Take advantage of founding colonies within two tiles of a trade station

[s0nny80y]

It is possible to protect stations within your city's three tile radius.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Yes. Once you build Repair Facilities and/or Observatories, your orbital coverage will expand even further than your city's cultural radius. You can launch a Station Sentinel satellite over the station, once it is within your orbital coverage.

As you note, once a station is actually *inside* your territory, the AI can't really attack it without attacking you.