IR Telescope Science Platform

Establishing an IR telescope science-collecting vessel, either in orbit of a planet (e.g. such as Kerbin) or in a deep space orbit of Kerbol, is possible with KSPI. There are two basic missions which can be completed. The mission essentials are detailed here.

The Direct Planetary Observation mission is more complicated to complete if attempted in career mode. Later KSPI technologies make it much easier though. This mission requires that a fairly heavy payload be sent out beyond Eeloo, at which point it will need to circularize its orbit in order to have an eccentricity of as close to 1 as possible. This will require a large amount of delta/v in order to achieve and can be positively huge depending on how one arrives at such a orbit. Although achieving such an orbit can be relatively trivial for space programs which have unlocked the FTL drive.

Whatever the method of achieving orbit, it is likely that a heavy lift launcher will be necessary in order to lift the deep space vessel into orbit. Alternatively, orbital construction the IR telescope science vessel may make the task easier.

There are two main considerations when designing craft for this mission. The first is whether or not the crew member will be brought back upon finishing the mission. The second is whether you have brought enough Liquid Helium which is used at what can be an almost alarming rate.