Atlantis/Mir

[bh]

Here's Altantis/Mir, STS-71.


Mir model by Orion, note some new shuttle detail by TERRIER.
You can get it off my shuttle page (link below).

Regards...bh.

[Bob Hegwood]

Man...

That is way cool bh!

Thanks, Bob

[Jeam Tag]

Beautiful work Bob, Terrier. Added some shots in my repertory, 'Navettes 2' page .
It would be interressant of being able to install it at the exact dates, like the various versions of the ISS: before or after the Mir station staying alone would be visible. Which is the best manner to obtain this result?
Jeam

[ElPelado]

I may be totaly wrong, but the shuttle compared to the mir looks too big. Are those models well scaled?

[selden]

ElPelado,

The models are exactly right.
Mir was very small.
The shuttle is quite large.

Remember, the Hubble telescope fits inside the shuttle's cargo bay.

[ElPelado]

I didnt know it was small...

Remember, the Hubble telescope fits inside the shuttle's cargo bay.

Thanks for that info, but it didnt help to understand...

[TERRIER]

Nice to see this model completed bh, did you say you were going to release another version of Atlantis, with a more or less, empty payload, to use for 'launching' Magellan and Galileo ?

regards
TERRIER

[TERRIER]

It would be interressant of being able to install it at the exact dates, like the various versions of the ISS: before or after the Mir station staying alone would be visible. Which is the best manner to obtain this result?
Jeam

I guess that the answer for this, is to include "Beginning" and "Ending" lines to the ssc.
From the NORAD 2 line element data, available at CelesTrak (a site that I seem to be visiting quite a lot, at the moment )
I have the exact Julian dates taken from the beginning and ending of the STS-71 orbit as follows;

Code: Select all

"STS-71 (27-Jun-95 to 7-Jul-95)" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "sts-71a.3ds"
   Radius 0.0165      # Mir is 33 meters long
   Beginning       2449896.34451757
   Ending       2449906.07561521     

   # Assuming these elements to be constant isn't accurate . . .
   # Celestia really needs to support better orbit models.

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
      Period            0.06415338
      SemiMajorAxis  6769
      Eccentricity      0.0000831
      Inclination      51.6461
      AscendingNode    83.8459
      ArgOfPericenter 296.4901
      MeanAnomaly      63.6005
   }

   Obliquity             51.6461
   RotationOffset       180
   EquatorAscendingNode  83.8459
   Albedo          0.10
}


One problem is that now you will need to change the dates for your MIR 'only' model, otherwise you will view 2 models at the same time, if you are wanting to run both the MIR 'only' model, and the Atlantis/MIR (sts-71a) model, using the same ssc code.

You will need an 'ending' date for the MIR 'only' model, before STS-71 starts.....;

Code: Select all

"Mir (20-Feb-86 to 27-Jun-95)" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "MIR_new.3DS"
   Radius 0.0165      # Mir is 33 meters long
   Beginning        2446482.0     # Launched 20 Feb 1986
   Ending             2449896.34451756# just before sts-71

   # Assuming these elements to be constant isn't accurate . . .
   # Celestia really needs to support better orbit models.

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
      Period            0.06415338
      SemiMajorAxis  6769
      Eccentricity      0.0000831
      Inclination      51.6461
      AscendingNode    83.8459
      ArgOfPericenter 296.4901
      MeanAnomaly      63.6005
   }

   Obliquity             51.6461
   RotationOffset       180
   EquatorAscendingNode  83.8459
   Albedo          0.10
}


...and a new 'beginning' date in another version of the ssc, for the MIR 'only' model, once STS-71 finishes;

Code: Select all

"Mir (7-Jul-95 to 21-Mar-01)" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "MIR_new.3DS"
   Radius 0.0165      # Mir is 33 meters long
   Beginning       2449906.07561522      # just after sts-71
   Ending            2451989.77083 # Reentered 21 Mar 2001

   # Assuming these elements to be constant isn't accurate . . .
   # Celestia really needs to support better orbit models.

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
      Period            0.06415338
      SemiMajorAxis  6769
      Eccentricity      0.0000831
      Inclination      51.6461
      AscendingNode    83.8459
      ArgOfPericenter 296.4901
      MeanAnomaly      63.6005
   }

   Obliquity             51.6461
   RotationOffset       180
   EquatorAscendingNode  83.8459
   Albedo          0.10
}


Hope this helps

TERRIER

PS the radius might need changing for the STS-71 ssc.

added ".3ds" to model line of code in STS-71 .ssc

[Bob Hegwood]

Terrier,

Just wanted to thank you for the SSC code.

Was wondering how I could display the models separately.

Take care, Bob

[bh]

TERRIER...bloody good job on those ssc's....I knew you would come up with the goods on these!

Atlantis with payload for sat launches is very possible...I like the new arm attitude...request for mission specific scenarios would be handy...with links to photos and drawings...that would save me a whole bunch of time!

Bob Hegwood...I'm not sure if Orions Mir is available...if not I will host it, but I need his permission. It really is a nice model....He's done some great Soyuz models...but left. I hope he's OK.

ElPelado...I think I got the scale about right. I've researched this project for some time now and I certainly would not release it if it was wrong!
Do an image seach in 'Google' for sts-71.

Best regards to all...bh.

[TERRIER]

bh

For a start, there may be a few handy images for you of the payload, by going to the JSC NASA Digital image search engine;

http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/search.jsp

Just type 'STS-34' into the text search box, for images of the Galileo shuttle mission, and 'STS-30' for the Magellan shuttle mission.

From what I can see, it does't look like there was much else other than the probe and IUS in the cargo bay for these missions, except for some sort of locking/support devices ?

regards
TERRIER

[OrbiterFan]

The lockdown device used on Inertial UpperStage(IUS) flights such as the Magellan and Galileo deployments is the IUS Airborne Support Equipment(ASE). It's the cradle in which the IUS/payload is attached to during launch. Shortly after entering orbit and PL bay doors opening the entire IUS/payload stack is rotated upwards into an check-out attitude. If everything checks out fine the ASE rotates the stack upwards to 59 degrees which is the deployment attitude.