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KSP Interstellar Extended is a plugin for Kerbal Space Program, designed to encourage bootstrapping toward ever more advanced levels of technology as well as utilizing In-Situ ( Wikipedia) resources to expand the reach of Kerbal civilization.
KSP Interstellar Extended aims to continue in Fractal_UK's original KSPI vision in providing a realistic road to the stars. Players will first gain access to contemporary technologies that have not been widely applied to real space programs such as nuclear reactors, electrical generators and thermal rockets. By continuing down the tech tree and performing more research, it is possible to unlock technologies such as fusion power and even antimatter power.
We attempt to portray both the amazing power of these technologies as well as their drawbacks - including the tremendous difficulty of obtaining resources like antimatter and the difficulties associated with storing it safely. The goal is to reward players who develop advanced infrastructure on other planets with new, novel and powerful technologies capable of helping Kerbals explore planets in new and exciting ways. The principal goal of KSP Interstellar is to expand Kerbal Space Program with interesting technologies and to provide a logical and compelling technological progression beginning with technologies that could have been available in the 1970s/1980s, then technologies that could be available within the next few years, progressing to technologies that may not be available for many decades, all the way out to speculative technologies that are theoretically sound but may or may not ever be realized in practice.
KSPI-E is fully integrated with Community Tech Tree and The Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network (CKAN) . KSP Interstellar Extended also uses TweakScale and Interstellar Fuel Switch
The easiest way to install KSP Interstellar Extended is using The Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network (CKAN), as that will install dependencies for you.
- HA-1 Aluminum Hybrid Rocket - Hybrid solid/liquid oxygen rocket that is easy to refuel but has moderate thrust and low specific impulse.
- Deinonychus 1-D - Advanced Liquid Rocket Engine that uses dense but non-toxic fuel.
- D-T Vista - A laser pumped inertial fusion engine.
- Thermal Ramjet Nozzle / Thermal Turbojet - Uses the thermal power of a reactor to heat propellant and produce thrust.
- Plasma Thruster - Uses electrical power to expel an exhaust plasma.
- Solar Sail - Uses light to propel your craft.
- ATTILA Thruster - An electrical engine that produces more thrust than the plasma engine, but at lower efficiency.
- CANDLE Traveling Wave Reactor Engine - Tiny nuclear engine designed for probes.
- Closed Cycle Gas Core Engine - Heavy nuclear engine with huge isp.
- Direct Cycle Nuclear Turbojet - Atomic engine suitable for spaceplanes.
- Magnetic Nozzle - Advenced electric engine that uses electromagnetic field.
- Magneto Inertial Fusion Engine - Cheap fusion Engine.
- Solid NTR NERVA - Basic nuclear engine.
- Thermal Launch Nozle - Another thermal rocket designed for launches.
- Tokamak Fusion Engine - Fusion engine with built-in reactor.
- TORY Nuclear Ramjet Engine - Nuclear open cycle engine.
- VX-500 VASIMR Engine - Ion engine.
Reactors are devices that are designed to use up some fuel in order to create heat. In this sense, a reactor could be anything from a bonfire to an antimatter reactor. The power output of a reactor is ultimately determined by the energy density of the fuel; in space travel it is important to maximize energy density in order to keep weight to a minimum. In KSP Interstellar Extended , reactors produce Thermal Power, which is consumed by either electrical generators to produce MegaJoules , or thermal rockets and turbojets to produce thrust. Generators and thermal rockets MUST be attached directly to a reactor in order to function.
- Pebble Bed Reactor - Basic fission reactor.
- Molten Salt Reactor - Nuclear reactor with liquid core.
- Dusty Plasma Fission Fragment Reactor - advanced fission reactor.
- Open Cycle Gas Core Reactor - Nuclear reactor with great thermal power.
- Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor - Basic fusion reactor.
- Magneto Inertial Fusion Reactor - small version of fusion reactor.
- IXS Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor - Advanced fusion reactor with integrated generator.
- Antimatter Initiated Fusion Reactor - Fusion reactor that uses antimatter to start fission proces.
- Plasma Beam Core Antimatter Reactor - Antimatter Reactor.
Generators are unique parts in KSPI-E because, depending on the type of Generator it is set to become it can handle different types of energy which is generated by the reactor. The first type of energy is the more traditional thermal power. The second type of energy is only created by certain types of reactors and is made up of charged particles. Regardless of the type of source energy, a properly set generator can utilize it to make both the stock KSP Electric Charge and the KSPI resource called Megajoules. The third type of energy created by reactors is waste heat and is something that must be properly disposed of and is of no use to the generator (see linked article).
All sizes of generators function exactly the same, but suffer from a large penalty if they are attached to a wrong-sized reactor.
The effectiveness of an electric generator is primarily determined by its percentage of Carnot efficiency parameter. An ideal heat engine generates power at the theoretical Carnot efficiency. However, in practice most heat engines operate at a somewhat lesser efficiency. Your true efficiency is dependent on the temperature of your reactor and the temperature of your radiators. The hotter your reactor and the colder your radiators are, the closer your efficiency will be to the maximum.
- Charged Particles Electric Generator - advanced generator for reactors that produce charged particles.
- Thermal Electric Generator - generator designed for reactors that generates lot of heat.
- Super Capacitor - power bank that can unleash huge amount of energy in short burst.
- Warp Drive - Translates a spacecraft through space without altering its physical momentum.
- Dual Technique Magnetometer - Survey planetary magnetic fields and look for Antimatter in radiation belts.
- Gamma-Ray Spectrometer - Survey planets for Uranium and Thorium deposits.
- Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer - Determine the composition of oceans.
- Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer - Determine the composition of atmosphere.
- Antimatter Collector - Gather Antimatter from radiation belts
- Atmospheric Scoop - (and large Radial Atmospheric Scoop) Scoop resources from the local atmosphere
- ISRU Refinery ( and 3,75m , 2,5m ) - Resource gathering from planetary surfaces
- Microwave Power Transceivers - Transmit or receive microwave beamed power
- Antimatter Tanks - Store Antimatter.
- Cryostats - Store resources at cryogenic temperatures
- IR Telescope - explore the distant reaches of the universe (wikipedia) with this Infra-red Telescope
- Computer Core - Computerized control part that can become artificially intelligent and perform its own science research.
- Science Laboratory - Perform science research, produce antimatter or centrifuge deuterium
- Radiators - Dissipate waste heat into space
- Intake Pre-cooler - A modification to the stock part. Now it cools intake air to reduce engine overheating at high speeds.
- Lithium - Used in the production of tritium, and also as an alternative propellant for Electric Engines.
- Argon - Alternate noble gas propellant for ion drives. It offers superior specific impulse but lower thrust to the heavier Xenon.
- Antimatter - Each unit represents 1mg of Anti-Hydrogen. When combined with matter it violently annihilates, producing lots of energy to power your reactors if done in a controlled fashion or exploding with cataclysmic results if handled improperly.
- Deuterium - Used in fusion engines and fusion reactors, produced via centrifuge at the Science Lab.
- Tritium - Used in fusion engines and fusion reactors, produced in nuclear reactors via tritium breeding, which consumes Lithium.
- Helium-3 - Used in fusion reactors, produced via the natural decay of Tritium.
- UF4 - Uranium Tetraflouride, fuel for powering nuclear reactors
- ThF4 - Thorium Tetraflouride, alternative fuel for powering nuclear reactors
- Uranium Nitride - Used in particle bed fission reactors.
- Aluminum - fuel component of the Aluminum Hybrid Rocket
- Liquid Helium - this is ordinary He4, used for cryogenic cooling of scientific instruments
- Actinides - Heavy actinide wastes produced by fission reactors. This stuff is the nasty nuclear waste; it cannot be removed from reactors, so the only way to get rid of it is to reprocess it into fresh nuclear fuel ([UF4](Uranium Tetraflouride) or ThF4) and Depleted Fuels.
- Depleted Fuels - Waste containing some highly radioactive but short lived fission products and non-fissionable heavy elements
- Exotic Matter - Produced and required by the Alcubierre Drive and consumed on every jump.
- Thermal Power - All reactors produce heat, which you can then use in several ways
- MegaJoules - Electrical generators consume Thermal Power to produce electricity. This resource represents large amounts of power produced by large power plants, all of which also produce ElectricCharge. (This unit is odd because electricity is already in the game, but it's actually a technical way of hooking into the game engine to improve the way some components consume energy, allowing very thirsty items like the Alcubierre Drive to consume as much energy as you want to feed it without starving other components.)
- Waste Heat - Nothing is 100% efficient; much of the heat produced by a reactor is simply wasted. In space, this heat must be dissipated or it will lead it to overheating, causing ship malfunction and death. Once the Waste Heat bar reaches 95%, reactors, solar panels and microwave receivers will shut down to prevent further heat buildup. At 100%, components may explode.
- Ammonia - a colorless gas which can be used to enhance [UF4](Uranium Tetraflouride) for use in particle bed fission reactors.
- Water - Used in refinery processes to create various other products.
Current upgradeable parts and the Technologies which unlock upgrades (More soon!)
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Experimental Electrics
- Electric Generator: Brayton Turbine → KTEC Thermoelectric/Direct Conversion (better efficiency)
- Heat Radiator: Mo Li Heat Pipe → Graphene Radiator (better efficiency)
-
Fusion Power
- Nuclear Reactor: Solid Core Reactor → Gas Core Reactor (3x power output)
- Thermal Turbojet: Atmospheric Thermal Jet → Hybrid Thermal Rocket (Basic version can only work in atmosphere, Upgraded version can toggle over to internal fuel)
-
Antimatter Power
- D-T Inertial Fusion Reactor → High-Q Intertial Fusion Reactor
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Ultra-High Energy Physics
- Antimatter Reactor: Solid/Liquid Core Reactor → Liquid/Plasma Core Reactor (3x power output)
- Plasma Thruster: Magnetoplasdynamic → Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster (uses no fuel)
Note that technology upgrades only apply to newly launched parts; parts on existing ship will need to be upgraded individually.
Some parts are only ever upgraded individually:
- Alcubierre Drive: Standard Field Geometry → Advanced Field Geometry (Faster charging times and higher maximum speeds)
- Computer Core: Standard Mainframe → Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Core (Guaranteed to open the pod bay doors while within warranty period!)
This is a fairly large and complicated mod, with a lot of interlocking subsystems. As such, it may be helpful to take a guided tour or two. These could be considered spoilers; you should perhaps attempt these yourself as the exploration of these systems is highly satisfying.
The Illustrated Guide aims to provide a brief introduction to all of the mod's major features in the order in which a career game will encounter them. These chapters are complete:
- Illustrated Guide Chapter 0: Installing and Patching
- Illustrated Guide Chapter 1: Heat and Radiators
- Illustrated Guide Chapter 2: Science
These are topics for which we have more specific guides, and a few where we could use a guide if you know the mod and want to write one.
- Long-duration nuclear airplanes
- Fusion SSTO spaceplanes
- Waste heat management
- Basic microwave-powered plasma spacecraft
- Solar power satellites
- Ultra-light beamed-thermal launch craft
- Antimatter infrastructure
- Basic warp navigation
- Advanced warp navigation
- IR Telescope Science Platform
Check out the [FAQ](wiki/Frequently Asked Questions). If that doesn't help, either I or another player will be happy to help on the forum thread. Don't be overwhelmed by the hundreds of pages of forum posts for this mod. Use the "search thread" tool near the upper right corner to find your particular issue.