Docking port Docking pylon

Since both the previous and current avatars of Deep Space 12 must accommodate a variety of commercial, scientific, and military space traffic, the berthing facilities have been designed to provide adaptable connections to many different personnel and cargo transfer tunnels. A range of electrohydraulic docking clamp configurations are also possible, within the physical dimensions of the three dock types. The Docking Ring encompasses two of the three dock systems. The large primary docking ports are located at the junctions of the extreme outboard ends of the crossover bridges, Docking Pylons, and Docking Ring. The inset bays describing the docking volumes can service spacecraft as large as 167 meters across where they meet the docking tunnel. This dimension equals the widest deployed jaw opening of the docking clamps. The transfer tunnel has an outside diameter of 15.24 meters and an inside of 13.71 meters, large enough to allow most containerized cargo. In certain rare instances, the central ellipse of the port, measuring 81.5 by 36.7 meters, can be swung out on booms to bring in special pods or entire small spacecraft for repair and refurbishment. In that case, the Transited Cargo Inspection station and adjacent cargo bays would be cleared and later restored. The docking clamps employ a combination of electrohydraulic grab plates and short-range amplitude-pulse tractor field emitters. The grab plates, originally optimized for Cardassian freighters, have been adapted to a limited number of other spacecraft types desiring a rigidized connection more robust than that afforded by the tractor-based mooring beams. Docked vessels up to 325 meters in length will be protected to a limited degree by the defensive shield envelope. The large sweeping pylons extending away from the Docking Ring were the centers uridium and other types of ore processing on Empok Nor. A flow of input of ore and output of refined materials along the pylons was established early in the design of the station, and specialized docking connections were constructed to handle the mineral and alloy shipments. Both Upper and Lower Pylons are equipped with the same basic type of tractor-type docking clamps as the Docking Ring connections, though the pylon versions are immovable. The personnel transfer tunnels provided the same adaptable atmospheric seals as those in the Docking Ring, indicating that Cardassian freighters were not the only ships to use the tunnels. A minimum of 2,160 man-hours of Starfleet re-engineering was required to ensure complete compatibility in all subsystems and allow Starfleet ships to dock and transfer crew and supplies. Visual, subspace, and RF docking aids are present in all six pylons. An additional five backup subspace beacons were installed in each pylon dock area to provide long-range 4-D location assistance to incoming and outgoing vessels. As with the Docking Ring connections, defensive shield envelope coverage of the pylon connections offers limited protection. Special caution must be taken by ships docked at the Upper Pylons, as they are in closer proximity to the shield generators and must have their own shields inactivated or set to free-sync with the station's shield frequencies.