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What's the point of the internal antennas included in command pods?


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Internal antennas aren't combinable and can't be used for transmitting science (or relaying signals) - their only purpose is to provide short-range control to unmanned craft. It makes sense that probe cores would include an internal antenna, but why command pods?

  • If you have a command pod with a kerbal inside, then the kerbal provides control and the pod's antenna provides no benefit.
  • If you have a command pod without a kerbal inside, then you're not going to have control even though you have an internal antenna - unless you have a probe core as well, in which case you can just use the probe core's internal antenna. Either way, the pod's antenna still provides no benefit.

So why include the antenna module in command pods at all? Is there any circumstance in which it would have any meaningful functionality?

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After much digging around, my working theory is that it allows vessels controlled exclusively by non-pilot kerbals to upgrade from "limited crew control" to "full crew control," allowing you to create maneuver nodes. You'll still need a local source of SAS in order to not hate your life, though, so you're probably bringing along a pilot or probe core anyway (not to mention an external antenna, if you're going beyond LKO, or transmitting science). This is evidently what the enigmatic "Remote Pilot Assist" feature refers to when it appears in command modules that require crew. Incredibly obscure!

(I feel sort of awkward for answering my own question, but then again I did wonder about this for days before posting, and I only just now thought up something that I could test...)

Edited by PocketBrotector
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1 hour ago, PocketBrotector said:

This is evidently what the enigmatic "Remote Pilot Assist" feature refers to when it appears in command modules that require crew. Incredibly obscure!

I think your theory is right about limited->full. But "Remote Pilot Assist" is something different. That's all about driving probes and rovers from a ship with no Kerbin connectivity.

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1 hour ago, bewing said:

But "Remote Pilot Assist" is something different. That's all about driving probes and rovers from a ship with no Kerbin connectivity.

Well, sort of. The nomenclature is never really explained, but it seems to refer very generically to the ability to use one's antenna connection to a remote "control point" to upgrade from limited to full control. The control point is typically KSC, but it can also be a vessel with a Probe Control Point and the required number of pilots. The naming for these features leaves something to be desired, as I'm now wondering whether it's possible to use a Probe Control Point to upgrade a crewed vessel from limited to full crew control.

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Tha ambiguity is whether a "Probe" Control Point can be used to enhance control of a crewed vessel. Which would make it a misnomer, that's all. 

Sort of like how KSC can provide full control via Remote Pilot Assist even if you don't technically have any pilots in the Astronaut Complex.

Edited by PocketBrotector
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Oh wow, I hadn't ever really thought about this. As you said, it is a really, really niche scenario, but I am now curious if a Remote Probe Control Point would allow a manned vessel without a pilot to create manouver nodes without a KSC link. Even if, y'know, I'll probably never end up in that scenario :P

18 hours ago, pincushionman said:

This not enough? Like, you need antennas on both ends?

The point is more that, at a glance, having that short-range link on a manned vessel seems entirely pointless, seeing as you have control anyway just by having kerbals onboard. That said, as @PocketBrotector has pointed out, it does serve the relevant (although quite niche) purpose of allowing non-pilots to create manouver nodes. :)

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One very important feature of short-range antennas in probes: ability to deploy actual antennas once in void / decoupled / deployed. If you're playing without partial control, your probe will be a total brick without connectivity. And you really want to deploy these large extending antennas once your probe has left the cargo bay, not inside.

With good tracking station, control reaches LKO near KSC even on the lousy probe-only antennas. And if not - your delivery craft may carry a relay antenna and a static antenna (that static version of Commutron 16) or a pilot. and that will suffice to establish communication with the deployed probe.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is very appropriate given our current stage technology and space exploration, because what's the first thing astronauts will do when they make mars orbit? send out probes and put them on the surface via remote control,  also i can confirm from some shenanigans on pol last night that a two star pilot gets an upgrade from connection with a five star pilot/s with appropriate probe cores present. 

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