the existing oribtal stations are quite high, thus the planets are small and distant. it would take a huge amount of data, but what about low orbit stations like this;

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Mirdream_sts76.jpg
http://www.spaceistheplace.ca/skylab.jpg
http://users.skynet.be/space-link/mir.htm
http://www.xxinfo.ha.cn/tupian/view/International%20Space%20Station%202.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/images/content/83542main_fs006_fig1.jpg

Sounds cool. That'd just involve making the planet object really, really big to give the impression that the player's right up next to it. That seems doable.

ooh i just thought of a problem. in one of those pics, the station is '300km from earth', 300,000m is actually a flyable distance in this game, in less than an hour. so uhm, i guess that would be kind of 'weird' to be that close but unable to fly 'down' towards it. and planet landing wont happen for a loooong time.

Low orbit stations were previously discussed in some detail in this thread.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/7601#89814

no they werent

The problem is not about the distance but with the picture. Being a 3d artist myself I know that to make an object that big would be incredibly hard because of the amount of power needed to run it. to have a low-orbit station would require an actual 3d object. thats out of the question.

about the distance problem, all you have to do is make it so that when a ship gets within a certain range of the planet, gravity is too strong and his ship becomes a ball of fire zooming toward the planet. that will prevent flying towards it