StarLab "like" Orbital Station

Inspired by the proposed commercial space station of the same name. I don’t try, or even want, to make exact copies of existing or future projects. However I will frequently emulate a design or feature I think is appealing, then go off in my own direction with it. So if you’ve seen, or look up, the artist renderings for Starlab, you’ll see this station looks very similar but with some easy to spot differences!

She’s a medium sized space station intended to be a standalone/single launch module (like Skylab). However there’s no reason that more modules couldn’t be added if one wanted to add a docking coupler on the end (or could be added to an already existing station as an add -on module with a few modifications).

Important notes:

She’s got two large solar panels and two large “Radiator Fins” or at least that’s what I’m calling them! These radiator fins don’t serve any purpose but decoration and I was honestly split 50/50 about adding them, so if you decide you want too, just rip em off before launch. These fins do have rotator hinges so they can rotate but they do not fold up or stow. So if you want to launch this station into orbit (instead of spawning) you’ll have to take em off or find a way to compact them (I was just a little too lazy to figure out exactly how).

There are two small electric pump-fed engines on her that should be sufficient for station keeping and conservative orbital changes (prolly not enough to get her to Luna, Brigo or geosync orbit) w/ a refuelable kerolox tank in the aft. All habitat compartments should be connected to allow for internal transfer of droonauts to any compartment with a capacity greater than 1. (4) Exterior lights just above the observation window segment. And the side docking port is useable but may require retraction of the solar panel bellow it for docking and (depending on size of craft) while the port is being used. I’ve went ahead and included a docking adaptor that can be used and allows for small craft to dock and have more clearance from the panels.

AG 1 Radiator Panels: Turns panels about their axis
AG 2 S Band Antenna: Slider 1 fixed so antenna won’t rotate into station and break.
AG 3,4,5 & 6 The robotic arm which I did not design but is fully functional.
AG 7 Beacon Light: Turns on/off
AG 8 Experiment Sliders: Pistons that extend/retract “experiment cubes”.
AG 10 Activates lights on the “experiment cubes”