L1 Lagrangean Refilling Station?

[Larspeart]

Alright, kind of a branch-off from my earlier topic, but I think it deserved a new thread. How does this work. I understand what an L1 is, how it works, what it does, etc. What I want to know is how can a refueling station WORK at one of these. I mean, it is basically an unmanned point in space. How do you put something there, keep fuel at it that cna be accessed by astronauts, refill it after they leave for the next mission, etc?

Are we talking about batteries that are filled via solar power? Would these then be replaced by new, empty ones by each mission to be refilled for the next one?

I am totally boggled when I read about this idea.

 

[Agammamon]

Most likely automated ships from wherever you're mining the fuel from. Depending on your drive the fuel could be LH2/LOX, hydrogen peroxide, plain old water.

 

[ceptimus]

L4 and L5 would be better, as they are stable orbits, wheras L1, L2 and L3 are unstable.

But I agree that the idea seems impractical anyway.

 

[patnray]

But L4 and L5 are probably collecting dust and debris. If you are storing fuel you would have the resources to keep tweaking the L1 orbit. Basically, the idea is that you could go further, faster and cheaper by refueling a smaller rocket at L1 than you could by launching one huge rocket from earth. You could keep the station supplied with a fleet of automated tenders.

But I agree it is an impractical idea. A fueling station in a simple earth orbit 200 to 300 miles up would work just as well.