SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

I first came across the concept of space habitats capable of traveling to other star systems in the 1980's while reading the science fiction of Olaf Stapledon and Everett B. Cole. In the 1990's, I ran across the idea again in the science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke and Iain M. Banks. This concept caught my imagination and I tried to express the it visually in a diversity of designs representing a variety of levels of star-faring technology.

A DEFINITION

Star-Faring Habitats are mammoth starship shells encasing huge internal spaces housing populations rangind from the ten-thousands to the millions. They are typically thousands to tens of thousands of meters long and contain their own agricultural and industrial facilities in order to be as self-sufficient as possible. Star-faring habitats carry a plethora of starships of to perform specific exploratory, commercial and security functions. Usually connected to a parent star-faring civilization, star-faring habitats serve as colonies, outposts, space-based industry, and support bases. Sometimes, they are used by groups of like-minded individuals to form specially tailored societies. Some star-faring habitats have become travelling civilizations of their own. Those with advanced enough faster-than-light drives are capable of traveling to nearby galaxies.

GENERAL SYSTEMS VEHICLES

Iain M. Banks has provided his own very good definition of star-faring habitats, which he refers to as "General Systems Vehicles", in an essay entitled "A Few Notes on the Culture" from his book The State of the Art:

The Culture’s largest vessels-apart from certain art-works and a few Eccentrics—are the General Systems Vehicles of the Contact section.  (Contact is the part of the Culture concerned with discovering, cataloguing, investigating, evaluating, and-if thought prudent-interacting with other civilizations; its rationale and activities are covered elsewhere, in the stories.)  The GSVs are fast and very large measured in kilometres and inhabited by millions of people and machines.  The idea behind them is that they represent the Culture fully.  All that the Culture knows, each GSV knows; anything that be done anywhere in the Culture can be done within or by any GSV.  In terms of both information and technology, they represent a resort, and act like holographic fragments of the Culture itself, the whole contained within each part. . . . In our terms, the abilities of a GSV are those of-at least-a state, and arguably a whole planet (subject only to the proviso that even the Culture prefers to scoop up matter rather than create it from nothing; GSVs do require raw material).

Wanderer in Wonder - This design is from an era where Humans are building their first star-faring habitats. This vessel is just a few kilometers long.

Cordiality of Cooperation - This design is from an era immediately following that of Wanderer in Wonder. This vessel is just a few kilometers in diameter but as a round design is it more massive than its predecessor.

Affirmation of Adventure - This design is from an era centuries after Wanderer in Wonder and Cordiality of Cooperation. This assymetrical vessel is between 10 and 20 kilometers long.

Explorer in Awe - This design is set in the same era as Affirmation of Adventure and is about the same size.

Ocean of Oneness - This design is set in an era after that of Affirmation of Adventure and Explorer in Awe. It is between 20 and 40 kilometers long.

These following concept are presented in rough order from the very prosaic and literal designs to the most unusual and abstract designs:

Concept #1 - This design is a prototype star-faring habitat at just 1-2 kilometers long. It has a single habitat bay mounted to a manufacturing complex followed by a large engineering hull.

Concept #2 - This is another pioneering era design with a length of 2-4 kilometers long. Here, the habitat bays and drive systems are contained in a huge framework of trusses.

Concept #3 - These two versions of the same design come from an era immediately following the pioneering era. Both version are about 10 kilometers long. One has a starship hangar mounted underneath the main structure while the other has two large starship bays on each end of the main hull. Both designs feature a single habitat bay in the center of the main hull.

Concept #4 - This design is the original sketch for Depths of Dream. It started out as a 26 kilometer diameter star-faring habitat and later was reconceived as a deep space station for the Deep Space Exploration Group universe. This design was inspired by a large conceptual starship design by Syd Mead and the New Avatar Station by fellow speculative spaceship designer Jeff Robb. Here, there is a large central habitat bay encircled by nine smaller habitat bays. Nine starship harbors are arrayed around the giant complex.

Concept #5 - This design is one of the handful of inspired by Baha'i Houses of Worship. It is from an era immediately following a pioneering era and is about 5 kilometers in diameter. Here, the habitat bays are stacked vertically.

Concept #6 - This is another design inspired by Baha'i Houses of Worship. It is from a pioneering and is about 2-4 kilometers tall. The habitat bay is the large sphere at the top of the vessel.

Concept #7 - This design is inspired by the K-7 Deep Space Station of the original Star Trek TV series. It is from an era immediately following a pioneering era and is about 2-4 kilometers long. There are two habitat bays mounted above and below the main starship structure.

Concept #8 - This design was originally a concept for a large alien starship. It is from an advanced era and is about 10 kilometers in diameter. Here, six hexagonal habitat bays encircle a large starship core.

Concept #9 - This is another design from an advanced era. It is about 4-8 kilometers long. The handful of habitat bays are encased in a large starship shell. A similar design is my Category 8 Galactic Traveler Radiant Dawn.

Concept #10 - This assymetrical design is also from an adavnced era. It is 10-20 kilometers long. The habitat bays and the two sloping structures arranged along the vessel's main axis.

Concept #11 - This design has some sort of exotic faster-than-light propulsion system taking up the bottom half of the vessel. It is about 2-4 kilometers tall. There is a single habitat bay mounted at the top.

Concept #12 - This design has numerous habitat bays imbedded into a starship slab. It is about 5-10 kilometers long. A similar but more technologically advanced design is Category 9 Galactic Traveler Extents of Imagination.

Concept #13 and #14 - These designs also feature habitat bays imbedded into starship slabs. Each vessel is about 10-20 kilometers long.

Concept #15 - This unusual configuration has boxy habitat bays splayed out like leaves on a stem. This vessel is from an advanced era as is 20-40 kilometers long.

Concept #16 - This design features large and small rotating habitat rings mounted to a starship core structure. The large habitat ring is intended as primary living space with the smaller rings are for agriculture and aquaculture.

DIGITAL RESOURCES

Modeling - Rhino 4 and TrueSpace 6.6
Rendering - Flamingo 1.1
Textures - Richard Jeferies, Jumpstart, Sean Kennedy, Stephan V, Strange Fate, and Zoo Space.
Backgrounds - Custom Photoshop 7 brushes and Photoshop plug-in Lunarcell
Miscellaneous - CorelDRAW, Corel Photo-Paint and Adobe Photoshop