Fontana Station

[Vile]

Fontana is my favourite station to date. I have a couple of questions or three about its structure. Is that big ring rotating to provide simulated gravity? If so, is it rotating while the rest of the station (the "tower" the docking boom and the PV (?) panels) stay stationary, relatively speaking? It doesn't really look like that to me, based on the window lines in the ring, which would be on the floor and ceiling if this were the case.

[NefariousDrO]

I'm speculating here, but the advantage I can see to a ring like that is maximizing the number of docking ports.

[Raukk]

No need to use spin for simulated gravity considering they already have artificial gravity through other tech. So, I agree it's likely for docking ports, or perhaps another reason that we might not know yet.

[Vile]

I don't think it's spinning, either, because the window alignment indicates other wise and, as you say, there is artificial gravity in CD. But I'm not sure that the ring is there for docking purposes. That function seems to be mainly served by the big gantry structure, and it would be simpler to have more of those if you need the space.

I'm leaning towards the theory that the "tower" is the military and administrative portion of the station, and the "ring" houses the civilian population and businesses, i.e. "startown".

[charles]

Well... It could also have some housing in it. The thing certainly seems to be multi-levelled, but I'd think that would be the perfect place to store cargo which is dropped off by one ship and destined for another. Particularly if the exchange is done within the same section of ring, so the cargo doesn't have to be moved far.

A Ring has a few advantages to a straight out gantry structure like the one which seems to service the larger military ships. It curves around so that the wide stabalisers of one whip would be less likely to collide or interfer with another ship due to the angle of docking. The other advantage is that you have two pathways back to the heart of the station. Sure you'll almost always take the shorter path if you're not out in the centre, but if the short path is blocked or there's been some decompression or damage, etc then there's another clear, safe path back to the station.