Docking tunnel

scormus_c3ab4e5c4e

How to get between two big spaceships, if neither has a docking hangar big enough to fit the other?  Most likely through a flexble concertina-type retractable tube with an airlock and docking ring on the end, such that it could be mated with a matching ring on the other ship and then pressurised.  It might be operated (piloted) by someone inside it (safely behind the door) using small manouvering jets mounted around the docking ring at the end to 'fly' it from one ship to the other.  Or perhaps each ship would have one and they would meet and join in the middle.  Even so it would still drift slightly and would not be a straight, tight, line but have some flexibility (to prevent itself being torn apart as the two ships move relative to each other).

The inside of the cylinder would need rigid hoops to keep the tube shape and prevent it from twisting and kinking.  It would certainly need hand-holds as there would be no gravity - not even artificial - once 'outside' the ships.  It would probably beed to be quite wide - and padded - to allow cargo to be shunted through it (without puncturing the sides if they bumped into them).  It would probably need windows in each articulated section allowing views of the exterior of both ships.

It is possible that the airlocks at each end would be left open once the tunnel were sealed and the ships joined, but there would have to be safety cutouts to close the doors instantly in the event of any loss in pressure.

Probably there would need to be some form of zero-G robotic carrier to move goods (and perhaps people) safely through the tube - using air jets to manouvre since it would be air-filled and pressurised.  It would be interesting to see how the transition from zero-G to ship gravity were managed in cases of ships with internal artificial gravity.  Perhaps an arm or rail extending into the zero-G zone of the tunnel that could then bring things safely into the gravity environment without dropping them or causing unpleasant and dangerous impacts when they suddenly acquire weight.

I think this would make an interesting model, and a useful alternative to the rather hackneyed 'space corridor' of which there are already so many.  At the moment we have lots of spaceships but no way of getting between them except by spacewalk.  Surely the future would come up with something more convenient and safe?

The model would need to incorporate the interior airlock of at least one ship, plus an exterior section around the door to show the docking ring mounted for an incoming tube to mate with. It would also need the articulated tube itself and the in particular the end ring with the safety door set in it to seal the tube when not mated with the other ship.  The tube would need to be articulated and modelled inside and outside.  It would need to show how the tube retracts back into the ship when not engaged. The airlock would probably extend out from the side of the ship and the tube concertina around it like a foreskin.  The whole assembly might retract into the side of the ship when in transit.

As an extra option it might be fun to represent a torn section - as if the tunnel has been ripped apart by the movement of the ships away from each other.  The dramatic possibilities are endless and not just a matter of the usual space warfare.

A further option - perhaps as a separate product - would be the carrier robot used to ferry canisters and cases through the tunnel between the ships.  Such cases might include human passengers, asleep in cryogenic stasis canisters.

Linton

You could make one with some primitives, and some kit-bashing with parts from other sets. A cylinder or tube primitive, some greebles parts, the bank vault door frame/door, and metal shaders, and boom, insta-docking tunnel.