Stations that aren't constrained by fairings and rocket diameter?

[Pipcard]

(Note: this does not only apply to space stations, it also applies to large mobile manned spacecraft as well)

The International Space Station has pressurized, pre-fabricated modules that are berthed or docked together. These modules are shaped like cylinders, so they can fit inside a rocket's payload fairing or the Space Shuttle's payload bay. I have loved this kind of design for its modern-day practicality.

But will there ever be a space station design that is not limited to pre-fabricated modules that have to be shaped accordingly with a cylindrical rocket?
(also, inflatable modules can only get you so far)

Take for example, the Space Station V from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Other examples of these non-modular sci-fi designs can be found with a Google image search for "space station(s)" that aren't the ISS, or a search for "space station" on deviantART.

In the Station V image, it shows a skeletal lattice covered up by metal plates. The [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1932"]World of 2001[/ame] add-on shows that non-prefab components are brought up in cargo containers to the station. Large space stations like Station V or even larger space habitats would then be assembled by orbital construction workers in EVA pods like these:

(art by Don Davis)

Real-life space organizations have found this kind of "piece-by-piece" construction to be far too complex, and so they have only designed stations with pre-fabricated modules that connect to one another. Most importantly, launch and assembly costs are also still too high, and flight rates too low (hopefully, SpaceX or some other organization can change that), to have a station much larger than the ISS.

 

[ISProgram]

Well, there is SpiderFab, just need scale of economies and enough resources...

...who knows what you can do...

 

[Andy44]

With enough money, anything's possible. Until launch costs come down these things are problematic to say the least.

We did miss an opportunity to split the difference, though: using the STS external tanks as a sort of "space station starter kit" to build large space stations with roomy interiors. You'd have to add a lot of hardware and do a fair amount of construction to make it work, but the ET is a very large object that could've been easily placed into LEO for the cost of a few extra seconds of main engine burn.

Alas, as with so many other great ideas for STS it was cast aside...

 

[Pipcard]

I was going to mention the Space Island Group in the opening post, but I decided not to for some reason.

 

[Star Voyager]

There's ET station add-ons [ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2067"]here[/ame] and [ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5744"]here[/ame].

 

[Ravenous]

I was thinking about large chambers/structures and so on. If you think about the walls of a house, there are internal and external parts and various joiners, etc to keep them all together. I don't know if that's practical to assemble the whole thing in zero G. So, perhaps in the far future large prefabricated sections of ready-made wall would be made on the Moon and lifted (in a convenient vacuum) and joined - then the internal/external seals made.

(All just pure fantasy at the moment, of course. But I just don't see people manufacturing sheet metal and handling screws/rivets/adhesives in zero G.)

 

[Pipcard]

A solution may be to utilize advanced large-scale 3D printing techniques. (by Luis Daniel Pozo)

(I was going to put this in the original post too, but I couldn't find it. The original page is gone, too. But I came across it again when searching for "space station" on tumblr.)

 

[Andy44]

That looks really cool, but it also looks like H.R. Giger dreamed it up in a fever and you'd better have Lt. Ellen Ripley with you aboard the station...

 

[Artlav]

Well, Savitskaya did welding and other metalworking in open space back in 1984.
Which is in itself interesting, because she used a electron beam welder which apparently just works in space, vacuum being plentiful.

But that's first and last such case i know of.
So, space welding must be too impractical so far.
Without that, no custom stations.

3D printing looks fun, but it haven't reached a serious level yet.

 

[C3PO]

Arc welding would be very tricky in free-fall. Gravity makes a huge difference. Maybe friction welding would be a better option.