Balancing Rotating Space Stations Made With SpaceX Starships

If we connect SpaceX Starships for space stations and rotate them for artificial gravity then we have to make sure they are rotationally stable.

A Space Station with three SpaceX Starships with one in the center for docking is not rotationally stable. A two SpaceX Starship system is rotationally stable. The central structure for docking that is balanced when rotating.

4 thoughts on “Balancing Rotating Space Stations Made With SpaceX Starships”

  1. That image is a bit silly, if a starship were built and launched to be a module in a space station there would be no need for flaps and they would be omitted to save mass for other important things necessary for a space station.

  2. Yep. Bolo stations are in general dynamically stable.

    A tether between 2 Starships would be enough, but a solid pressurized tube for exchanging fluids, electricity and stuff/people would be much better. Having the starships docking with the tube at the top would be the most natural arrangement for rotational gravity.

    Also if the starships docking ports can rotate 90 degrees and lock, they could use the Starships as vectorized thrusters, and the whole thingamajig could be thrusted together to far away destinations.

    I imagine such axis/truss could become a standard part of longer missions to deep space.

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