Who refuels and where

[lazarus1024]

So out of curiousity, who refuels their missions and where?

Anyone refuel in Munar orbit or Minimus orbit for interplanetary missions?

Anyone send refueling ships or setup depots/stations to refuel at in orbit around other planets for missions?

[WillHop]

Usually have a few tanks in orbit, but no point refuelling for a munar mission. Interplanetary missions only need refuelling if I plan to send them back

[Geschosskopf]

So out of curiousity, who refuels their missions and where?

I do. And I do it at other planets.

Anyone refuel in Munar orbit or Minimus orbit for interplanetary missions?

Not me. Mun's a non-starter for such an application and at best diving from Minmus to a low Kerbin Pe only saves you about 400m/s on the transfer burn. This isn't enough to justify the time and hassle needed to set up and operate a refueling station on Minmus, and get the timing down on your dive back down so your Kerbin Pe (where you do the burn) is at the proper place relative to where you want to go. MUCH easier just to launch a slightly bigger transfer tug from Kerbin.

Anyone send refueling ships or setup depots/stations to refuel at in orbit around other planets for missions?

Absolutely. To me, the goal is to establish a permanent presence at the other planets, and permanence requires self-sufficiency. So, my real purpose in establishing refueling systems at other planets is for the benefit of the colonists. Sure, during actual play I might only actually use it to refuel interplanetary ships that are passing through, but I pretend that while I'm busy doing other things, the colonies are busy doing stuff and keeping themselves refueled.

Kinda makes me wish KSP was like the X series of games where you can have vast fleets of ships doing all sorts of things autonomously while you can only control the one you're focused on. I figure eventually, despite Squad's current stand against autopilots, the coolness factor in having such an "empire" will win out.

[Shiftyeyesshady]

I always send a refueling station ahead to any planet I travel to. It's usually just a pair of orange tankers, a few batteries, some solar panels, and a probe core. I rarely have to use it, even. But its nice as a safety net.

[VirtualCLD]

Not me. Mun's a non-starter for such an application and at best diving from Minmus to a low Kerbin Pe only saves you about 400m/s on the transfer burn. This isn't enough to justify the time and hassle needed to set up and operate a refueling station on Minmus, and get the timing down on your dive back down so your Kerbin Pe (where you do the burn) is at the proper place relative to where you want to go. MUCH easier just to launch a slightly bigger transfer tug from Kerbin.

Maybe I do not understand orbital mechanics very well, but why dive down to Kerbin Pe to do your Hoffman transfer? Can't you just do that from Mun or Minimus and use the sum of your orbital speed over them plus their orbital speed over Kerbin to give you a boost to other planets?

Kinda makes me wish KSP was like the X series of games where you can have vast fleets of ships doing all sorts of things autonomously while you can only control the one you're focused on. I figure eventually, despite Squad's current stand against autopilots, the coolness factor in having such an "empire" will win out.

I completely agree! I doubt we will ever see that level of complexity in this game, but that's what I'm trying to do with stock KSP. I'm starting off with space stations over Kerbin and Mun for fueling/transfer purposes and use Mun and Minimus for practicing landing and base building. After that I plan to launch probes, stations and landers for the other planets. I would like a nice interplanetary network when I'm done.

[magnemoe]

Only real reason to refuel in Minmus orbit is if you uses kethane mining, even then it would be best to send miner down to LKO to refill and send it back unless the interplanetary ship is extremely large as its no problem making an miner who take four orange tanks or more with fuel.

Yes its some exceptions here, you would refuel an reusable lander in the orbit around the moon, say you want to explore all the abnormalities on Mun or simply supply an Mun base.

[Van Disaster]

Probes/small rovers just go straight from KSC. I refuel my mining suborbital craft and obviously anything launched from non-Kerbin bases, but that's not really what you had in mind for "refuelling" I think.

[fatfluffycat]

I build a ship in orbit by docking.

but I hadn't done that before, most of my interplanetary missions have been probes and rovers, but I plan to land a kerbal on Duna

Edited September 26, 2013 by fatfluffycat

[regex]

I refuel ships when and where I need to.

Here is a mission where I refueled: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49429-Escape-from-Duna

Edited September 26, 2013 by regex

[Talonsin]

I put a station in orbit around Minmus and I have a "kethane elevator" that I shuttle up and down to refuel the station. All my interplanetary ships stop there and top off before leaving the system.

[Silverchain]

I tend to notice ways in which my ships could be improved during the launch period or the moment they reach LKO, then leave them in orbit, go back to the VAB and design a new iteration of the design.

The upshot of this is that I often have a swarm of fully fueled but already obsolete ships sitting in LKO standing by as fueling stations.

[Richy teh space man]

I've experimented with refuelling stations at small planets and moons, as well as mobile construction bases in orbit using the Kethane mod. With that I can refuel within any planets sphere of influence, usually by mining at one of its moons.

[Anton P. Nym]

I now have three refuelling stations: one in a 150km circular orbit about Kerbin, for LKO operations and refuelling SSTOs, one in a 300km circular orbit about Kerbin, for servicing interplanetary mission, and just now one in a 100km circular orbit about the Mun after an embarassing incident involving a Munar base module running out of gas about a kilometer short...

On deck I have a tanker (two orange tanks, one big RCS tank, a pair of Gigantors, and four LV-Ns) awaiting a transfer window to Jool, that I'll send a day ahead of a crewed mission there. I'm debating sending another to Duna when that window opens.

-- Steve

[Zeroignite]

Currently I do most of my interplanetary launches directly from Minmus. I have a kethane and ore mine running nice and efficiently. ~300m/s to escape is a nice deal.

[Pulsar]

I refuel on 100km Kerbin orbit.

I'd do on station if it's not too laggy.

[Hodo]

I currently have a refueling station "KerSta-1" that orbits at 90km above Kerbin. I use this to refuel all my manned missions to other worlds. I also use it as a transfer station for heavy loads, like extra fuel tanks, or uneven cargo loads for my space planes.

[Moar Boosters]

I rarely refuel at all.

The reason is I like making SSTO's, and it kinda goes against my playstyle to refuel them with fuel dragged up by non-reusable spacecraft.

I've thought about bringing 2 of my bigger SSTO's into Kerbin orbit and then using one to refuel the other, but my plane already has enough range to get to Eeloo and back. It seems like a bit of a cop-out to start refueling when I'm pretty close to building an SSTO that can return from pretty much everywhere except Moho Eve and Tylo.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Around one of my 3 kerbin space stations ('science', relic, refueling)

That gets it's fuel from my mun, Minmus and sometimes my Duna kethane stations

[mellojoe]

On some interplanetary trips, I send a refueller in order to ensure my guys can make it home. Nothing like landing on a planet and realizing you only have enough fuel to maybe make orbit. Sending a refuel tanker out ahead of the fleet lets me confidently put kerbals anywhere and still get them home.

Landing can take a ton of fuel. And the more fuel you carry going down means more fuel required to slow you down. Leaving as much fuel as possible in orbit allows your lander to be light enough to not get overly complicated.

[Technical Ben]

I've attempted a low orbit fuel depot, mid orbit (between mun and Kerbin) and a very high orbit station (past Minmus). As rendezvous is slower (due to rounding errors) for such distances, I've decided it's only worth it for novelty, and not for practicality.

Might set up some supplies in Kerbol orbit... but not sure how easy these will be to get to.

I tend to notice ways in which my ships could be improved during the launch period or the moment they reach LKO, then leave them in orbit, go back to the VAB and design a new iteration of the design.

The upshot of this is that I often have a swarm of fully fueled but already obsolete ships sitting in LKO standing by as fueling stations.

I do this SO often too. I end up with extra parts that come in handy too if Jeb or Bob (dare let anyone else fly! ) ever break something off.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Technical Ben

[Wayfare]

Without Kethane, I've found that dedicated refueling depots are not really worth the hassle. After all, you're going to have to send tankers from Kerbin to restock the depot - might as well cut out the middle man and refuel your ships directly from the tanker. On the other hand, the tanker then effectively becomes a fuel depot so it's really a matter of semantics

[Brofessional]

I keep kethane drills and fuel ferries on various low-G bodies, but I don't use orbital fuel stations.

Chances are if I need to refuel something it's a large ship, so it's easier to just bring the fuel to the ship rather than try to dock with a station.

In LKO it's more efficient to just send up a fuel tank from KSC specifically for that ship, then deorbit the empty tank afterwards.

Although when the career mode economy is in, re-usable kethane ferries on the Mun/Minmus will be more cost effective than sending an entire lift vehicle from KSC.

[VirtualCLD]

You are right in that it is a matter of semantics. For example, one common thought technique for a return mission to Duna or Jool would be to send fuel into orbit first and then send your lander/whatever to follow. Now your fuel tanker is your fuel depot. As for the hassle, I find it's a lot easier to send craft in parts then as one giant rocket. That's why I am in the process of establishing fuel depots, so I don't have to try to build a single rocket carrying everything all at once.

[Eric S]

Maybe I do not understand orbital mechanics very well, but why dive down to Kerbin Pe to do your Hoffman transfer? Can't you just do that from Mun or Minimus and use the sum of your orbital speed over them plus their orbital speed over Kerbin to give you a boost to other planets?

Surprisingly enough, the Oberth effect is more important than the orbital speed you could use. An orbit with apoapsis at Minmus height and periapsis at 80-100km is close to planetary transfer velocity at periapsis.

Only real reason to refuel in Minmus orbit is if you uses kethane mining, even then it would be best to send miner down to LKO

Right on the first point, wrong on the second, depending on your purpose. Ships departing from Minmus, either by direct departure or by dropping the periapsis to LKO, spend less delta-v on achieving orbital transfer velocity from the point of refueling than refueling in LKO. Still not worth doing if you don't have a kethane based refueling operation at Minmus, but it bumps up the surplus delta-v in case something goes wrong.

[SkyRender]

When working with Kethane, I tend to set up depots in low orbit around parent bodies (Kerbin, Duna, Eve, etc.), and use their moons (when possible) to get the fuel. Generally speaking, Kerbin is my main port of call for that sort of thing. I leave the interplanetary drive stages attached to the fuel depots so I don't have to lug them around everywhere. This has the added benefit of any given interplanetary mission only needing the payload delivered to the Kerbin fueling station.

When not working with Kethane, I generally do any refueling I need to complete while in Kerbin orbit. It seems silly to perform a whole extra launch to my target body when I can do things that way.