Project Soyuz 7k.dll

[N_Molson]

By the way, I can't find the Soyuz heat shield mass... I've seen 450 kg for the Shenzhou, which is quite similar, so I'm going to use this value for now. :hmm:

---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:35 AM ----------

I've noticed a problem with the TM/TMA fairing made by Thorton. The Soyuz 7K-T & (in fact, her antennas) don't fit in.



More surprisingly, the Vzor also gets through ! (I don't get that one, Thorton's TMA has a periscope too) - edit : in fact there is a bulge for the Vzor in the fairing, but it isn't aligned with the 7K one -.



... while the vehicle assembles perfectly with the Block I :



:hmm: So I'm searching for pics of a Soyuz 7K fairing, help welcome !

(/auto-answer mode on : it is fully cylindrical)

(/auto-answer mode off)



The parachute descent sequence is mostly finished, the SLE are coded too. The only "problem" I have is that the Soyuz comes too fast at 11 kilometers, in comparison to the few numbers I've found, a matter of 150 m/s (should be 230 m/s, and have more 380 m/s). Could be caused by a wrong reentry trajectory, though. The drogue correctly reduces the descent speed to 80 m/s around 5000 m, and the main slows down the capsule to a rate of descent of 7.2 m/s ; the retrorockets cut this number to 1.5 m/s (still fine tuning to do).

 

[lindemherz]

Aren't the 7k and T-series Vzor in different locations on the SA? As far as I remember, all the 7k variants had it a bit off-centre, while the T and following have it centred.

 

[Urwumpe]

Aren't the 7k and T-series Vzor in different locations on the SA? As far as I remember, all the 7k variants had it a bit off-centre, while the T and following have it centred.

Yes, had been that way.

BTW, there is a small bulge in the fairing where the Vzor is. Same for the IR sensors.

 

[N_Molson]

ho-ho, look what I found there :

http://www.mentallandscape.com/T_NIP.htm

Excellent, hard to get more precision !

--- edit ---

I've got the tracking stations network working ! Quite happy of that one ! There are 13 NIP stations, that have each a range of 1750 km (sources said "1500-2000 km"). So the HUD displays the distance to the nearest station, and the name of that station. And it makes a vast continuous tracking area over the Soviet Union, as we wanted ! :bananadance:



Here we are receiving the NIP2 Station, "Makat", and we're nearly at equidistance with Baikonur (as shows Map MFD).

 

[4throck]

That's one of the sources I used for the tracking bases .cfgs .
I mentioned it some weeks ago (http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=310436&postcount=95).

So yes, they are accurate and if one day we have detailed satellite coverage of those areas the coordinates should match.


Cool to see it implemented !:tiphat: we could add some other stations, as discussed before. Cuba is a logical assumption, and perhaps I'd place a boat in the Pacific or Indian ocean. (Zond 5 was recovered in the Indian Ocean, so at least it's a place were the tracking ships were present at the time)

 

[N_Molson]

So yes, they are accurate and if one day we have detailed satellite coverage of those areas the coordinates should match.

I let the door open for that ; only the tracking bases name is critical. Changing their coordinates in the .cfg bases files will cause no adverse effects.

 

[4throck]

Are the names hard coded? So that you can have other bases installed but telemetry will only come if the base is named NIP ?

I know you have other things to do regarding the current add-on, but would it be possible to control the Soyuz entirely from the ground?
I'm thinking about the lines of having the "remote control" window and MFDs only available when the spacecraft is in range, always keeping "mission control" as the selected vessel. Wouldn't mind modeling the building

Just an idea, perhaps you can at least "make room" in your code for that option sometime in the future.

 

[N_Molson]

I know you have other things to do regarding the current add-on, but would it be possible to control the Soyuz entirely from the ground ?

This is something that I seriously consider, but I don't think it will be implemented in the first release. That's more a gameplay design problem that a code problem, I don't see how to make this in simulation (but the idea is slowly making its path, and suggestions are welcome). :yes:

I'm thinking about the lines of having the "remote control" window and MFDs only available when the spacecraft is in range, always keeping "mission control" as the selected vessel. Wouldn't mind modeling the building

Concerning the MFD's, that's the idea, it will be implemented very soon. Concerning the "remote control" window and other "cheating" stuff like "External MFD", I don't know if the API allows to disable a precise plugin, that seems a little "agressive" to me. :hmm:

I was watching the TMA-22 launch this night and was very interested by the views of the tracking antennas, especially the quad-dishes B-529 "Camomille" that sure looks cool ! Do you think you could model it ? That would add some scenery to the stations.

Also, a tracking ship model would be cool, too

Of course I'm not speaking of anything with much details, that's only meant for static scenery.

 

[Scruce]

Also, a tracking ship model would be cool, too

Of course I'm not speaking of anything with much details, that's only meant for static scenery.

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5085"]Stargazer Comm Ship[/ame]?

 

[N_Molson]

Yes, with a "Cosmonaut Gagarin" or "Cosmonaut Komarov" texture & a gray-ish hull, if Loru accepts we use his work.

 

[4throck]

Cool :thumbup:!

It's always good to share ideas. To sum it up, regarding an evolution of the initial 7K simulation (all 7K models, plenty of work there before going further), we could mesh:

- the recovery vehicles
- the tracking ships
- the tracking antenna

Right now I have a lot of personal stuff that will need my attention in the following months. So it's a "maybe I'll model it if I have time", absolutely no promises. But those quad antennae are doable.... and yes, could be placed on all tracking bases. I'm not sure if the equipment was exactly like that on all though. But I'll start to gather material (reference photos, drawings, etc) for it.

Nevertheless we should focus on the current 7K development. Mea culpa for giving ideas, but let's use them as an incentive to the current tasks.
When we have a working addon there will be lots of testing to do. And that can be time consuming. Pretty scenarios can wait.

 

[Scruce]

I meshed a radome and antennae for an RAF Brize Norton surface base a little while ago, I'll see what I can do as well.

 

[N_Molson]

When we have a working addon there will be lots of testing to do.

That day is not tomorrow, but is getting closer, basically the main steps of the flight are coded, except the autopilots, I wrote 2264 lines of code for now (and surprisingly, they run together without causing too much CTDs).

I'm beginning to look for bugs and undesired behavior, & also reliability of the load/save thing. When this will be done, we'll have an Alpha. The autopilots/remote control in relation with the ground tracking stations (this part is still blurry for me) & the Igla system for docking will lead us to a Beta. Then we can add the fancy stuff (a Vzor panel...) and go for release.

Also 4thRock, Scruce, and anyone that wish to participate, feel free to make the NIP tracking stations bases, it will be easy to copy-paste the content of the .cfg files into the addon. :yes:

 

[4throck]

Regarding the location of the ships during Soyuz flights:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/russia/general-location-for-soviet-tracking-ships.htm

* Sable Island , Nova Scotia (about 44.5° N, 59.5° W)
* Gulf of Guinea , West Africa
* During the ASTP mission, a large tracking ship was located off the coast of Honduras (at approximately 16° N, 87.5° W) to supplement the Sable Island position.

Cuba was used for deep-space missions "A large tracking ship either in a Cuban port such as Havana or Santiago , or in Trinidad"



I've seen other information, but I think that for the time-frame we are working on the above information should be correct.

For extended info on tracking ships, use google translator on: http://www.ski-omer.ru/

 

[N_Molson]

After some flight testing, the most critical information that lack in the "dark zone" are, assuming that the Periapsis is more or less above Baikonur :

- When is the Apoapsis ?
- If I apply an engine burn to rise my Perigee, I need to have an idea of the burn time (even rough).

The first one is relatively easy to solve : Ground Stations transmit you the ApT, then a mere timer can be used once off-range, storing the last known value. Of course, the orbit pertubations will not be taken into account and that will be a "theorical ApT", but that's the point (input some inaccuracy) !

The second question is a little more complex, but I'm confident that cosmonauts could solve it with tables, conversion rules, pen & paper. They know the mass of the spacecraft at launch. The pressure gauges of the propellant tanks allow them to estimate the mass remaining. They know the Isp and the Thrust of the engines.

So what I could do is a "table screen" on the HuD, where you would have something like Burn Duration ; Delta-V ; Orbit Periapsis / Apoapsis change, in function of the mass of the Vessel.

Of course, automated manoeuvers are another way to do it, but I think that a "manual way" should be available, just in case of.

 

[Urwumpe]

I think the core assumption is that, at the beginning of the automated maneuvers, you are in a more or less circular orbit.

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 PM ----------

and yes, there are manual maneuvers that you can execute by setting the numbers on the "digital data indicator panel" of the Soyuz-7K. You can specify how much velocity change you want and in which direction Soyuz should be pointing relative to your set reference coordinates.

---------- Post added at 10:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 PM ----------

If you need some reference there, I started translating the Tiapchenko document about the Sirius IDS into English there:

http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Sirius-7K_IDS

 

[N_Molson]

I read somewhere they had a Delta-V indicator or something like that...

 

[Urwumpe]

I read somewhere they had a Delta-V indicator or something like that...

yes, the "digital data indicator" БЦИ - it simply displays data in form of digits.

It is on the extreme right of the main panel. You can set it to a desired dV and it will then display the remaining dV during the burn.

 

[N_Molson]

I've tested the "timer to theorical Apoapsis" idea, and it proved to be a primitive but viable navigation tool.

Now I have to think about the attitude control systems, here's how I see it but I may be wrong on the way it works :

- IR : could return a number, like 100 when you point the center of the Earth, 0 when you point 20° above the horizon or so (Earth out of angle). Should be somewhat inaccurate, like returning results by steps of 5, and results should vary with the spacecraft altitude. I guess it should be usable only when on the night side, too much interference on the day side.

- Ion sensors : the same way, should point from 100 (prograde) or -100 (retrograde) since it is supposed to detect the impact of ionic particles. Should be usable day and night, but with a limited level of accuracy or randomness (the "ion pockets").

- Vzor (not a priority) : if I got it right, the Vzor is a periscope with 8 holes on a outer ring. On the viewport is drawn a yellow grid. The idea is : if you got 4 "bright" holes and 4 "dark", it means you aim at the horizon (usable during day only). The yellow grid purpose was to "estimate the direction by watching the landscape unfold below", and orienting the spacecraft. In Orbiter, you have a cristal-clear view of the outside, which was not the case in reality, the FOV was very limited.

I also think to make a shortcut key that display an input box, allowing to enter the Dv of an engine burn (like you enter "20", press the main thrust key, and the engine applies thrust for a duration equivalent to 20 m/s of velocity change).

---------- Post added at 02:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 AM ----------

Also found on Wikipedia some information about the history of Soviet pocket calculators in our timeframe :

The first Soviet-made pocket-sized calculator, the "Elektronika B3-04" was developed by the end of 1973 and sold at the beginning of 1974.

The first Soviet scientific pocket-sized calculator the "B3-18" was completed by the end of 1975.

So I guess that even Soyuz-12, in 1973, had access to that kind of tech (space program probably had the best prototypes).

However, the Soyuz 7K-OKS & the 7K-OK probably not beneficied of that technology. Interesting.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 PM ----------

Some concrete illustration from the "manual" Nav system :

When in range : telemetry station feed you with all the information you need.



When out of range : only the timers to the theorical PeT / ApT calculated from the last known value. The yellow colors tells you that those numbers are possibly inaccurate (because of perturbations / nonspherical gravity source).

 

[Urwumpe]

You better get the outputs of the navigation sensors as error angles, that is what you can use best for guidance then.