If we have a space station that can orbit like a planet, wouldn't it give us an advantage in terms of positioning for astronomical experiments? This may also enhance the network transmission capabilities for communication to space probes and inter-planetary missions. This could be a good step towards building a platform for space stations.
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For solar astronomy, this is already being done. The STEREO spacecraft for instance are in the same orbit as Earth, but one's ahead of Earth and the other one behind Earth so they can study the Sun from different angles.
For radio astronomy, interferometry is a useful tool, but if you're going to launch a radio telescope you might as well position it further way to get an even longer baseline.
For communication with deep space probes, a station in the same orbit as Earth would need a very large dish (30-70 m diameter) to be able to add anything useful to the DSN dishes on Earth. At the moment, the brief periods when direct communication to Earth is impossible are too short to be a real problem.
