Parts: Utility

Parachute

A canopy that opens over about a second to slow a descent. Stage or tap Deploy to open it in the air, and Cut to let the canopy go. The canister stays bolted to the ship either way.

Its one attachment point sits on top of a stack, canister facing down into whatever it rides on. That is usually the last part before the capsule.

Deploy and Cut are both staged actions, so one stage can open the canopy and a later one cut it loose. A plain tap, in flight, deploys it the same way a bare stage entry does. It will not open while the ship is standing still, on the pad or landed: there is no airflow to fill it.

It can also open itself. The part's Auto deploy row — on its sheet in the hangar and in flight — is an altitude, and reads Off until you set one. Set it, and the canopy pops the moment the ship falls past that altitude, with nobody at the controls: a booster dropped with its own chute comes down under it. The altitude is measured above sea level, not above the ground below you, because the release is a pressure gauge and pressure only knows your height over the world's datum. Over a mountain range, set it high enough to clear the peaks. It fires only while you are going down, and only where there is air to read — on an airless world it does nothing.

A cut canopy, and one that collapses at touchdown, leaves the chute spent — still on the ship, but it will not open again. An Engineer aboard can fold it away: the part's sheet grows a Repack button once the canopy is gone, and a repacked chute is as good as new. With nobody aboard who can do it, the button is there but dead. See Landing and recovery.

Pairs with the Drogue Chute to slow a fast descent before this one opens. Instead of a Heat Shield alone, which sheds heat but not speed.

Drogue Chute

A small chute that opens fast and high, and survives far more dynamic pressure than the main canopy, so it slows a fast descent enough for the Parachute to open safely after it.

It bolts to the flank of a capsule with one radial point, so it can open first while the main canopy stays packed above.

Deploy and Cut are both staged actions, exactly as on the Parachute, so it can be opened on one stage and cut loose on a later one. A tap deploys it the same way, and it is spent afterwards until an Engineer aboard taps Repack.

It carries the same Auto deploy altitude as the Parachute, which is how a two-canopy descent flies itself: set the drogue high and the main chute low, and both open on the way down without a tap.

Pairs with the Parachute as the first canopy out on a fast re-entry. Instead of the Parachute alone, which tears off at much lower dynamic pressure.

LT-1 Landing Strut

A sprung strut that swings out and takes a touchdown a bare hull would not. Deploy it before you land, or you touch down on whatever part is lowest instead.

It bolts to the flank near the base of the stack, one radial point per leg. Three or four spaced evenly round the hull make for a stable stand.

Its part sheet offers Deploy while stowed and Retract once it is out, the same action either staged or tapped. Legs work on the pad too, so a vessel resting on its engine can rise onto them.

Pairs with a light lander or probe. Instead of the LT-2 on a heavier ship, which needs more suspension travel.

LT-2 Landing Strut

A longer, stiffer strut for a heavy lander on a hard world: more travel to soak up the touchdown and a higher impact tolerance than the LT-1.

It bolts to the flank near the base of the stack, one radial point per leg, the same way the LT-1 does.

Its part sheet offers Deploy while stowed and Retract once it is out, staged or tapped, and it works on the pad as well as in flight.

Pairs with a heavy lander bound for a rough world. Instead of the LT-1, which folds under more weight and takes a gentler touchdown.

RW-100 Reaction Wheel

A drum of flywheels that sits in the stack and turns the whole ship on electricity alone: four times the grip of a Crew Capsule's own wheels, without a drop of thruster propellant spent.

It stacks inline between two parts, top and bottom, the same width as a Fuel Tank, and both points carry fuel and thruster propellant through, so it does not cut a stack's plumbing.

It is not a pod. It turns the ship only when whatever flies the ship — a pod with a pilot, or a Sat Controller in contact — asks it to, on the two curved-arrow buttons. It draws its 0.35 u/s only while it is turning the ship, and less on a gentle turn; a B-90 Battery covers about four minutes of turning flat out. With no charge it makes no torque at all.

Its part sheet in flight has one setting, Wheel strength, from 0 to 100 %: how much of its torque the buttons command. See Steer on reaction wheels.

Pairs with a B-400 Battery Bank and an SP-6 Twin Array on a long ship that has to point a dish or line up a burn. Instead of a ring of RCS blocks, which spend propellant but can also slide the ship sideways; a wheel only turns it.

RW-500 Reaction Wheel

The reaction wheel for the wide stack: two flywheels in one 8 m drum and five times the RW-100's torque, enough to swing a ship that a capsule's wheels would barely move.

It stacks inline like the RW-100, top and bottom, carrying fuel and thruster propellant through, and it is the same width as a Fuel Tank L. It also offers a rail along each side for radial parts.

It answers the turn buttons exactly as the RW-100 does, and it is just as helpless on a flat battery. Turning flat out it draws 1.6 u/s, which a B-1600 Battery Bank covers for about sixteen minutes. On a light ship it is far more than the buttons need: turn its Wheel strength down.

Pairs with a B-1600 Battery Bank in a wide stack. Instead of several RW-100s on an adapter: one part where five would be.

SL-1 Signal Light

A small lamp that shines all round, red or green, steady or blinking: a ship's running lights, a marker on a station, a light to find a lander by in the dark.

It bolts to the side of a hull by one point, like an antenna, and lights the ship around it and the ground under it in its own colour. Its settings are On (hangar only: whether it leaves the pad lit), Brightness from 10 to 100 %, Blink from Steady to 4 a second, and Colour, red or green; all but On can be changed in flight too.

The 432 u/day it draws at full brightness is about 0.005 u/s: a B-90 Battery keeps one lit for five hours. It draws the same whether it blinks or not, and nothing at all while it is off. See Light your ship at night.

Pairs with a second one in the other colour on the far flank, red on one side and green on the other, the way ships have always told you which way they face. Instead of a floodlight when what you need is to be seen rather than to see.

FL-30 Floodlight

A white beam 30 degrees wide that reaches 90 metres: a landing light, and the way to see the ground under you on a world's night side.

It bolts to the side of a hull by one point and throws its beam straight out from that side, tilted by its Aim slider: 30° toward the bottom of the part until you move it, so one on a lander's flank lights the ground beside the legs. Turn the part in the hangar to point it another way. Its other settings are On and Brightness, as on the signal light.

It is a real load: at full brightness a B-90 Battery runs it for 25 minutes, and two SP-1 Solar Panels in full sun only just keep up with one. Light it for the landing and turn it off once you are down. A beam stops at the ground and at another ship, which throws a shadow across it.

Pairs with a signal light, so the ship can be found as well as see. Instead of landing by the instruments alone on a world's night side.