Every part in the Electrical category: the three panels that make charge, the three batteries that hold it, and their figures from the info card.
Charge runs along every joint, so where you put these is a question of balance and airflow, never of wiring. Read Electricity for what makes and spends it, and Deploy a solar panel for getting a wing out.
A panel has two sets of tolerances, and the card shows both. Stowed is the folded housing riding the ascent; open is the wing out on its boom, which is far more fragile. A panel caught half out is half as strong.
SP-1 Solar Panel
Part · Electrical · sold by Solar Power
The first panel, and the cheapest way to keep a small probe alive past its battery. One wing of one cell, out of a housing barely wider than the antenna beside it.
Figure
Value
MASS
20 kg
COST
70 cr
PRODUCES ELECTRICITY
0.03 u/s
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.85×
HEAT EXPOSURE STOWED
0.42×
HEAT EXPOSURE OPEN
0.85×
MAX TEMP STOWED
2600 K
MAX TEMP OPEN
800 K
MAX G STOWED
20 g
MAX G OPEN
3 g
IMPACT STOWED
10 m/s
IMPACT OPEN
2 m/s
BLAST
2 kN
SOLAR PANEL DEPLOY
1.2 s
NODES
1
STAGEABLE
YES
ARRAY
1 wing × 1 panel
Its one attachment point is radial: it bolts to the flank of a tank or a hull, and the wing swings out of that flank. Mirror a second one across the ship to keep the drag even.
Its sheet offers Deploy while stowed and Stow once it is out, and the same action can be put in a stage. It has no editable settings.
Pairs with a PB-20 Battery on a small probe: the panel covers the sunlit half of an orbit and the battery covers the dark half. Instead of it, the SP-3 Solar Array makes three times as much for less than three times the mass.
SP-3 Solar Array
Part · Electrical · sold by Solar Arrays
A three-cell concertina off one flank: the working panel for a satellite that has to run a dish as well as its own avionics.
Figure
Value
MASS
55 kg
COST
180 cr
PRODUCES ELECTRICITY
0.09 u/s
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.85×
HEAT EXPOSURE STOWED
0.42×
HEAT EXPOSURE OPEN
0.85×
MAX TEMP STOWED
2500 K
MAX TEMP OPEN
750 K
MAX G STOWED
18 g
MAX G OPEN
2.5 g
IMPACT STOWED
10 m/s
IMPACT OPEN
2 m/s
BLAST
3 kN
SOLAR PANEL DEPLOY
2.2 s
NODES
1
STAGEABLE
YES
ARRAY
1 wing × 3 panels
One radial point, like the SP-1. The wing that unfolds from it is three cells long, so leave room on that flank for it.
Its sheet offers Deploy and Stow, tapped or staged. It has no editable settings.
Pairs with a CD-2 Dish and a B-90 Battery, which is roughly what a relay satellite wants. Instead of it, the SP-6 Twin Array for something that draws more than this can cover.
SP-6 Twin Array
Part · Electrical · sold by Solar Arrays
The biggest panel: an inline bus that throws a wing out of each flank at once, for a station or a deep-space relay that has to run a big dish through long nights.
Figure
Value
MASS
160 kg
COST
420 cr
PRODUCES ELECTRICITY
0.24 u/s
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.9×
HEAT EXPOSURE STOWED
0.45×
HEAT EXPOSURE OPEN
0.9×
MAX TEMP STOWED
2400 K
MAX TEMP OPEN
700 K
MAX G STOWED
16 g
MAX G OPEN
2 g
IMPACT STOWED
10 m/s
IMPACT OPEN
2 m/s
BLAST
8 kN
SOLAR PANEL DEPLOY
3 s
NODES
2
STAGEABLE
YES
ARRAY
2 wings × 2 panels
It stacks inline, with a point at the top and one at the bottom, and both carry fuel and thruster propellant through: it can sit in the middle of a stack without cutting the plumbing. The two wings come out sideways, one each way, so it needs clear flanks rather than a clear end.
Its sheet offers Deploy and Stow, tapped or staged. Both wings move together. It has no editable settings.
Pairs with a B-400 Battery Bank and a CR-3 Deep Space Relay. Instead of it, two SP-3 Solar Arrays mirrored across a hull cost less and weigh less for less output.
PB-20 Battery
Part · Electrical · sold by Batteries
A small can that bolts on anywhere and adds 20 u to whatever the ship already holds. The cheapest fix for a probe that runs its command part's own reserve flat.
Figure
Value
MASS
30 kg
COST
60 cr
STORES ELECTRICITY
20 u
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.85×
HEAT EXPOSURE
0.85×
MAX TEMP
1200 K
MAX G
20 g
IMPACT
14 m/s
BLAST
2 kN
NODES
1
One radial point: it bolts to the flank of anything. Its casing carries a two-cell charge gauge that fills upwards, so you can read the ship's charge off the part in flight.
It has no actions and no settings. A battery holds charge and does nothing else.
Pairs with an SP-1 Solar Panel on a small probe. Instead of it, the B-90 Battery holds four and a half times as much for less than four times the mass, if there is room in the stack for an inline part.
B-90 Battery
Part · Electrical · sold by Batteries
A flat inline tray that slots into a stack: the ordinary battery for a satellite that has to sit out an eclipse with a dish running.
Figure
Value
MASS
110 kg
COST
170 cr
STORES ELECTRICITY
90 u
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.8×
HEAT EXPOSURE
0.8×
MAX TEMP
1200 K
MAX G
16 g
IMPACT
14 m/s
BLAST
8 kN
NODES
2
It stacks inline between two parts, top and bottom, and both points carry fuel and thruster propellant through, so it does not cut a stack's plumbing. Its face carries a four-cell gauge that fills left to right.
It has no actions and no settings.
Pairs with an SP-3 Solar Array. Instead of it, the PB-20 Battery when there is no room in the stack, or the B-400 Battery Bank when a night on the far side is longer than 90 u will cover.
B-400 Battery Bank
Part · Electrical · sold by Power Banks
The heavy bank: enough charge to run a deep-space relay through hours of dark, and enough mass that a small probe should not carry one.
Figure
Value
MASS
380 kg
COST
520 cr
STORES ELECTRICITY
400 u
DRAG NOSE-ON
0.8×
HEAT EXPOSURE
0.8×
MAX TEMP
1200 K
MAX G
14 g
IMPACT
14 m/s
BLAST
14 kN
NODES
2
It stacks inline like the B-90, top and bottom, carrying fuel and thruster propellant through, and it is the same width as a tank. Its face carries a six-cell gauge.
It has no actions and no settings.
Note
Its 400 u runs a CR-2 Relay Dish that is only listening for two hours and forty-six minutes, and one carrying its full twenty-five ships for twenty-eight. That is the figure a relay's orbit gets planned against.
Pairs with an SP-6 Twin Array on a relay meant to be left alone for weeks. Instead of it, the B-90 Battery on anything that comes home the same day.
