How to do Target Scanning?

[Betelgeuse]

Hi guys... I'm new to KSP and I apologize if this is a stupid question. I've finished most of my science at the KSC but I keep seeing "Target scanning while landed at Kerbin's Runway, Launch Pad, VAB, etc." I've tried to use every science part and I've searched the wiki, Google and YouTube but I can't find anything about it. Can someone tell me how to attain that science? I appreciate the help.

[AHHans]

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

I don't really understand what you are talking about. I don't recall seeing "Target scanning" being mentioned anywhere in the game. Can you mention a concrete example where this showed up? (Maybe with a screenshot?)

[Fierce Wolf]

Are you using mods? Which ones?

[Betelgeuse]

On 9/26/2019 at 3:16 AM, AHHans said:

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

I don't really understand what you are talking about. I don't recall seeing "Target scanning" being mentioned anywhere in the game. Can you mention a concrete example where this showed up? (Maybe with a screenshot?)

 

On 9/26/2019 at 8:47 AM, Fierce Wolf said:

Are you using mods? Which ones?

Thanks for the welcome and the help, guys. Duhh… I hadn't even considered that a mod could be responsible for this. I tracked it down to Docking Cam ver. 1.3.6.3 by linuxgurugamer. The option only appears when the onboard camera is attached to the vessel however I haven't been able to attain the science even though it shows as being available. This mod has changed ownership several times so it's entirely possible that it could be an artifact from an earlier version. Hopefully, you can see below (I'm not good at posting pics either) that the science is listed as available everywhere, whether landed or in space. If either of you are familiar with this mod and know what I need to do please let me know... Thanks!

 

[Fierce Wolf]

Good asumption. I never tried it, but it's more likely a bug

[Zhetaan]

On 9/25/2019 at 7:55 PM, Betelgeuse said:

Can someone tell me how to attain that science? I appreciate the help.

Target scanning is indeed part of the KURS-style Docking Cam mod.  From what I've found in the mod, the experiment itself is called 'Spy Camera' in the code and it requires that you have a target vessel within 1,000 m.  The definitions file gives it a situation code of 63, which means that the experiment can be done absolutely everywhere, and it has a biome code of 31, which means that it gives per-biome results for everything but 'in space high' (for which it gives a single global result).

The base value is 8 science points and the maximum value is 32 science points (this is before celestial body multipliers), so you'll need to do a lot of scanning to get complete results.  How you play the game is up to you, but I will caution you that this appears to be made of pure, unadulterated grind, and is also worth an inordinate number of science points; for my part, I'd be sorely tempted to modify the situation and biome codes so that it works more like a spy camera; i.e., it works only in low orbit and high atmosphere.  I'll grant that you may be unfamiliar with how to do that, and I shan't assume that you are interested, so I will say no more about it.  Instead, this is what I learned about the experiment itself:

The experiment is part of the onboard camera; it should appear when you right-click the part, but it's possible that it will not appear unless the conditions are correct.  Thus, unlike every stock science experiment that only requires you to take the experiment on your vessel, this one additionally requires a second vessel that is both within range and set as the target.  If you have been trying to access the experiment without meeting those conditions, then that may be why you're having trouble.

To test whether that is the case, you can try adding the docking camera to a small rover on the runway and taking it to look at a different vessel either on the launchpad or on the runway (though if you load a second vessel on the runway, then be certain to move the rover off the runway first).  Since the experiment normally works while landed, you should be able to test it without much trouble.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Zhetaan