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Daedalus engine antenna


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1 hour ago, Maria Sirona said:

So, the British Interplanetary Society's Project Daedalus had the spacecraft use its second stage engine as an antenna. Will we be able to do something like this in KSP-2?

Yeah. Ksp2 will have bigger antennas because of interstellar travel, this is entirely possible.

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I could see giving fuel tanks an "internal antenna" similar to how probe cores have weak antennae built-in.  Care would have to be taken to balance this though, so that there would still be strong motivation to use dedicated antennae in most situations.  Possibly make it so that tank-antennae can't transmit science or are very weak?  Anyway, it sounds like a cool mod idea at least.

It makes perfect sense that metal tanks are used as antennae in the real world, especially for low frequencies.

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On 3/28/2022 at 2:49 AM, poopslayer78 said:

tank-antennae can't transmit science or are very weak?  Anyway, 

No no, you have misunderstood. I am talking about engines here, not fuel tanks. Like i said in the OP, Project Daedalus would have had the probe use its engine as its primary antenna for communication with Earth.

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15 minutes ago, Maria Sirona said:

No no, you have misunderstood. I am talking about engines here, not fuel tanks. Like i said in the OP, Project Daedalus would have had the probe use its engine as its primary antenna for communication with Earth.

As I understand it, the bell itself would be aimed at the target and would serve as a directional antenna.  Much as the bell shapes the flow of exhaust gases on exit to be traveling somewhat in parallel away from the bell, radiowaves would similarly be shaped on transmit and receive.  I imagine the focal point and active element of the antenna would need to be placed inside the bell after all main engine burns were done either by EVA or automation; and of course removed prior to any future burns.  Is the antenna active element permanently fixed or does it need to be deployed/stowed for according to engine burns?

 

Edited by darthgently
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