Antenna
An antenna allows communication with Kerbin, when deployed. With version 0.22 the antennae allow the return of scientific data from space, without recovering the craft on Kerbin. Mods like RemoteTech add additional functionality to them.
When an antenna transmits data to the Research and Development facility, it consumes an amount of electric charge for each packet of data. The transmission will be suspended when there is insufficient electric charge available, and will automatically resume once sufficient stored power is accumulated.
The antenna will also automatically deploy to perform a transmission if the Transmit button is pressed while reviewing experiment results and retract after completion. If the antenna's own right-click menu command is used, it will attempt to immediately transmit all data stored in all science modules on the craft. Aborting the transmission of scientific data will destroy the data which was to be sent. No warning is given about this. In case no specific antenna is selected to send the scientific data, the game chooses the best one. Any antenna will send the data in packages of 2Mits. The cost differs from antenna to antenna.
Prior to version 0.22, antennae couldn't be retracted and had no function in the base game. A bug when the craft was accessed from the Tracking Station could retract the antenna, at the cost of breaking the ability to redeploy it.
Available antennae
| Image | Part | Radial size | Cost (  ) |
Mass (t) |
Max. Temp. (K) |
Tolerance (m/s) |
Tolerance (g) |
Electricity (⚡/Mit) |
Electricity (⚡/s) |
Net transmission speed (Mits/s) |
Relay capable | CommNet Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Communotron 16 | Tiny | 300 | 0.005 | 2 000 | 7 | 50 | 6 | 20.0 | 3.33 | No | 1 |
 |
Communotron 16-S | Radial mounted | 300 | 0.015 | 2 000 | 7 | 50 | 6 | 20.0 | 3.33 | No | 1 |
 |
Communotron DTS-M1 | Radial mounted | 900 | 0.05 | 2 000 | 8 | 50 | 6 | 34.3 | 5.71 | No | 3 |
 |
Communotron HG-55 | Radial mounted | 1200 | 0.075 | 2 000 | 7 | 50 | 6.67 | 133.3 | 20.0 | No | 4 |
 |
Communotron 88-88 | Tiny | 1 500 | 0.1 | 2 000 | 7 | 50 | 10 | 200.0 | 20.0 | No | 5 |
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HG-5 High Gain Antenna | Tiny | 600 | 0.07 | 2 000 | 8 | 50 | 9 | 51.4 | 5.71 | Yes | 2 |
 |
RA-2 Relay Antenna | Tiny | 1 800 | 0.15 | 2 000 | 8 | 50 | 24 | 68.6 | 2.86 | Yes | 3 |
 |
RA-15 Relay Antenna | Tiny | 2 400 | 0.3 | 2 000 | 8 | 50 | 12 | 68.6 | 5.71 | Yes | 4 |
 |
RA-100 Relay Antenna | Small | 3 000 | 0.65 | 2 000 | 8 | 50 | 6 | 68.6 | 11.43 | Yes | 5 |
