Mun Orbital Station - build it there, or in Kerbin orbit and raise it after

[Dave Kerbin]

I want to develop a fuel depot in Munar orbit for future interplanetary trips.

Is there any benefit to building it in low Kerbin orbit first, then using station thrusters to fly it to the Mun?

Edited August 27, 2013 by Dave Kerbin

[Specialist290]

The main benefit would be that the rockets launching the individual modules from Kerbin's surface wouldn't have to be quite as large.

That said, unless you're planning on doing something like mining fuel from the Mun's surface using the Kethane mod, your refueling station would probably be more beneficial to you in Low Kerbin Orbit to begin with.

[TheDarkStar]

Just build at at the moon, since it will probably not be very stable under acceleration when you try to move it.

[Korinra]

Honestly going to agree with Specialist290 here, you'd be better off with a LKO station or with Kethane (and if you're using Kethane I'd recommend a moving station, one that you bring with you to your planet, re-fuel, then take back.

[Torminator]

I recently tried to migrate a large station from 500km above Kerbin to the Mun. While I had the thrust reasonably balanced with some bolt-on nukes, the very long solar arrays flexed terribly, and the lag made things almost unplayable. Reloaded quicksave, detached and deorbited the booster modules, and am planning a second station in munar orbit.