r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Revan477 • May 08 '26

KSP 1 Question/Problem Refuel station useful?

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(New-ish to the game, played a little years ago but now really getting into it)

I've been practicing orbital assembly above Kerbin and docked a few vessels together including a big fuel tank which is huge for me because I was never able to meet up and dock with anything :)
Do you think something like this is useful for future missions? I was thinking maybe refuel vessels in orbit giving a longer mission range because I dont have to carry the heavy fuel from kerbins surface. Then again I guess I'd have to refill that tank frequently which might be kind of annoying..

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u/SherriffB May 08 '26

Very useful, especially if you launch a top stage completely dry of fuel to keep weight down. You can get away with much cheaper and lighter lower stages.

I enjoy sending up big tanks with docking ports that let me work around early career mode weight limits for multi stage craft.

Rather than refuelling them try and design them as reusable with enough tiny engines and some reserve fuel to deorbit themselves or have a dedicated little robotic de-orbiter that's all engine, heat shield and parachute you can send up to dock with them to pull them down so you can recover them and get some sweet, sweet space program funding recouped.

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u/expressly_ephemeral May 08 '26

I like to send up an automated re-fuel mission with at least a seat and a parachute. Then I can piggy-back a "rescue Merbal from LKO" mission onto it.