Why can't I power up my drone system?

Solution 1:

It says "Combat I" which is an attacking drone. There's no hostile ship to attack, so the game won't let you use it.

But! If you were in an asteroid field, you could deploy Defense drones:

If you've got uninvited visitors on your ship, deploy an Anti-personnel drone:

Even in a safe zone you can use a Hull Repair and System Repair drones:

There are more drone types in Advanced Edition that you can use in various situations.

Solution 2:

Its because you are not in combat. Its pointless to launch a combat drone when there is no hostile ships there.

Solution 3:

Attack drones, such as the combat drone, can only be used during combat. Since they only last for one encounter, using one outside of combat would just waste drone parts.

Solution 4:

Drone System cannot be powered up itself, but the drones you deploy. So you have to save some energy to deploy the drones when necessary. So you cannot keep a Drone System powered up all the time. Each time you jump the drones get reset.

It will consume a drone part for each drone you deploy, so it is recommended to power/deploy the drone only when needed.

In this case, the game doesn't allow you to deploy an Attack Drone because you are not in combat.