STS FAQ
The STS FAQ collects questions and answers related to the real STS, not the various available addons.
Mission profile
Ascent
What does the radio call "Single engine 104" mean?
It refers to the throttle setting. Nominal thottle setting is 104.5%, but the Block II SSMEs can go all the way up 109% if needed. So Single engine 104 means that nominal MECO targets with a single engine running at 104.5% nominal thottle setting.
Aborts and emergencies
Are there ejection seats on the Orbiter?
There are no ejection seats in the Orbiter. The chutes are used in a bailout situation, where the crew module is depressurized and the side hatch is jettisoned and all the crew members hook themselves to a curved pole sticking out of the side hatch and slide on it away from the orbiter and below the wings.
This can only be done while in controlled flight and at subsonic speeds, while the orbiter is still capable of gliding. The procedure can of course be done under control of the autopilot.
Columbia had two ejection seats in its initial test flights, but they had been disabled from STS-5 on and removed before STS-61-C.
Payloads
What are the maximum dimensions and mass for a payload in the Shuttle?
STS Payload Bay has a diameter of 4.6 m and a length of 18.2 m. For ISS missions, however some of the space is taken up the Orbiter Docking System so the available free length of the PLB is approx. 16.25 m.
Maximum payload mass depends on orbiter vehicle and orbit needed for the payload. It can take more into a 300x300x28.5° orbit than a 400x400x51.6° orbit.
As a space plane, the payload, which can be returned (download) to Earth, is also limited by cross range and CoG requirements.
How is the Space Shuttle controlled in real life?
The orbiter is usually controlled automatically by the GPCs except during landing and some orbit maneuvers (eg docking). Manual control is possible by using Rotary hand controllers and Translation hand controllers, which can be used in many different operation modes.
Communications
What is the purpose of the Ku-Band antenna?
The Ku-Band antenna gets used for:
- High speed communication with ground stations
- Communication with the TDRSS.
- As rendezvous radar for tracking the rendezvous target.
Payload Deployment and Retrieval System (PDRS)
What is the PDRS?
The PDRS is used to maneuver itself or an attached payload in orbit. It consists of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), Manipulator Positioning Mechanism (MPM) and Manipulator Retention Latches (MRLs), and interfaces with other orbiter systems such as the SM GPC, the EPDS, and the CCTV.
The RMS consists of the arm itself and the controls and interfaces needed to maneuver it. It is located on the port longeron.
The MPM consists of the torque tube, the pedestals, the MRLs, and the jettison system. The MPM must be stowed whenever the payload bay doors are closed and must be deployed for any loaded operations. The pedestals contain the MRLs and the jettison electronics and mechanics and are the supports on which the RMS rests while it is cradled. The MRLs latch the arm to the MPM and restrain it during periods of RMS inactivity. The jettison allows the arm, the arm and pedestals, or the arm/payload combination to be non-impulsively separated from the orbiter if the arm cannot be cradled and stowed prior to payload door closure.
The on-orbit arm operations fall into six categories:
- contingency-only unloaded operations
- unloaded operations
- loaded operations
- deploy operations
- retrieve operations
- deploy and retrieve operations.
How does the PDRS get controlled?
All RMS operations involve a two-person operator team. Each member is vital to the success of the mission. The PDRS controls are located primarily on panels A8L, MA73C, and A8U. Other panels that affect the RMS are ML86B, A14, A7U, A6, and R13. The major PDRS CRT display is SPEC 94 PDRS CONTROL. PDRS OVERRIDE SPEC 95, PDRS STATUS DISP 169, and PDRS FAULTS SPEC 96 also control and monitor the RMS. DISP 97 PL RETENTION monitors payload retention device status.
The arm has three basic modes of operation:
- single joint modes
- manual-augmented modes
- auto modes.
How is the RMS arm stored in the cargo bay while launch and reentry?
The RMS arm is held in place by a set of Mechanic Retention Latches(MRL) of the Manipulator Positioning Mechanism (MPM).
Thermal protection system (TPS)
If there will be a damaged heat shield how will the crew change it?
Currently, there's no no way to repair the orbiter's heat shield or thermal protection system. The TPS consists of both thermal blankets, silica tiles and reinforced carbon carbon(RCC) nosecap and wing leading edge panels.
How is a damaged Thermal Protection System detected?
During launch and ascent, there's a whole bunch of ground tracking cameras and radars that observes the space shuttle for any debris events. There's even a set of seven cameras on the shuttle itself!
Here's the locations of those cameras:
- In LOX feedline fairing(black object on the middle of the External Tank). This one transmits directly to the ground during launch
- 3 cameras on each Solid Rocket Booster. These cameras are not available "live" but they're retrieved when the spent SRB casings have been towed back to Port Canaveral.
And when on-orbit, the crew will use a 15 m long Candian built Orbiter Boom Sensor System to get a real close up of the TPS. The OBSS is equipped with a Laser Camera System, Laser Dynamic Range Imager and black&white Intensified TeleVision Camera.
Also during rendezvous with the International Space Station, the orbiter will do a 360° pitch-around manuever that will allow the ISS crew to photograph the TPS that will later be downlinked to the ground.