I love the synchronicity.
I hope the design, when fleshed out with stats and more detail, will be the site of countless adventures - commercial, personal and xenobiological!
Before I 'deep dive' for a night of detailing, here are some of the configurations mentioned, and a few ideas/issues I've got so far.
* Base: Drydock, Downport, Highport, Wetport, Military, Way Station, Commercial, Private
* Scientific: Hospital, Research, Exploratory
* Housing: General, Colonization, Penal
* Industrial: Construction, Warehousing, Mining, Processing
These functions can be blended using multiple dedicated-function installations, or for smaller applications using arms of different customizations within a single installation.
All of these functions can be provided using superstructures on the 'upper platform' as well, but the arms are designed to be extremely capable of the core mission applications when used in combination with the central hub.
In different configurations, all sorts of structures dot the areas between the arms - including but certainly not limited to additional housing, laboratories, ore vein extensions, vehicle bays, defensive weaponry bays, sheeted roofing, etc. In addition, exension modules are under development that would pressurize the entire 72° wedge between two arms, to provide a large habitable space needed for long-term deployments in particularly adverse environments.
Designer's Note: If Siiriani Megacorp does not provide these modules, another megacorp surely will - and the safety risks could be significant for a third-party attempting to interface to the encrypted systems we now proudly employ.
Corporate Censor (ID 88191)'s Note: Please delete before distribution.
For starport applications, the arm 'runners' can be extended out to vehicle bays located at a safe distance from the central facility, and accomodate on/offworld traffic using maglev shuttle vehicles.
The hub can be adapted around a central spire, and multiple hubs can be attached in a vertical configuration for crater-edge, cliffside, or crevasse deployments. In a number of instances this spire has been reinforced with multiple supports, providing an upper platform capable of supporting buildings of hundreds of meters in height, based on gravity and terrain integrity.
Possible configurations: Spherical or chordal asteroid-circlers, terrain-crawling layouts, vertical cliffside structures, vacuum and ocean floaters/sinkers, flat geometric layouts.
Transport: After launch the five arms slow-rotate from their flat position to a 90° rotation downwards, into a collected cylinder. The five arms' ends are joined to form the front of the vessel. Command remains in the hub, with a gravity field 90° offset from the arms.
So, I need a new name - it's not just a mineralogical rig... since Siiriani corporation is marketing these to so many sectors (private/industrial/commercial/military), there's got to be a more jazzy, but cross-functional name.
The design group suggestion box is open, citizens. The winning citizen will have an early production run named for him/her/it.