Starport vs spaceport...

[briansommers]

So I’m reading in Highguard about star vs spaceports and it seems a bit unclear to me.
Can someone explain the differences? Thanks.

 

[AndrewW]

There is normally only one starport per planet. Which may consist of a downport, highport or both. Commonly managed by the Imperial Starport Authority in the Third Imperium.

There may be multiple spaceports though, sometimes serving industrial areas, factories and the like where bulk carriers, merchants and so forth can drop off and pickup goods close to where they are needed or produced.

 

[JeffMindlin]

Starports are where starships can land and be maintained etc (with jump drive)
Spaceports only cater for in-system traffic

 

[AnotherDilbert]

... star vs spaceports ...

The same difference as between "international airport" vs "airport".

Starport is for interstellar traffic, spaceport is for intrasystem traffic.

Both can handle starships, at least small ones.

 

[Condottiere]

The default one is that operated by an Imperium agency, the norm being one per system.

Spaceports can be operated by anyone, in theory, and their regulations and facilities may differ widely from default.

Terra under the Confederation had three distinct dirtside starports, whether they had corresponding hiports, or one separate one, who knows?

 

[MonsterX]

If it has a duty-free shop, it is a starport. If not it is a spaceport If you can get fresh sandwiches, it is a starport. If you can only get stale vending machine sandwiches, it is a spaceport. Or is that the division between starport Class C and D?

 

[Condottiere]

Service and faculties should be in a separate column.

Essentially, starports exist in extraterritoriality, at least the ones in the Imperium.

I wouldn't rely on that too much in the Confederation, where which flag you fly counts more.

 

[Arkathan]

There is only one starport per system. It is usually owned by the most populous planet in the system. Sometimes the most influential. The others are spaceports. They may or may not have better facilities than the main port (usually not).

 

[briansommers]

Are spaceports always in orbit, correct?

Where a starport is on the planets surface?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Are spaceports always in orbit, correct?

Where a starport is on the planets surface?

No, any starport or spaceport can have both a planetside component (downport) and an orbital component (highport).

The "starport" is just the main (international, interstellar) spaceport.

 

[Condottiere]

1. It depends.

2. By default, class alphas would presume to have a satellite station and one dirtside landing pad.

3. On the other hand, if they are multiple megacities, there could, and probably would, be more than one dirtside landing facilities, serving each region.

4. In most cases, you wouldn't need more than one orbital station; what I think most people tend to overlook, at least within in the Imperium, is that a single Imperial agency runs the starport in the system, whether there is one or more satellites designated as starport(s).

5. If the primary world is airless and has low gravity, a HiPort might be dispensed with.

 

[phavoc]

So I’m reading in Highguard about star vs spaceports and it seems a bit unclear to me.
Can someone explain the differences? Thanks.

It isn't clear what the delineation might be.

A STARship is a spaceship with a jump drive. A SPACEship is a spaceship w/o a jump drive.

If you logically take this to the same answer, a starport would handle interstellar traffic and a spaceport would handle intrasystem traffic.

Except that's not necessarily logical when one looks at a star system in its entirety. The books lead you assume that the Imperium has an Imperial STARport in nearly every inhabited system. The size of the starport will vary. Planets can have multiple starports and spaceports - there is no hard and fast rule that says they cannot. The explanation of "starports are international" is probably a good rule of thumb. Planets aren't going to want to have ships that haven't cleared customs from outside the system being able to land anywhere (for obvious reasons). A few examples that make you question the "only one starport per system" rule is asteroid belt systems (no single planet), and balkanized worlds (no single polity). Then when you add in systems that have multiple inhabited planets, or large stations/colonies elsewhere, it becomes a logical fallacy to think there can be only a single STARport per system. A single IMPERIAL one, perhaps, but not a single location that funnels all extra-system ships through it.

So the answer to that question is going to be quite muddy, aka - "it depends".

As far as SPACEports go, you should expect multiple on a planet and within a system. Higher tech worlds with high populations and industry are going to have multiple spaceports (passenger ones, industrial ones, private ones), just like today the US has multiple airports (some cities have 2-3 large ones), multiple docks, multiple rail yards, etc. SPACEports are basically just going to be places where ships will set down on a planet or dock at on a station.

 

[Reynard]

The High Guard station design rules give parameters as to what is needed at minimum for each port type to be classified as a starport. A starport is meant to efficiently centralize the most important interplanetary and interstellar traffic in one place. Most spaceports routinely don't (and shouldn't) have the facilities to supply and service starship traffic. Spaceports are purposely meant to be a local connection in a system. An occasional jump exit at a spaceport should be uncommon.

Other editions of Traveller have parameters determining if a starport has a high port component such as classification and population. Even Mongoose vaguely mentions not all ports have a high port.

 

[phavoc]

The High Guard station design rules give parameters as to what is needed at minimum for each port type to be classified as a starport. A starport is meant to efficiently centralize the most important interplanetary and interstellar traffic in one place. Most spaceports routinely don't (and shouldn't) have the facilities to supply and service starship traffic. Spaceports are purposely meant to be a local connection in a system. An occasional jump exit at a spaceport should be uncommon.

Other editions of Traveller have parameters determining if a starport has a high port component such as classification and population. Even Mongoose vaguely mentions not all ports have a high port.

But, logically speaking, this doesn't make sense - especially if you have balkanized planets. Without a regulation requiring ALL extra-solar craft to first land/dock/interface with the systems starport, this could not work. And while there are Imperial starports, there is nothing stopping or encouraging, a planet to have it's own starport for ships that are interfacing with the planet rather than just passing through.

And, as a mercantile entity, the Imperium should follow the normal mercantile process - being efficient. Busy systems will have stations at the edge of the system to take on ships that are passing through, and stations closer in that are handling ships interfacing with the planet.

And those systems with multiple inhabited worlds and large stations will have ships directly dock/land.

Shipyards and heavy repair facilities would be the outliers in this discussion - but as we've seen from reality you can have dedicated shipyards that are not part of any major port. Taking all of this into consideration means you MAY have it that way, and you MAY not - it just depends on the local conditions. Much of the Traveller rules could be better written with the acknowledgement of variations across 1,000 star systems and their many different needs and configurations.

 

[Condottiere]

Starport Ⓡ