First Spacestation (Newb)

[Giygus]

So I am trying to put my first space station into orbit, as part of a contract.  I am going to take what I learn here to build my own eventually, but I had a few questions pop up I thought you could help me with.

First, pictures of the actual station.  Any advice would be awesome.  Note that I am planning on lifting it in one stage (if I can, have yet to actually try), and the only addon I have is MechJeb:

So here are the questions:

1. How exactly do Kerbals move through the station, somewhat realistically or magically?  For example, if I were to put just one docking port on the fuel tank, would the game whisk them up to any of the seats available in any of the pods?  Here I am using docking ports and the utility bay to provide what I hope would be enough room for them to get around if its more realistic.
2. How does fuel move around?  Would I need a separate port on the fuel tank to refill it at some point, or is the one on the lander can going to move it magically to the tank on the bottom?
3. I am concerned about solar power generation.  Landing on the moons taught me that you need to manually put the ship in a position to receive sunlight BEFORE you warp.  Since I can't move a station around all the time while doing other things, I put a bunch of panels in what I hope are enough different positions that it should be in the sun somewhat all the time.  Is this a good idea, overkill, or not enough?
4. Fuel in general question:  I have that one X200-16 for liquid attached to a poodle, two 150 mono tanks, and two Z-400 bats (plus what the pods have).  Does any of that seem like overkill or undershooting for a Kerbal based station?  What if I wanted it on/around the Mun?

I think that's all the questions I have for now.  Again, any and all input is very much appreciated! 

[Randazzo]

1. Magically. Once a ship is docked via a docking port, the entire thing becomes a single vessel in the eyes of the game and Kerbals can transfer from any compartment with crew capacity to any other compartment with crew capacity, assuming there is an open seat.
2. Also magically. Any port anywhere will do.
3. Those four deployable panels should ensure that you have sun exposure at all times, simply orient your vessel normal or anti-normal (The cupola pointing "north" or "south") and you should end up with at least partial exposure on a panel at any given time. Unless of course there is a planet in the way.
4. Depends what you want out of the station. If you intend to use it to refuel regularly, you might want a larger tank to reduce the number or refueling missions you will need to send up. If it's just there for emergencies, it should be plenty.

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Randazzo

[steuben]

Working blind since this computer doesn't let me see youtube vids.

4. depends on how far you want to move it. you might want to invest in KER, don't know if MJ gives the same design readouts.

3. if you have the moveable panels use them and sit them at 4 or 6 point symmetry as far out as possible. similar for the static panels. add batteries as well. stations are more tolerant of dips in power than landers since they can reorient themselves and have much shorter darkness periods.

2. magic. well more of one of those acceptable breaks from reality. you will have to transfer manually if you are fueling/unfueling it. but it will draw from futherest available tank if the engine is burning

1. magic. the interpretation is up to you. they either suit up and cross over, just crawl through some access ways, or something involving quantum. again an acceptable break from reality, especially considering we used to have to manually eva the kerbals around in prevbious versions.

[Hodari]

The other questions seem pretty well answered already, so I'll just answer 4(and the same answer applies somewhat to 3 as well).  What you have there is probably fine for now at least and don't forget that one of the main points of space station design is that it should be somewhat modular.  If you decide later on that you DO need more fuel or solar panels or anything else in there, just add another module with the needed parts. 

Once you get your station in orbit in the first place though, you probably won't be moving it around that often anyway, so the fuel on it is likely to be more for refueling other craft that dock to it. 

[Plusck]

I agree with most of the points above. Particularly the (1) magically and (2) magically bits.

However, with this design aero will charge a hefty levy on the way up to orbit. You could easily make it a single 2.5m stack and avoid a huge amount of drag.

If you have 3x or 4x symmetry on solar panels, you are virtually guaranteed to get enough charge no matter what the attitude, so no worries there. However, where you place solar panels will matter in future if you ever want to add to this to make a bigger station, so if I were you I'd put them at 45° to the docking ports, so you don't have to retract them just to bring another module in.

And for future-proofing, docking ports are relatively light. Put four radially around a 2.5m stack (with space to approach them, as with solar panels as mentioned above) and you have everything you need to expand into a fully-fledged station.

And finally - part count. It may not matter now, but when you start adding stuff to your station and you find that your hub has an unreasonably high part count which makes every maneuver in the vicinity slow and jerky and the only solution is to undock everything and attach it to a new low-part-count hub, you'll fume and chafe against the moment you overcomplicated that damned hub. So make it simple.

P.S. And you don't need a mod.

[Snark]

Definitely should have more docking ports on there.  Put one on top of the cupola, and both of those lander cans should have ports.

I'd suggest rotating your solar panels by 45 degrees (i.e. placed at NE, NW, SE, SW instead of N, S, E, W), for two reasons.  One, they're less likely to get shadowed by the components sticking out from the station.  Two, it moves them a bit farther away from your docking ports, so they're slightly less vulnerable to getting bumped (and shattered) by something you're docking if anything goes awry.

You want your solar panels as far as possible from the rest of the station (to avoid shadows and collisions), so I'd suggest moving them as far low down on that bottom fuel tank as possible, to get them away from the "action end" of the station.

As long as you're not planning on sending the station to the outer solar system (e.g. past Dres), that should be plenty of solar capacity.  Kerbal spaceships generally have very modest electricity requirements.  There are a few things that are voracious energy consumers (ion drives, refineries, ore drills, research labs), but you have none of them on this station.

Personally, I'd prefer greatly expanding the fuel capacity-- e.g. give it a Big Orange Tank.  One of the nice uses for space stations is that they're a convenient place to store fuel, and having lots of capacity is handy.  (Also, the Big Orange Tank is nice and long, which will give you a convenient place to stick on another quartet of docking ports.)

[Wemb]

As the others, but with a single further observation - echoing Plusck's comment - either use retractable solar panels, or put them far away from your docking ports or, if you can't, at least illuminate them with floodlamps.  

Until you're proficient, you will probably at some point drive through them sideways by accident if they're anywhere nearby.

Wemb

Edited April 15, 2016 by Wemb

[Warzouz]

Also

• Light your docking ports to help docking,
• Set them as far as you can from your solar panels.
• If you have the tech, add a large docking ring for extensions
• I recommend adding a hitch-hiker pod so you can store returning Kerbals (that may be useful as a back-up plan)
• You don't need the RCS, you already have a reaction wheel. When in place, space stations don't need any kind of propulsion, except if you want to move them later. So put your engine behind a docking ring and dump it when your station is in place.
• Bigger tank can be nice, also a bigger RCS tank for refuelling ships.
• You don't need the service bay. Stick everything outside your station.
• Stick a big stack battery under your cupola and remove the thing under it (stick the cupola directly on your station.
• Add a MPL ?
• Add an antenna, a probe core and one science experiment. That way you'll be able to do instant science contract even if your station is unmanned.

[Stoney3K]

You really don't need the retractable solar panels, just use the unshielded ones. Saves on cost and not hauling unnecessary weight.

The way you attached the lander cans right now is not really going to work, docking ports need a port at both ends to be useful. Attach the cans directly to the station and have the docking ports face outward. Just a single docking port inline with a stack is (in most cases) fairly useless.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Stoney3K

[Giygus]

Thanks for all the help.

This first stab in the dark has been much improved with your advice, but I decided to abandon it for something more thought out from the start.

After I decide to build a Science generating station (or refuel depot) I will be back for more nitpicking!