What this node means
Orbital refueling moves part of the bottleneck from launch vehicle size to tanker flights, storage, transfer, and sequencing.[1,2,3]
Why it matters
In the CosmosExplore model, orbital refueling is kept as a separate node so cost, logistics, and risk assumptions stay inspectable.[1,2,3]
Guardrails
- This entry is a model context node, not a mission quote, route promise, or safety assessment.[4]
Related graph nodes
Outgoing
- Cislunar transferAdds dependency[1,3,5]
- Tanker launchesRequires infrastructure[1,5]
- NRHO stagingEnables scenario[1,5]