IR Telescope - sswelm/KSPInterstellar GitHub Wiki

Infrared telescopes are great for looking out across the universe to see what's out there. Like all good infrared telescopes, this one is cooled via a cryogenic process in order to boost sensitivity to low light levels; it requires a directly attached source of Liquid Helium from a Helium Cryostat.

The IR Telescope was added in KSPI v.10.0.

There are two basic mission profiles for which this science generating device is useful for. The first mission is relatively easy to do since you just need to get the device into orbit, but the second mission can be more difficult (but not impossible) in career-mode until the tech tree has almost completely been researched. This is due to the availability of FTL in late-stage games. Mission 2 is a 10 minute mission if running KSP in sandbox-mode.

The telescope must be directly connected to a Helium Cryostat. Note that the required cryostat holds Liquid Helium (He4), not Helium-3 which is reactor fuel. Previous versions of KSPI did not require direct attachment, but as of KSPI v.10.3, the telescope will only draw liquid helium from cryostats which are directly attached and/or stacked (similar to a rocket engine's fuel source). If tanks are spread out over the ship, the liquid helium may be transferred into the directly attached tank from anywhere on the ship. Tools such as the TAC Fuel Balancer (another mod) may be useful for constant resource transfer without having to constantly CTRL-RightClick cryostats.

Mission 1: Deep Field Survey

This mission is quite simple: just put the telescope in orbit; your scientists use it to gradually accumulate science. The deep field survey is similar to one of the missions accomplished by the Hubble Space Telescope (a near-infrared telescope).

Mission 2: Direct Planetary Observation

A very ambitious mission to use Kerbol's gravitational field as a focusing lens. Put the telescope into a STABLE 550AU (7500Gm) solar orbit (eccentricity less than 1) in order to study the closest neighboring solar systems. The gravitational lens experiment requires a manned capsule or a upgraded computer core. The science generated is considerably more than is gained by a Deep Field Survey. Direct Planetary Observation mission is similar to one of the missions in progress by the Spitzer Space Telescope (a infrared telescope which uses a heliocentric earth-trailing orbit to drastically reduce liquid helium mission requirements) where it is observing exoplanets.

How To Conduct Direct Planetary Observation

To conduct this kind of mission, there are four criteria which must be satisfied in order to collect science.

  1. The craft must have either a manned science lab or an upgraded Computer Core.

  2. The craft must be in a stable orbit around Kerbol at a distance of at least 550 AU (equal to 7500Gm altitude from Kerbol). Orbital eccentricity should be approximately ~1 and there should be ~0 degree inclination. If you travel out to this location using the Alcubierre Drive then this may mean having to scrub off over 9km/s of delta-v. A suitably high-powered engine will be necessary. This distant orbit is what allows the telescope to use the gravitational field of Kerbol to magnify images of nearby solar systems.

  3. Liquid Helium. A cryostat will last ~700 earth-days when powered. This boil-off is constant, regardless of the state of the telescope, so you'll need to get out to that distant orbit quickly.

  4. A kerbal. Periodic EVA maintenance is necessary for each telescope. The telescope's performance is reduced over time, or if you switch to another craft (probably a bug), and can only be restored via EVA (get the kerbal close to it and then right-click it for the option to re-calibrate). When at 100% you receive 15 science per day per telescope.

Thanks to xfrankie and artforz from the forums for this list. Sources: [KSPI Thread on the KSP forums] (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/43839-0-23-KSP-Interstellar-%28Thermal-Helper-Solar-Sail-Impactors-Fusion%29-Version-0-10-3/page673), different page of the same thread.

Potential Issues

Some of the in-game messages (from a right-click) do not fully display within the window which pops up. As such it can be difficult to read some of the errors which are reported there.