besides acting as 2 load screens between your ship and a planets surface really what are they there for, 1 quest to go down to the planet to talk to a guy that starts the planets quest chain? that seems like a poor use of art and game resources.
there should be more there. more vendors its usually just a med droid you cant even buy star-ship upgrades on them, a gtn terminal, maybe craft trainers something other then a annoying time sink between your ship and quests.