Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 9:38 AM
David,
As I envision the working of this mechanism, the pin can rotate about its column, but only with respect to the ship. In an earlier email I had posited that it might be a possibility to rotate the ship around that pin in order to use the main engines for braking. But, after hearing about all the other drones attached to the cargo container(s) I'm not so sure that it wouldn't be simpler to use them to rotate the entire cargo train so that while still travelling in one direction it is actually facing back the way it came so that the main engines would again be able to provide braking.
The shaped tower fits into the a matching hole in the cargo container. It is those pins along the sides of the tower which do the actual locking. The pins are currently extended, but would be retracted for the locking procedure. Once the tower has fully seated in the cargo container the pins would again be extended, locking the tower in the hole. At that point the tower column could also exert some hydraulic 'pull' to bring the support pads up tight against the hull of the cargo container. Add in some magnetic flux in those support pads and we are 'go'. And you have a point, that locking mechanism just might need some attention from time to time. Murphy's Law.
As for access to the locking tower, yes, I did think of perhaps putting an access hatch or two down there. Another possibility is that the access is from within, up through the tower column. Your ship, your design, your decision. After all, aren't you a spec 10? ;-)
As I see it, the railings are there to allow the techs to climb up for inspections of the mating between locking tower and cargo container. Another thought is that there are (might be) some access hatches in the cargo container located around that locking site, simply to allow for checks and/or maintenance of the power couplings... also built into that tower (somewhere). Those railings would help the tech get up close(r) to those hatches (?). But if you think they are too much I'll reach for my power hacksaw.
My mind has been considering the question of lighting on this craft, but I'll not delve into that quite yet.
Cheers,
- Ignatz