Joolian42

As far as interplanetary missions go, wouldn't lower orbits be better, to take advantage of the Oberth effect? Some kind of station around Minmus (or the Mun) would be great for Kethane mining to refuel the fuel tanker, but it would seem like the best location for the fuel tanker itself would be LKO -- at least, that's what it seems like to me. Of course, I'm not an expert on KSP (I'm rather new to it), so I could certainly be wrong.

I was setting up a refueling station around Kerbin to serve as part of an interplanetary infrastructure, and I was trying to decide which altitude to put it at -- would it be best to put it at LKO, just above the atmosphere (80 km), at a very high Kerbin orbit (Kerbin-synchronous orbit), or in orbit around Minmus. Each one seems to have its own pros and cons: LKO Pros: -- easiest to reach from the ground (requires least dV) -- will provide the departing spacecraft with the biggest benefit from the Oberth effect LKO Cons: -- wouldn't provide the highest "starting" altitude (starting at a lower altitude would mean I could have to burn more to get out of orbit, relative to a high orbit) KSO Pros: -- starts me in a higher orbit than LKO, potentially reducing dV required to escape from orbit KSO Cons: -- the higher orbit means I get less advantage from the Oberth effect, increasing the dV required to get out of orbit Minmus Pros: -- extremely high orbit potentially reduces dV required to escape from orbit by a large margin Minmus Cons: -- provides the least benefit from the Oberth effect out of all three options So, in terms of reducing the total dV required to break out of Kerbin's SOI, which one of those locations would be best for a refueling station?