbital Laboratory|Manned Orbital Laboratory]] (1963-1969) A proposed all-military station that was essentially to be a manned spy satellite. Test vehicles were launched and astronauts were trained, but [[What Could Have Been|the project was cancelled]] due to cost overruns and the fact that unmanned satellites had become cheaper and more reliable. Several of the MOL astronauts transferred to the NASA astronaut program and flew in the [[Space Shuttle]].
* Skylab (
=== China ===
* Tiangong-1<ref>"Heavenly Palace"</ref>
* Tiangong-2 was launched on 15 September 2016.
* Tiangong-3 has not been launched, and its launch date has been pushed back more than once. It is intended to form the core of a modular station, somewhat like the ISS.
=== International ===
* ISS (
** [http://heavens-above.com/ If you want to see where it currently is, go here]
=== Privately Owned ===
* Bigelow Aerospace
** Genesis series. These stations are based on NASA's TransHab design for an inflatable space station or moonbase (you heard me right). Thus far, they have been crewed by no organism more complex than a cockroach.
*** Genesis I (
*** Genesis II (
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Futuristic Tech Index]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:
| |||