Size of DS9

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

So, i always wondered about the size of the station, i mean... In the early episodes the crew often mention the "lack of room" for making new areas on the station. But wen there are the exteriors shoots we can see that the station is a LOT bigger than the Enterprise D, witch is already a enormous ship. So... What the hell occupied so much space on the station? Ok, i know there ware civilians, but in the early ears the station was abandoned and quite empty. So...

 

[MacLeod]

Ore refineries/processing, engines. Plus several areas might not be habitable after the Cardassians trashed it prior to leaving.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Ore refineries/processing, engines. Plus several areas might not be habitable after the Cardassians trashed it prior to leaving.

Yes. I believe that there were references in early seasons to uninhabited/uninhabitable areas of the station. Moreover, there are plenty of fluctuations in the population of the station. There was never a stable population.

Slightly OT, but was there an episode in which the station's power supply was discussed?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also a lot of the volume of the station is taken up by the docking ring and the pylons which we don't see very often. The habitat ring is referred to as having hundreds of residents (Civil Defense) but all we see is single rooms and single corridors. The actual central area containing ops and the promenade that we see most of the time is much smaller than the full station.

 

[kkt]

It took them several years to exterminate the vole population so they could use the vacant sections

Power source: they mentioned having more than one fusion reactor in one of the episodes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Also a lot of the volume of the station is taken up by the docking ring and the pylons which we don't see very often. The habitat ring is referred to as having hundreds of residents (Civil Defense) but all we see is single rooms and single corridors. The actual central area containing ops and the promenade that we see most of the time is much smaller than the full station.

Speaking of volume, there's a lot of thin, spindly areas. Those 6 docking pylons likely just have turbolifts in them.

The promenade would seem to only have 2 decks. The outer docking ring has maybe one deck.

This page on treckcore has a few good schematics.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So, i always wondered about the size of the station, i mean... In the early episodes the crew often mention the "lack of room" for making new areas on the station. But wen there are the exteriors shoots we can see that the station is a LOT bigger than the Enterprise D, witch is already a enormous ship. So... What the hell occupied so much space on the station? Ok, i know there ware civilians, but in the early ears the station was abandoned and quite empty. So...

The size of Deep Space 9 changes quite a bit. This post from Rick Sternbach goes into some detail: www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=4754280&postcount=65

 

[Dude111]

Ore refineries/processing, engines. Plus several areas might not be habitable after the Cardassians trashed it prior to leaving.

I myself have wondered if DS-9 is the actual size of a real space station..... Most likely it IS!!

 

[Timo]

What is a "real space station"?

Terok Nor was stated to be an ore refinery, and much of its volume no doubt is dedicated to this, even though we never learn the full specifics. It would appear the pylons served a major function there, not only in conveying ore and extracted minerals from A to B, but also as areas of processing - when DS9 is upgunned by Starfleet, room for major new weapons is found at the pylon roots, even though Starfleet apparently wants to preserve the other industrial function of the space station, that of a cargo transfer hub.

Terok Nor also served as the headquarters and top-level accommodation of the Cardassian occupation force, and was well armed to perform an orbital intimidation mission even if this was never discussed. It would be the habitat function that Starfleet would have the easiest time restoring, as thrashing that would have been low in the list of Cardassian priorities. Starfleet would also hurry the re-establishing of the command functions, even though those would be the ones the most severely scuttled. Anything having to do with weaponry would be secondary; anything relating to cargo processing tertiary at best (they didn't even know there would be much traffic originally, until the wormhole was found). So those vast unused cargo holds would not count as readily useful resources for expansion, not during the first season yet.

Indeed, the episode that best expands on the former functions of the station, "Civil Defense", would see our heroes start ripping out ore processing systems and confronting booby traps in the third season only...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bad Thoughts]

What is a "real space station"?

Terok Nor was stated to be an ore refinery, and much of its volume no doubt is dedicated to this, even though we never learn the full specifics. It would appear the pylons served a major function there, not only in conveying ore and extracted minerals from A to B, but also as areas of processing - when DS9 is upgunned by Starfleet, room for major new weapons is found at the pylon roots, even though Starfleet apparently wants to preserve the other industrial function of the space station, that of a cargo transfer hub.

Terok Nor also served as the headquarters and top-level accommodation of the Cardassian occupation force, and was well armed to perform an orbital intimidation mission even if this was never discussed. It would be the habitat function that Starfleet would have the easiest time restoring, as thrashing that would have been low in the list of Cardassian priorities. Starfleet would also hurry the re-establishing of the command functions, even though those would be the ones the most severely scuttled. Anything having to do with weaponry would be secondary; anything relating to cargo processing tertiary at best (they didn't even know there would be much traffic originally, until the wormhole was found). So those vast unused cargo holds would not count as readily useful resources for expansion, not during the first season yet.

Indeed, the episode that best expands on the former functions of the station, "Civil Defense", would see our heroes start ripping out ore processing systems and confronting booby traps in the third season only...

Timo Saloniemi

Yes, the station starts out as a vehicle for the economic and political exploitation of Bajor, is converted into a transit center, and ends up being a strategic and commercial hub. Gowron largely makes this observation as he signs back onto the Khitomer accords.

 

[Timo]

It's too bad we see so little of the infrastructure that must have accompanied the orbital element of the occupation. How did the ore get from surface to orbit? How did the refined products get from the station to Cardassia proper? What sorts of small craft were originally served by the bays that later received the Starfleet runabouts? How did personnel (Bajoran paid workers and slaves, Cardassian paid workers and military personnel, randomly tolerated individuals like Quark) move back and forth?

Backstage doubletalk refers to some sort of spacecraft bringing the ore aboard and dumping it into the top docking ports, from which it flows down through the processors in the pylons and leaves the station through the bottom docking ports where a different type of spacecraft awaits. Transporters must have been useful back when the station was orbiting Bajor, too. But the only non-warship Cardassian vessel design ever witnessed is the cargo hauler introduced in "Indiscretion" (even the ship flown by Natima Lang in "Profit and Loss" later turns out to have been a small warship), and the only transporter platform witnessed in action is the one at Ops (original set plans included a multi-platform system on the Promenade, but that one was apparently never built).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[vulcan redshirt]

The given diameter of DS9 is approx 1450m.

Hence: (please note these are roughly scaled off images on the trekcore link, with the main diameter set to 1450pix, and are consequently exterior sizes)
the diameter of the central area is 280m, and 150m high, excluding aerials, weapons and the lower reactor assembly. It should be noted that the central area is (very roughly) two cones, stuck base to base, for the purposes of calculating volume.
the diameter of the Habitat Ring is 580m, and the ring is 70m in width and approximately 40m thick. it is separated from the central area by 75m.
the Docking ring has a diameter of 1450m, a width of 95m and a thickness of 50m
the upper and lower docking pylons are 450m high and have a minimum section of 40m.

Given that a lot of the space must be for structural support, power and services conduits, as well as cargo bays, old ore refining faclilities left over by the Cardassians, then it would be fair to say that there would not be much habitable space left over, certainly less than would be available on a galaxy class vessel.