Empty Fuel Tanks

[Bafver]

Hi all,

I have a small question regarding fuel tanks.

I am currently working on a space station and I want to add some fuel tanks to it, maybe 3 orange jumbo tanks or so.

But I find getting the tanks into orbit and docked with the station to be quite difficult so I was wondering if there is a way to empty the tanks before launch in order to reduce their weight.

[Aeshi]

Normally? No

But I think there's a mod somewhere that adds 'Empty Fuel Tank' parts.

[Callmedave]

I havent tried this but, if you had the tanks with an engine on, you can sit on the launch pad, have the engines on around 1/2 or a 1/3 and this will 'drain' the fuel'

if you have the release struts, they will hold the rocket while it does this. You can disengage engines by right clicking them, so just use the ones attached to the tanks you want to drain.

I havent tried this so really have no idea how well it will work.

[Bafver]

I was hoping there would be a way to do it without using mods but I'll see if I can find any mods that could do this for me.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[warmadmax]

attach radial decoupler to the tanks you want to drain,

add fuel line,

fire engines till tanks are emtpy.

decouple the drain engines and launcher

[Cannon_Fodder]

I hope you are not trying to get all 3 up there at once. I had a similar issue trying to get tanks for my re-fueling station. Here are some tips.

Burn the fuel during lift off. I designed my launch vehicle to burn the fuel in the tank I planned on using for a station part first. I would refuel it later.

Space tug. Even using the fuel I still had an issue getting the tank up to the 110km orbit I wanted with my launch vehicle. So I sent a space tug up then launched the station part into a 75km orbit. I was then able to use the tug to maneuver to the orbit I wanted.

In real life ,space companies are generally separated into launch providers (who build and fly launch vehicles) and payload makers. Get yourself a launch provider. Temstar and his Zenith rocket family is my go to launch system builder.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24787-0-19-1-Zenith-rocket-family

[magnemoe]

attach radial decoupler to the tanks you want to drain,

add fuel line,

fire engines till tanks are emtpy.

decouple the drain engines and launcher

You can just burn and then transfer fuel to boosters. Or simply use the tank as upper stage and drain it while circulating, an 1.25 meter decopler and pipe back to small fuel tank and engine, probe and rcs. Dock tank, disconnect and deorbit the engine stage.

[MaxxPower]

Come on guys, its its really not that hard.

I got 37 of the orange jumbo fuel thanks into orbit in one shot, without any addons.

Just add a decoupler and a mainsail under some of the fuel tanks, add some fuel lines and strut the thing together good.

Decouple engines, that are no longer needed. When you are up there, your tanks will be pretty much empty.

[EndlessWaves]

It doesn't make any sense to lift empty tanks, it's a far better idea to design the rocket so those three fuel tanks are used for the final stages of establishing the orbit.

[Bafver]

Thank you all for you input on this. I have several ideas to try now and will see if it gets any easier to get the tanks up now.

[BaneOfPilots]

This is the "Empty Tanks" mod that Aeshi was talking about

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/18-empty-stock-fuel-tanks-set/

[Tex_NL]

It doesn't make any sense to lift empty tanks, it's a far better idea to design the rocket so those three fuel tanks are used for the final stages of establishing the orbit.

Indeed. Hauling up empty tanks is a waste of fuel. Better USE the fuel to get it into orbit.

[rosenkranz]

goto your parts folder and find the 'launchclamp1' edit the config and add

RESOURCE

{

name = LiquidFuel

amount = 0

maxAmount = 999999999

}

RESOURCE

{

name = Oxidizer

amount = 0

maxAmount = 999999999

}

to the bottom. This will allow you to transfer unwanted fuel from an upper stage tank or whereever to the launch clamp. This is great if for effiency reasons you want to partially or completely drain a tank prior to launch.

[Black-Talon]

goto your parts folder and find the 'launchclamp1' edit the config and add

*snip*

to the bottom. This will allow you to transfer unwanted fuel from an upper stage tank or whereever to the launch clamp. This is great if for effiency reasons you want to partially or completely drain a tank prior to launch.

Fantastic suggestion!

[Thundertwonk]

This may be a tad late by now, but if you press "Alt + Right Mouse Button" on the fuel tank you want to transfer fuel from and do the same keystroke on the tank you want to transfer fuel to, the fuel isn't wasted and the tank gradually becomes lighter on the ascent. Also, you can transfer fuel back into the tank once you reach the station, so you can recover the maximum possible fuel!

[Claw]

Old thread is old (like over a year old). Friends don't let friends necro threads.

Plus it contains outdated info and should probably be locked.

[sal_vager]

Yeah, I better close this.