The ship is made up of a number of 'components'.
Each component can be either:
When docked at a station components can be:
Components can also be repaired (patched up) when not docked. However there is a limit to what can be done and it is more expensive.
DONT UNDOCK WITH AN INCOMPLETE SHIP (E.G. NO ENGINE). YOU MAY HAVE NO WAY OF RE-DOCKING!