Space Engineers – Positioning Static Solar panels

The alignment build

 
1. Start with a large grid battery, a battery with only 1 steel plate in it is fine. 
2. A completed solar panel on one side of the battery. 
3. To generate large shadows, put only a single steel plate into an antenna placed on the battery and perpendicular to the flat side of the solar panel. 
4. Flight seat positioned on any other side of the battery so that you can use Q and E to rotate around the antenna’s length. 
5. A completed gyro on any available side of the battery. 
 
 
 
 

Align an axis perpendicular to the sun’s axis

 
1. Sit in the flight seat. 
2. Turn the gyro’s power down to 1% or 2%. 
2. Rotate the grid until the cursor in the center of the screen points to the middle of the sun. This will cause the sun to cast a shadow straight down the antenna, into itself. 
3. The solar panel should be receiving full light. 
 
 
 
 
 
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This gets you 90% of the way there. 
 
 

Align a second axis perpendicular to the sun

 
Let’s minimize the chance other blocks will cast shadows on the solar panel. 
 
1. Wait 5 minutes. As the shadow starts to move, use only Q and E so that the shadow will go over the solar panel. If you use more than Q and E start over from the first alignment, otherwise the solar panel won’t share an axis with the sun’s rotation. 
2. Wait another 10 minutes, the shadow moves slowly over the solar panel. 
3. Continue to use only Q and E. Aim for the antenna’s shadow to make a line parallel to the length of the solar panel. 
4. When the shadow stays parallel over a minute, you’re done. The sun will now not only give maximum light to both sides of the solar panel, also any blocks placed above or below the panel won’t cast a shadow on the solar panel. 
 
 
 
 

Moons & Planets

 
If there’s a moon or planet close by you may want to minimize their shadow. To do so, rotate the station along the sun’s axis. 
 
1. Move the seat so Q and E rotate both the antenna and solar panels around the battery. This is the same axis of rotation as the sun. 
2. Use only Q and E until you see as little of the solar panels as possible when you look past the station directly at the moon or planet. This will minimize the shadow the moon or planet casts on the solar panels. 
 
 
 

This is all that we can say about Space Engineers – Positioning Static Solar panels for now. I hope this post helped you. If there is anything that we should add, please let us know via comment below. See you soon!