Allow the insertion of rocket part ingredients into the rocket silo.

[MelonDude360]

TL;DR

Allow the insertion of Low Density Structure, Rocket Fuel and Processing Units into the rocket silo.
This was already discussed here but I think it deserves its own thread.

What?

Here are some ideas of how to implement this:
1. Split the rocket silo into two "parts" so that the items go into the build slots or the rocket inventory depending on what part you insert into.

2. Add an option to the rocket silo to change whether or not the rocket inventory accepts rocket components. (Could be controllable by circuits)

3. Add an option to inserters to choose whether to insert into the rocket inventory or the build slots.
This could also be used to choose if you want nutrients to go into the fuel slots or the ingredient slots of a Biolab.

Why?

This is currently the only action in the entire game that is impossible without logistic bots.
These items are also among the most common things to send in large quantities, so it should be possible to send them by inserter.

[Ferlonas]

I second this. I would also like to extend on the

Why?

There is currently no way of communicating between platform, rocket silo and landing pad. That means if I request 1000 processing units in orbit, and I have 1250 processing units on the ground, then 1200 will get sent up. There is no way for me to say "I want to keep at least 400 on the ground".
By manually inserting into the rocket, I can prepare a rocket with processing units, and stop inserting when I'm below my threshold. If it's not full, fine. If it is full, it will get launched because it's requested in orbit.
This would essentially allow me to provide excess items from a planet to other planets, which would have to produce it first.

[spectria.limina]

I second this. I would also like to extend on the

Why?

There is currently no way of communicating between platform, rocket silo and landing pad. That means if I request 1000 processing units in orbit, and I have 1250 processing units on the ground, then 1200 will get sent up. There is no way for me to say "I want to keep at least 400 on the ground".
By manually inserting into the rocket, I can prepare a rocket with processing units, and stop inserting when I'm below my threshold. If it's not full, fine. If it is full, it will get launched because it's requested in orbit.
This would essentially allow me to provide excess items from a planet to other planets, which would have to produce it first.

You can do this currently:

1. Partition your silo off onto a separate logistic network.
2. Enable "read orbital request" behaviour
3. Enable "read logistic network contents" behaviour on a roboport from each network
4. Place some requester chests on the edge of the main network, with inserters pulling from those into provider chests on the edge of the rocket-specific network.
5. Do some math so that the requester chests will request items requested for orbit but only in excess of minimums.

[Ferlonas]

You can do this currently:

1. Partition your silo off onto a separate logistic network.

And already we're at the point where it gets ridiculous (in my personal opinion). I have no issue with setting up complex combinator logic, but the moment I need to separate my logistic networks and set up border logistics, just because I can't automate a simple insertion in a game that's about automation, something went wrong.

I can also just set up the silo in an entirely different place and send my stuff there via train. Which I would do if this was a general issue. As it stands, it's only about 3 items, and I would like to automate those 3 in the same way as everything else.

[dspyz]

Right now the _only_ way to automatically put blue circuits in a rocket's storage is with logi-bots when a request is received from an orbiting space platform which means it's impossible to have the rocket standing by with the circuits already in it ready to launch as soon as my platform arrives. It also restricts what's possible without logi-bots.

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged into an older thread with the same suggestion.
See also related thread : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=121619 (trying to address the same issue).

[s6x]

A mod to solve this issue for now: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/RocketCargoInsertion