Docking Rings

[Jinx]

its described as a passage that is safe to enter the planetary atmosphere through.



so there are several ideas about the docking rings...



- they innitiate some sort of docking beam - like a tractor beam that "drags" ships down to the landing pad, which would mostly apply to ships that are not capable of non space flight.

- they mark the spot where entering the atmosphere is harmless, due to magnetic fields etc. - while any other place would require a much higher piloting skill to avoid melting in the atmosphere.



most ships are VTOL anyway. they have wings to manouver easier in dense particle clouds like gases, but not to really fly in a planets atmosphere. so - i think that docking rings provide the ships with a safe passage to descent onto the planets surface, more like an automatic docking sequence. - bit like that the pilot does not really need the skill to launch / dock / land - but can concentrate on flying.



like - imagine an aircraft carrier that made it possible to to have planet launch and land without the pilot having to pay a single thought on it - ... such a device would make aircraft carriers quite formidable and accessable to a lot more pilots.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC