Does Starship need a bigger Space Station to dock with?

Jun 21, 2020
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Once question that comes to mind is after viewing the animation below, is that maybe Starship needs a bigger space station to dock with.
As Starship has the same internal volume as the ISS it might make more sense to just use Starship as a space station. What do you guys think?
 
No. Starship is a transport system. It is designed for the hoped for cargo of the Next Generation Space Transport Systems. It's function is to carry stuff or personnel about.

A Space Station is a place to use as a facility. It's function is to proved a place for personnel to live and to facilitate such work as exists for those personnel to be doing.

That may be scientific research, industrial activity and processes or tourism/entertainment. The current ISS Space Station is for scientific research. It has a compliment of three, currently five due to the Dragon Tests. It could hold up to six to eight, but more would strain the life support.

Starship currently doesn't have the life support ability to serve as a space station for any sort of long term mission. It will though, if it ever really flies in both passenger and cargo versions be able to support a much larger space station. Say one with a hundred occupants.

But currently, Starship doesn't have a real economic reason for existence. It will in ten years times hopefully, but right now it doesn't have a way to pay for itself.

Which is OK, as the Falcon Series of rockets are paying for its development today.

Today, what we have with Starship is exploring the piping and other systems that will be needed for the real rockets. Soon there may be 'hops' of up to twenty thousand feet (say 6,000 meters). They haven't even started construction on the First Stage yet. You need that to go beyond sub-continental range.

It promises to be a great system, but it's still Not Ready Yet.
 
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