What does every space station need?

[Space Shuttle destroyer]

I want to make a space station, not massive just a single launch, can anyone tell me what I need?

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @Space Shuttle destroyer! 

Your question has been moved from KSP 1 discussions to KSP 1 Gameplay Questions. You just need to be able to rendezvous and dock and you can build a modular station. Perhaps reading about the construction of the ISS may give you some inspiration.

[Space Shuttle destroyer]

1 hour ago, James Kerman said:

Welcome to the forum @Space Shuttle destroyer! 

Your question has been moved from KSP 1 discussions to KSP 1 Gameplay Questions. You just need to be able to rendezvous and dock and you can build a modular station. Perhaps reading about the construction of the ISS may give you some inspiration.

Thanks @James Kerman! Much appreciated!

[king of nowhere]

3 hours ago, Space Shuttle destroyer said:

I want to make a space station, not massive just a single launch, can anyone tell me what I need?

hard to say, because in this game there's no real reason to have a space station. except maybe in career mode to use a lab continuously, but science is never an issue anyway.

so, ask yourself what do you want your space station to do in the first place.

do you want it to be a refueling depot? you need fuel tanks. do you need it for science? put laboratories in there. do you want to make it just for show? make it good-looking, and who cares about what's actually in there.

what you actually need for a station is solar panels, batteries and reaction wheels, but that's not much mass. most of the station is up to you.

[Space Shuttle destroyer]

Thanks @king of nowhere!

 

[Hotel26]

I would also recommend going to KerbalX.com and performing a Craft Search with the "Station" filter button selected to get an idea of what people have done.

The indispensable function, for me, for a primary^[1] space station is to serve as an orbital fuel dump and interplanetary mission assembly point: bring the pieces up, refuel them, assemble them, depart for other worlds.

In orbit around any body at which it is feasible to produce fuel/ore and bring it to orbit, I like to keep at least one such fuel depot.

[1] other, specialist purposes also exist, such as keeping unused orbital equipment together in one place.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Hotel26

[Zhetaan]

On 7/8/2023 at 5:01 AM, Space Shuttle destroyer said:

I want to make a space station, not massive just a single launch, can anyone tell me what I need?

On 7/8/2023 at 5:07 AM, James Kerman said:

Perhaps reading about the construction of the ISS may give you some inspiration.

May I suggest Skylab, instead?  I'd argue that that's much more in line with the idea of a single-launch station.

The bare minimum for a station is going to be the same as any other orbital mission, minus the provision for re-entry.  That means that you'll likely want power, either a probe core or a permanent pilot, and reaction wheels.  These are not necessary (you can rendezvous and dock whether it's powered or unpowered, but unpowered is more difficult to dock), but they are so helpful that they might as well be necessary.

That said, if you want to do anything with it, then you have a number of options:

• If you want to have a propellant depot, then you'll need appropriate tankage and a docking port (I suppose you could rely on the claw, but that's a bit later in the tech tree).  Nothing says that the appropriate tankage can't come from the rocket that put it in orbit in the first place.  You don't even need to remove the engine--though I'd suggest manual deactivation it if you keep it.
• If you want to transfer crew, then you'll need a crew module with an accessible hatch (no docking port needed; you can EVA them over).
• If you want to do orbital science, then you'll need appropriate experiments.
• If you want to process science in a mobile lab, then you'll need one of those and scientists to put in it (and a source of science, but that need not be on the same vessel as the lab).  You'll also need an antenna, battery, and power source to return the processed data to Kerbin.
• If you want to expand the station later via orbital assembly, then you may want a docking port.
• There are other things that you can do with a station, but a lot of that depends on your own goals (and a great deal on your mods if you have any--space telescopes, passenger terminals, training centres, life support modules, communications relay stations, refineries--all are possibilities).  Here's an example:  I run a station for tourists that allows me to get them into orbit using my standard passenger tour rocket, then transfer them to an interplanetary vessel that stays in space all the time, and finally a second station around the Mun or Minmus that has the landers for those who want to touch down.  That's not necessary, but it lets me run a couple of different kinds of tourist missions at once without needing to take all of them to land on the Mun.  Since I also use life support mods, keeping them in a station with overbuilt support machinery means not worrying about them using up all the air on the Mun lander, too.

Good luck!

[jnbspace]

The minimum for any space station is;

• comms - have an aerial on there
  So we can talk to it
• power - batteries and solar panels
  So the comms works!
• Docking port
  You can EVA crew between craft but you can't transfer fuel with an EVA
• Remote control of some form
  Even if it's crewed have this then you can transfer the pilot off the craft and still have control
• RCS and monopropellant
  So you can manoeuvre to dock
• A high efficiency rocket and fuel
  To de-orbit at end of life or for large scale orbit changes

If you want it crewed then you need to add;

• Crew compartment (or lab)
• Cupola or similar control pod
  Otherwise they're jut passengers
• coffee machine

After that it is just a case of what do you want it to do. I tend to build everything with two 2.5m docking ports so I can dock craft but not lose a docking port in the process.

 

 

 

 

[Space Shuttle destroyer]

Thanks!

really appreciate it!