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Kerbol orbiting satellite contract - It seems I have reached an impasse...


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Some time ago I sent off a Sentinel telescope on a journey around Kerbol to track asteroids.

It was equipped with one Communotron-16 and one HG-5. Someone reading this is probably already chortling.

It is no longer operable. I had signal for quite some time but it would now seem I'm just too far away now. I've been reading about comm networks in this game and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it all still. 500k, 5M, 50G, 500 Mm interplanetary around Kerbin, as opposed to Kerbin SOI. I'm scratching my head here but I want to understand this stuff.

What could I really do in this case? Would upgrading the station allow me to contact the telescope? Creating a comm tower with a ton of relays on it? Sending another vessel with better antennas to latch onto the telescope? Send up a new telescope with better antennas on it? Have my antennas pointed a particular direction? All of the above?

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33 minutes ago, Josh IN SPACE said:

Would upgrading the station allow me to contact the telescope?

If you haven't upgraded the tracking station yet, this should be your first step.

 

Check the tutorials section for some really good info on CommNet.  That will explain a lot of the jargon and math. 

 

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10 hours ago, Josh IN SPACE said:

Thanks, will do. I also just looked up the distance measurements. Now I understand the distance ratings.

So, just to plug in some numbers as described here:  https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/CommNet

If you have a craft with a single HG-5 (power 5M, exponent 0.75) and a single Communotron-16 (power 500K, exponent 1), then the combined antenna power of the ship will be 5.38M.

So, your max communication range to Kerbin depends on your tracking station level:

  • Level 1(2G):  max range 103,000 km
  • Level 2(50G):  max range 518,000 km
  • Level 3(250G):  max range 1.16 million km

Given that Kerbin is 13.6 million km from the Sun, it's clear that this craft is going to be seriously impractical for keeping contact with Kerbin.  Seems to me that there's really no practical way to make it work.

The TL;DR is that the Tier 2 antenna power (HG-5) simply isn't powerful enough to go outside Kerbin's SoI.  If you're going out into the solar system, you need a Tier-3 antenna (RA-2, DTS-M1) at least.  Those antennas are literally 400 times more powerful, and you need them if you're getting any significant distance from Kerbin.

So, my advice would be to just give up the satellite for lost, and launch something new with a bigger antenna.

(The alternative would be to launch a "rescue relay" that has a more powerful antenna on it, which you then fly to a reasonably close position to your telescope.  For example, a craft with an RA-2 relay antenna would be effective if it got within 103,000 km of your telescope probe.  But if you've gone to all the trouble to send a rescue relay... seems like it would be easier and simpler just to send a new telescope probe.)

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I've since renamed it "Derelict Looking Glass," and classified it as space junk. I concur on the silliness of sending a rescue relay. Better to just get the next telescope right this time. Thanks again everyone for your help and input. It definitely makes a lot more sense now seeing those measurements side-by-side. That Signal Strength Calculator would be a good resource for me in the future too.

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