POS, Station, or Structure?
Stations are NPC-controlled entities which offer docking. some are of the kickout variety, i.e. they have such short undock runways that re-docking may be perilous.
Structures are player-owned & operated entities (e.g. Astrahus) which may or may not offer docking and tethering.
- structures have a 2,500 m docking radius and a 10 km tethering radius
- if you are AFK on tether, your ship can be bumped away & destroyed. dock up if AFK! deep-tether bookmarks are also useful on structures you frequent
- the Upwell navigation and utility structures (e.g. Ansiblex, Metenox) do not offer either docking or tether
Player-Owned Starbases AKA POS are password-protected enclosed spaces placed at fixed locations by moons.
- POS don't offer docking or tethering. instead, they can produce a forcefield that prevents non-passworded ships from entering and prevents targeting ships inside
- to change a pilot's current POS password, right-click the Capacitor and select "Enter Starbase Forcefield Password". only one password can be stored