Space Shuttle

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The Space Shuttle (Wikipedia) is a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program - the Space Transportation System (STS).

The Space Shuttle is an incredibly complex craft. It cost $49 billion US Dollars, adjusted to 2020 values, to develop and launch the very first Space Shuttle[1]. By contrast the sale price of the (most popular) Boeing 737 airliner series in 2022 is from $90 - $134 million US dollars (including profit margins, and a small fraction of R&D costs)[2]. The STS program and further shuttles cost $169 Billion US Dollars over 30 years.

The Space Shuttle missions involved carrying large payloads from Low to High Earth Orbit. It was involved in construction of the International Space Station (ISS), providing crew rotation for ISS/Mir, performing service missions on the Hubble Space Telescope, getting satellites or interplanetary craft into high orbits, spacelab experiments, Earth mapping missions, as well as recovering satellites and other payloads from orbit. The longest mission, STS 80, lasted over 17 days. There were 135 missions, with Space Shuttle Atlantis flying STS-135.

The crewed Space Shuttle, with its re-usable and multi-role atmospheric and orbital capability, is the most complex craft available to simulate.

The Soviet Buran shuttle, from the most expensive space program in soviet history, was a fully automated Shuttle that drew on the Space Shuttle design (comparison), created in response to the Shuttle's large payload capability as the Soviets wanted to match it just-in-case.

Summary

The Space Shuttle's flight regime is all encompassing - going from dead still on the ground, to subsonic, transonic, supersonic, hypersonic, high hypersonic, and re-entry speeds. It is also carried piggyback on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) which were modified Boeing 747-100 airliners.

The Space Shuttle's orbiter had 3 main engines used to get into space fueled by a detachable External Tank (ET), and assisted by 2 reusable Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). During ascent the Solid Rocket Boosters were detached, followed by the External Tank. The Space Shuttle also had smaller, precise, thrusters - Orbital Manevering System (OMS), which were also used during ascent from 1990 onwards, and the Reaction Control System (RCS).

The space shuttle has complex systems for active/passive cooling, life support, and thermal protection with multiple redundancies for temperatures faced in space and in-atmosphere.

The limiting factor for top speed of the supersonic concorde is aerodynamic heating - hence the white paint to stop sunlight adding to problems while radiating heat fine, and the Space Shuttle used an ablative heat shield that changed phase to push the hot boundary layer away. Even floating in orbit, the difference between sunward and shadowed surfaces can be 200 degrees. Power generated eventually ends up as heat which needs to be dissipated. Heat management even involves slow rotations of the shuttle, and even being too cold has consequences like mechanical systems being non-operational.

The Space Shuttle has a large payload bay with a robotic arm, and an airlock docking system for spacewalks (EVAs) and docking with the International Space Station or Mir.

The crewed Space Shuttle, with its re-usable and multi-role atmospheric and orbital capability, is the most complex craft available to simulate.

Shuttle systems

  • The Space Shuttle's flight deck - a panoramic view, showing the sheer number of controls and displays on walls and overhead panels. The blue squares lining the walls, overhead panels, and even backs of chairs are velcro pads used stop objects and things like checklists (cue cards) floating around when in space. The joystick in the top left corner is for the robotic arm, and the 2 nearby windows look on to the payload bay.

    The Space Shuttle's flight deck - a panoramic view, showing the sheer number of controls and displays on walls and overhead panels. The blue squares lining the walls, overhead panels, and even backs of chairs are velcro pads used stop objects and things like checklists (cue cards) floating around when in space. The joystick in the top left corner is for the robotic arm, and the 2 nearby windows look on to the payload bay.


Avionics

The avionics suite provided information and control during atmospheric flight. It contained: three microwave scanning beam landing systems, three gyroscopes, three TACANs, three accelerometers, two radar altimeters, two barometric altimeters, three attitude indicators, two Mach indicators, and two Mode C transponders.

There were two air data probes deployed below Mach 5. The orbiter had three Inertial Measuring Units (IMU) that it used for guidance and navigation during all phases of flight. The orbiter uses Celestial Navigation and contains two star trackers to align the IMUs while in orbit- they are deployed while in orbit, and can automatically or manually align on a star. The inertial measurement units were upgraded with an Inertial Navigation System (INS). NASA also used a GPS receiver later on. In 1997, Honeywell began developing an integrated GPS/INS to replace the IMU, INS, and TACAN systems, which first flew on STS-118 in August 2007.

Communications systems

While in orbit, the crew primarily communicated using one of four S band radios, which provided both voice and data communications. Two of the S band radios were phase modulation transceivers, and could transmit and receive information. The other two S band radios were frequency modulation transmitters and were used to transmit data to NASA. As S band radios can operate only within their line of sight, NASA used the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System and the Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network ground stations to communicate with the orbiter throughout its orbit. Additionally, the orbiter deployed a high-bandwidth Ku band radio out of the cargo bay, which could also be utilized as a rendezvous radar. The orbiter was also equipped with two UHF radios for communications with air traffic control and astronauts conducting EVA.

Computer systems

The fly-by-wire control system was entirely reliant on its main computer, the Data Processing System (DPS). The DPS controlled the flight controls and thrusters on the orbiter, as well as the ET and SRBs during launch. The DPS consisted of five General-Purpose Computers (GPC), two Magnetic tape Mass Memory Units (MMUs), and the associated sensors to monitors the Space Shuttle components. The original General-Purpose Computer used was the IBM AP-101B, which used a separate Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Input/Output Processor (IOP), and non-volatile solid-state memory. From 1991 to 1993, the orbiter vehicles were upgraded to the AP-101S, which improved the memory and processing capabilities, and reduced the volume and weight of the computers by combining the CPU and IOP into a single unit. Four of the General-Purpose Computers were loaded with the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS), which was Space Shuttle-specific software that provided control through all phases of flight.

During ascent, maneuvering, reentry, and landing, the four PASS General-Purpose Computers functioned identically to produce quadruple redundancy and would error check their results. In case of a software error that would cause erroneous reports from the four PASS GPCs, a fifth GPC ran the Backup Flight System, which used a different program and could control the Space Shuttle through ascent, orbit, and reentry, but could not support an entire mission. The five GPCs were separated in three separate bays within the mid-deck to provide redundancy in the event of a cooling fan failure. After achieving orbit, the crew would switch some of the GPCs functions from Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) to Systems Management (SM) and payload (PL) to support the operational mission. The Space Shuttle was not launched if its flight would run from December to January, as its flight software would have required the orbiter vehicle's computers to be reset at the year change. In 2007, NASA engineers devised a solution so Space Shuttle flights could cross the year-end boundary.

Space Shuttle missions typically brought a Portable General Support Computer (PGSC) that could integrate with the orbiter vehicle's computers and communication suite, as well as monitor scientific and payload data. Early missions brought the Grid Compass, one of the first laptop computers, as the PGSC, but later missions brought mass-produced laptops.

Payload bay

The payload bay comprised most of the orbiter vehicle's fuselage, and provided the cargo-carrying space for the Space Shuttle's payloads - two bay doors opened wide.

The orbiter could be used in conjunction with a variety of add-on components depending on the mission. This included orbital laboratories, boosters for launching payloads farther into space, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), and optionally the EDO pallet to extend the mission duration.

Remote Manipulator System

The Remote Manipulator System (RMS), also known as Canadarm, was a mechanical arm attached to the cargo bay. It could be used to grasp and manipulate payloads, as well as serve as a mobile platform for astronauts conducting an EVA. The RMS was built by the Canadian company Spar Aerospace and was controlled by an astronaut inside the orbiter's flight deck using their windows and closed-circuit television. The RMS allowed for six degrees of freedom and had six joints located at three points along the arm. The original RMS could deploy or retrieve payloads up to 29,000 kg (65,000 lb), which was later improved to 270,000 kg (586,000 lb).

Simulator availability

Overview

This asset is available in the following simulators.

Sim Icon-Ware-Included.svg  Icon-Ware-Payware.svg  Icon-Ware-Freeware.svg  Anvil icon.svg
XP12
FGFS2020.3LTS 1
FS2020
XP11 1
DCS
P3D
XP10 1
FSX 4
FS2004 2

Package listing

The following packages are either included in the base sim or available for purchase/download. Note that the inclusion of packages below is not an endorsement of quality or fitness. Potential buyers are highly encouraged to research payware packages through reviews, videos, or other means before purchasing.

X-Plane 11 [edit]
License Variant Creator Notes
Icon-Ware-Included.svg Included OV-105 Endeavor Laminar Research
  • Included in-sim. XP10 model.
X-Plane 10 [edit]
License Variant Creator Notes
Icon-Ware-Included.svg Included OV-105 Endeavor Laminar Research
  • Included in-sim.

FlightGear Flight Simulator 2020.3 LTS

Space Shuttle with JSBSim flight dynamics backed by Windtunnel data.

Articles:

Videos from a dev (highlights from time-lapses in flight recorder re-play mode):

X-Plane 11

Included liveries

The following liveries accompany the included Laminar Research model at no additional cost.

  • OV-105 Endeavor

    OV-105 Endeavor

X-Plane 10

Included liveries

The following liveries accompany the included Laminar Research model at no additional cost.

  • OV-105 Endeavor

    OV-105 Endeavor

References

  1. ↑ STS program development cost - planetary.org
  2. ↑ Prices of Boeing aircraft by type - statistica.com
Sim Airplanes by simulator availability Airplanes by source
XP12: All • Included • Payware • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party
FGFS2020.3LTS: All • Included • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party • Launcher
FS2020: All • Included • Payware • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party • Marketplace
XP11: All • Included • Payware • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party
DCS: All • Included • Payware • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party • Marketplace
P3D: All • Included • Payware • Freeware • In development Included • Third-party
XP10: All • Included • Payware • Freeware Included • Third-party
FSX: All • Included • Payware • Freeware Included • Third-party
FS2004: All • Included • Payware • Freeware Included • Third-party
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