Stargate node

Device attached to a space-based Stargate in the Pegasus Galaxy, apparently designed by the Ancients both to power a gate placed in outer space in the absence of a dial-home device and to keep the gate in its proper position in relative space. Space gates are equipped with three nodes, placed at 120 degree intervals around the gate's outer edge.

Each node is equipped with five thrusters – one on each end and a third on top, opposite the Stargate. These fire automatically to maintain the position of a Stargate in space, reorienting the gate in the event of a collision.

Lights illuminate the devices as they gently spin the floating gate in a clockwise motion. Each node is likely equipped with an Ancient power cell, as the millennia-old space gate network requires power to be able to function without attached D.H.D.s. It is unlikely that they contain Zero Point Modules, since the Atlantis expedition had difficultly locating these (and having three inside a space gate would make them readily available to harvest).

KEY EPISODE

Rising, Part 1 - Sheppard and his team witness, for the first time, a Stargate deliberately placed in space, and held in-position by a trio of power nodes.
Ghost in the Machine - The Stargate nodes' thrusters fire to reorient the gate after a Puddle Jumper accidentally collides with it.