Antenna
Antennae allow communication with Kerbal Space Center, when deployed. With version 0.22 the antennae allow the return of scientific data from space, without the need to recover 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 is suspended if there is insufficient electric charge available, and automatically resumes once sufficient stored power is accumulated. The direction and distance as well as the visibility of the facility, that there are no planets or moons in between, don't affect the transmission in any way.
When the transmit button is pressed while reviewing experiment results, an antenna will automatically deploy to perform a transmission and then retract after completion. If the antenna's own right-click menu command is used to initiate the transmission, it will attempt to immediately transmit all data stored in all science modules on the craft. Aborting any transmission of scientific data will destroy any remaining data that was to be sent.[clarify] No warning will be given about this.
When the Transmit button is used and multiple antennae are available, the game chooses the best one based on the cost and time per Mit. All stock antenna send data in packages of 2 Mits. The cost and speed will differ from antenna to antenna. The bandwidth shown in the extended part information appears to be calculated wrong. It assumes that the packet interval given in the part definition is the amount of packets per seconds although it is the amount of time between two packets.
In versions prior to 0.22, antennae couldn't be retracted and had no function in the base game. A bug could retract them when craft was accessed from the Tracking Station, at the cost of breaking the ability to redeploy them.
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 |
.png) |
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 |
