Post your space station MEGATHREAD

[rosenkranz]

Isn't it better to do that from LKO, to maximise the Oberth Effect?

I have a feeling this is one of those 'Six one way, half-dozen the next' situations. Burning out of LKO might be better but only just.

[RoboRay]

Isn't it better to do that from LKO, to maximise the Oberth Effect?

Yes, you are correct. You do burn less fuel in total by making the entire injection burn from LKO, due to the Oberth effect.

However, what if you have a craft that's not quite capable of holding enough fuel to accomplish its mission? In that situation, it can be beneficial to make the 1km/sec or so burn to get to an outer fueling station, then top off the tanks and make the rest of the burn. Less efficient, overall, but still leaving you with more fuel on board when you arrive at the destination than if you had made a single burn from LKO.

Edited April 26, 2013 by RoboRay

[Tawyn]

Just finished my 2nd space station. Was planning on building it somewhat bigger, but then I reached the part limit that my PC can handle. :S

[joppiesaus]

So far some great stations!

The awsome friend station has made a little progress:

That thing what you seems to be docked on the solar panels beam, is not docked, it's actually the ship where I docked the solar panels with(?!?!)

EDIT: Also, I am getting serious framerate issues

[DrNuke]

Here's my Hexagonal station, I put it up at GKO as a stopping point for interplanetary missions.

And here is my sprint class tanker docked at it just before leaving for a refueling mission to Jool.

Also, insane lag.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

Just finished my 2nd space station. Was planning on building it somewhat bigger, but then I reached the part limit that my PC can handle. :S

Epic. I love dense crafts. Care to share persistence?

Also, here is my KSS 2:

[ThatBum]

My "uprated" Skylab.

-images-

It should be missing a solar panel.

[Tristavius]

Unless you use something cunning, such as tricoupled docking (which is *hard*), flying large structures assembled in orbit doesn't work at all well, IMO. I pretty much work on the basis of shipping the bits where needed, and building them where they're going to stay.

Yeah it's using tri-couple on every section so it's not really flexing, just seems to shoot spin, which is odd as it's symmetrical. Haven't moved it yet, it was so consuming for days I decided to do some other projects for a while. Think I will move it piece by piece now that I've proven the concept.

I did also realize I've been pushing from the 'rear', but actually all the weight is in those tanks at the front, maybe if I push from the other end. Will defiantly send a more powerful tug too. Was hoping to move it to Minmus full but I can always drain it and refuel there if necessary.

[Delling]

I bid you, fellow kerbonauts, welcome to my current stations:

SS H. Seldon

A complete mess built in geostationary orbit from the principle of 'a little bit of that, a sprinkle of this and no symmetry'. Two tugs are docked as well as two clearly visible (Dragon) escape pods. 137 tonnes and a framerate of 11.

Manned by Bill, Bob, Dondun, Ribrod, Mitfrod and Erbles. Two of those are tug pilots.

SSKC Magni (Space Station Kethane Converter)

Built for Kethane conversion and orbiting Minmus it's functionality to the core. Docked at the moment are the heavy tug 'TL Frej', the Kethane drill/hauler 'KTD Sigyn' and the local tug as well as a few fuel tanks. 130 tonnes at the moment incl the docked vessels, 16 fps.

Manned by (including docked vessels) Adcas, Lugard, Hanwig and Loburry.

If you wonder where Jeb is he went off on a tangent muttering something about a red planet...

[Kennethah81]

Here's my first attempt at a space station: Space Station1 !!!!!

First module before launch. Basically just some girders with batteries and solar panels connected to a 6-way docking node:

Deployed in space:

Unfortunatly, I ran out of fuel before I could correct the inclination (ended up at about 1,2 degrees inclination)

More fuel had to be sent up necessitating the design and launch of Fuel Transfer Craft 1:

Next it was time for the first crew to visit the new station. Here's Crew Transfer Craft 1 docked:

I then promptly forgot about taking screen-shots, but two launches later Crew Accommodation Module 1 (two hitchhiker tanks) and another Fuel Transfer Craft has been added on the two remaining side ports, and the General Science Lab were added on the remaining port:

General Science Lab 2 (a "1" with a ton of antennas on it) were added next:

Whats better than power? More power ofcourse!!!

The Secondary Power Node was added next. It concision of two girders with four solar arrays each, a space plane docking port. (Simply a structural hull used to move the docking port out from the six-way node. and a comm array. A girder with a satellite dish on it:

Another (larger) science lab is added after the Secondary Power Node. Here pictured with the Standard Tug-class final stage still attached:

Thats it so far. Next in line is another 6-way docking port and probably another Crew Accommodation Module.

The entire station (and the launchers) are built using standard parts without any add-ons. Pure Vanilla KSP!!!!

After that, I will start adding tons of fuel and RCS-fuel tanks to allow the station to be used as a refueling platform for the upcoming Mün-mission.

That's it for now. Hope you guys like it.

[MC3craze]

This is my rather unimpressive space station.

The module with the fuel tank and RCS tank is my "life support."

Still thinking of how much fuel I should put on the depot module I'm designing.

[frik]

Well, that's my (first) space station. Looks poor when it comes to comparison... Now that I found out about docking struts it will propably be deorbited to make room for Better Kerbal Space Station. Still, got 6 Kerbals there to be brought safely back.

Here with ship docked - the one that brought RCS tank and tug (tug not in final docking place yet):

[Tokay Gris]

Delos Space Station:

Loads of energy, loads of fuel and monopropellant. The hugh tank was an abandoned Mainsail-Stage, caught and docked. Still half full...

Currently, three heavy tugs ("Mules") are docked.

[Unistrut]

JOE'S FUEL STOP - she doesn't look like much, but you can refuel here and hang out some place that isn't the space capsule you've been crammed in for the last two years.

One of the few exceptions to my BASTARD naming scheme, it looks like it's the last two stages of a heavy lift booster with docking ports, probes and solar panels slapped on it because it is.

The RCS wing, full size clamp-o-tron and RTG was added as the first upgrade, followed by the hab block. The tug is just hanging out in case something needs a push.

[Iren]

[Fried]

hyper edit was only used to bring it down after it was used up. here is the album. http://imgur.com/a/IRPKX

[CleverClothe]

-- SNIP --

Ooo, nice job with those custom radio dishes.

[RoboRay]

The SSTO Pegasus Clipper approaches Elysium Station to refuel for its trip to Duna.

[cxg2827]

First stage of construction of my LKO station completed. The KOSMOS panels are definitely overkill (maybe not so much depending on future updates), but they sure help give this station a presence as you are approaching to dock, or during EVA. Fuel Pod already maxed out with leftover fuel from all the construction launches (12 launches so far).

Contemplating upgrading my aging CPU/MOBO/RAM so i get something better than 2FPS .

[Ariellus]

The Lighthouse 1

Partgenerator and rescale Factor edits are your friend

131 parts, one launch, 15m diameter and capable to hold 40k fuel (the station was empty launched it will be a pain to fill it up)

Edited April 29, 2013 by Ariellus

[GenJeFT]

My first space station is viewable in my videos.

There will be more videos as I bring things up to dock to the station. Its my first station, not exactly designed at all. I plan to build a new station around the Mun for Kethane refining.

[HamekEisenfaust]

I just finished this one this morning. I seem to have run into a small problem though. Anything else I send up to attach (rovers, probes, engines) causes a massive slideshow, resulting in the destruction of anything in orbit. I have loaded more quicksaves today than any other time I have played.

[Mazlem]

It sure is impressive though! Do you know how many parts it has?

[Hrdina]

I wanted to upgrade our modest LKO station to add more power:

We built this unmanned vehicle to launch a new tower containing solar panels, batteries, a 6-way docking adapter, and clamp-o-trons on each end:

Unfortunately, we got to orbit and realized that the launch vehicle did not have enough mono-propellant. So, we parked the upper stage maybe 20 km from the station, then undocked one of our orbiters and sent it over. The orbiter docked to the far end of the tower, then undocked the launch vehicle, so it could be deorbited. Unfortunately, it had also run out of power, so is stranded in orbit until a cleanup crew can get to it.

The orbiter arrived back at the station, then spent over an hour unsuccessfully trying to dock the adapter with the station. Jeb eventually realized that the manufacture had somehow forgotten to attach clamp-o-trons to 5 of the 6 adapter ports, making it useless. So, the adapter was discarded and the remainder of the tower attached to the station (in the wrong orientation).

The next day, Obrded Kerman used the orbiter to move the tower to an existing port on the station, coming close to the desired configuration. This image also gives a nice view of Mun, which the Kerbins aboard station hope to visit soon.

An engineer eventually found the 5 missing clamp-o-trons in a cardboard box at KSP, along with the missing batteries.

[Iren]

Ooo, nice job with those custom radio dishes.

Thanks! Too bad we don't have blinking red lights, but I added a small battery on the dish 'focus' just for the little green light