the new cargo bays are too small...

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

SSTO in a Cargobay... I dont think they are too small...

Not my Video. If you like it, like the Video directly

[Spatzimaus]

Actually I'm wondering why you deployed it in an equatorial orbit. You're never going to get a full scan without a polar one.

That IS a polar orbit, or close to it (eccentricity ~78 degrees, as seen in the Engineer readout). As someone else pointed out, you can see the icecap. If you look at the ScanSat window, it's the #2 icon; it was just launched, so it hasn't had time to really scan anything. The reason you see the big equatorial band in the scan window is that the previous satellites were all outbound to more valuable destinations. One point of confusion is that the screenshot of the launching plane was from a different mission, and THAT one was equatorial.

(The screenshot was of a bugged satellite, though; I accidentally put the BTDT sensor instead of the SAR. So I had to launch another one.)

Yes, holding down Alt disables surface attachment and allows you to put parts on the nodes in the cargo bays.

Or you could do what I did for the aforementioned satellite. Put a tiny cubic strut in the center of the bottom of the bay, then stick ports/radial separators on top of that. It takes up almost no room, and allows you to eject payloads vertically. That ejection force is very handy.

[sporkafife]

I'm sure Squad will eventually redo the mk.3 spaceplane parts now that they've started the spaceplane revamp, and them parts are much more rounded so I can imagine the mk.3 cargo bays being much larger, still not large enough to fit 2.5m parts in though

[moogoob]

I love it when KSP mirrors real life through its engineering constraints, and this is one prime example. Did you know that the size of the STS (NASA Space Shuttle) cargo bay was determined by the need to be able to carry and launch a certain giant spy satellite?

So no, you can't fit a whole space station in them, but rather have to engineer your payloads to fit what's available. At least they're wider than they are tall!

Edited October 13, 2014 by moogoob
clarity

[Arctodus]

http://cdn.mlkshk.com/r/10W27

So, this little probe launches from a mk2 cargo bay and is good for just shy of 11k m/s worth of delta-v. You need to build smaller. Those bays are much too constrained to build based on the basic 1.25m cylinder with things sticking off radially - it just won't fit. So the lander here has the smallest sized RCS tanks hanging in pairs off a narrow structural bit. With them are a pair of monopropellant motors on the 2 free sides. The transit stage is a cluster of 3 ion engines at the end of a short stack of xenon gas tanks, again, with additional tanks hanging off the sides. This little guy's first run took it to Pol with something like half its fuel left after landing. The second one I sent landed first on Ike and then on Gilly and still had some juice left. Not bad for a probe made from all stock parts and weighing in at just under 4 tons, fully loaded.

So yeah, it is tight but you can make it work if you get a bit more creative with the design and leave the 1.25m core design behind.

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get the three ion engine is a triangle like that?

[SlyReaper]

Personally, I like the challenge of designing a probe or spacecraft that fits inside that confined space. Ion drives with xenon tanks plus tiny fuel tanks and radial engines seem to be the order of the day for small lander probes.

[NeatCrown]

There are the usual uses for the cargobays, then there's those of us who like to experiment a little and ending up with things like this:

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/539629277701189631/35188AA743DC0B747535FCAA8C9F7A5E16705A70/

That's 4 large and 4 small cargobays arranged around a large and a small central structural girder...

Ermahkrerkerhn! I was thinking to do the EXACT same thing as you! (more or less )

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

Ermahkrerkerhn! I was thinking to do the EXACT same thing as you! (more or less )

Hehe, second person to do that

But rest assured, it is a workable design!

I have been working on something else, but I'm sure Whackjob would steal the idea pretty quick lol!

[el_coyoto]

That's 4 large and 4 small cargobays arranged around a large and a small central structural girder, with the Kerbodyne adapter top and bottom to take the Docking Port Snr.'s, for use in interplanetary ships. Default cargo is 4 Mun landers, but can be swapped out in LKO for whatever is needed...

Nice design, will steal it!

I personally like the minutia required to fit a useful payload into our new, shiny, cargo bays, it mirrors a real life engineering constraint.

On the other hand, *cough* Procedural cargo bays *cough*... would make an awesome mod.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

Rescale Factor seems to do the job nicely:

(Orig. Thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/97562-I-love-using-Rescale-factor)