What should be on a space station?

[Spragoo]

I recently launched the base of my first space station. At the moment it contains nothing but solar panels and a storage container, along with multiple docking ports. What else should I add to it? Is there anything crucial I should know about the construction of a space station?

Thanks in advance.

-Spragoo

[cantab]

Not built one myself, but I'd suggest batteries and/or an RTG. You don't really want the thing going dead when it passes into Kerbin's shadow. And some RCS, just in case you've got a tricky bit of docking and want to dock the station to the ship rather than the other way round, or if you need to avoid a crash with debris.

[Kryxal]

Fuel's always good, it's nice being able to top up the tanks of something that was a bit too heavy to reach the station full...

[problemecium]

Science Lab. If for no other reason than to put your Kerbals in it every now and then to do imaginary lab research. Also you can use it to clean out modules on ships you dock so you can send them out again instead of recovering and relaunching them from the ground.

[Jouni]

My space stations eventually evolved into places for storing ships, fuel, and kerbals in orbit, so I ended up needing a lot of docking ports, fuel tanks, and hitchhiker storage containers. Decorative elements, such as cupola modules, labs, and big solar panels look nice, but they really just increase the part count for nothing. Some capacity for electricity generation is useful, but don't overdo it. RTGs or the smallest solar panels are the most practical choice, as the extendable panels are just mistakes waiting to happen. Add some batteries too, because reorienting a space station requires a lot of power.

For an interesting challenge, consider adding engines and RCS. While decorative space stations are often easy to move, practical space stations that have evolved over months of real time can end up being horribly imbalanced.

[Claw]

I recently launched the base of my first space station. At the moment it contains nothing but solar panels and a storage container, along with multiple docking ports. What else should I add to it? Is there anything crucial I should know about the construction of a space station?

Thanks in advance.

-Spragoo

You will probably get a lot of recommendations on what to put, but I'll throw out something else to consider as you build.

You will likely run into problems with your station tearing itself apart if your station grows large enough. You can search around for threads about this, but it mostly has to do with SAS fighting itself and where you place reaction wheels. Here is one example thread.

I bring it up because it seems people who are into building space stations eventually hit this point and it becomes pretty catastrophic. I'm certainly not saying don't build stations. Just be aware that reaction wheels (among other things) can be fatal to stations and need some consideration.

[capi3101]

A Starbucks. Because one will wind up there eventually anyway...

In all seriousness, it depends on what you want the station to do. Turning it into a refueling outpost is a practical thing you can do with it. I wouldn't necessarily suggest a sci lab there if it's over Kerbin but one might make sense for a station around another world. If it's decorative, I'd go to town on it (though mind your part count). All of the above suggestions are good.

[TerLoki]

Fuel, life support, and power are really the main things that most stations will need. Fuel for anything coming and going, or just for the odd station-keeping maneuver, so the amount you need varies. Power is a no-brainer, you want lots of battery capacity, but I've always felt that it just isn't a space station without at least a couple of gigantor arrays coming off it, even if your power demands could be met with a couple of RTGs. Life support can be just a simple role-play thing like adding a hitchhiker for your crew, or a full-blown specialized module if you're using something like TAC or ECLSS, but I still put a module or two on for that most times regardless. Science isn't really a must like the others, but it can be very useful, over muns and other planets especially. Plus, space for two extra Kerbals. The only other things would be docking ports, which you should already have, and maybe refinery module for kethane, but then not everyone uses kethane so that's a situational recommendation, it would only work well if your station is over Minmus or the Mun anyway.

[Spragoo]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't actually got any reaction wheels (other than the ones built into the command pods). If I use just rcs will I encounter the same problem?

[Spragoo]

It's mainly just for the looks. It would be impractical to make a re-fuelling outpost on a station with a bunch of stuff hanging off it. I'll send up a more simple re-fuelling out post when i get the chance.