Historical Aspects of Organizing and Conducting Training of Cos-monauts for Space Flight on Soyuz-T Transport Vehicle. (Memoirs of Crew Trainer V.I. Vasilyev).

The 5th of June 2021 will mark 41 years since the launch of the first manned spacecraft of the Soyuz T series. The difficulty of training to fly on the Soyuz T spacecraft was that the entire training base, all descriptions and guides necessary to study the ship and prepare the crews in a regular way, lagged behind the pro-cess of vehicle designing. In the course of the first trainings and flights, the forms, methods and training programs were worked out. The problem of re-training cosmonauts who performed flights on the Soyuz spacecraft was particu-larly critical.

Current State and Prospects of Human Space Exploration With the Involvement of Private Companies.

The paper describes the prospects for human space exploration. The growing role of private companies in the design of manned spacecraft is shown. An overview of these companies and their technological developments is given. The importance of international cooperation in space exploration is empha-sized.

Conceptual Issues of Creating a Multifunctional Simulation Complex.

The paper discusses conceptual issues, goals and objectives of creating a multifunctional simulation complex. The idea of creating the multifunctional simulation complex on the basis of the Gagarin CTC’s technical means for cosmonaut training is substantiated. The basic principles of the development of this complex are shown as well.

Survey and Use of Lava Tunnels during Future Lunar Missions (Part 1).

The paper presents approaches to the survey and use of such unique natural formations as lunar lava tunnels. The most important applied technology pro-posed for use at the stages of design, construction and operation of lunar bases is laser scanning. The capabilities of existing lidar systems allow obtaining spa-tial data on objects and formations on the surface of other planets with high accuracy and efficiency. The issues of practical application of mobile and sta-tionary scanning laser studies of lunar lava tunnels are considered.

On the Problem of Testing a Portable Acceleration Recorder under Orbital Flight Conditions.

The paper discusses the possibility of testing and correcting calibration of a portable acceleration recorder under orbital flight conditions. This recorder in-cludes a 3-axis accelerometer. The most difficult stage of calibration tests is the determination of its scale factors. The main difficulty of calibration is the lack of special equipment on the space station. It is proposed to use a standard mass meter installed on the ISS for testing accelerometers. The algorithms considered in the paper use data of the motion of the mass meter platform and the video camera records processing in addition to the recorder readings. For testing the algorithms under earth conditions, recordings were made that simulate conditions of an orbital flight. The proposed algorithms showed 2 % error in determining the scale factors of the accelerometers.

Creation of the Simulator to Train Cosmonauts for Visual Instrumental Observations from the International Space Station Using Up-to-Date Information Technologies.

Visual Instrumental Observations (VIOs) of the Earth’s surface is a very special activity for cosmonauts that include searching, finding, and monitoring the objects with the unaided eye and their registration using optical facilities expanding capabilities of an operator’s visual analyzer. In order to impart the correct practical skills in performing VIOs from the ISS to cosmonauts in the course their ground training it is necessary to visualize the image observed by the naked eye and/or in the camera view finder taking into account an optical zoom, mutual location of a cosmonaut, a camera, a window, and the station at a certain point in orbit. For these purposes, the special simulator which simulates an external visual environment as close as possible to the flight conditions has been developed, that is the VIOs simulator designated to train cosmonauts for performing tasks in the field of geophysical studies and monitoring of the Earth.

Laser Scanning Devices and Their Use in Future Lunar Missions.

The paper gives approaches to the use of existing LIDAR (Light Identification, Detection and Ranging) scanning systems to survey the Moon and other plan-ets. The study conducted is based on available domestic and foreign experience in using aerial (ALS), mobile (MLS), and ground (GLS) laser scanners. Issues of using space scanning systems for spatial and technical monitoring are also considered. The formulated problems of the creation and operation of space-purposed scanning systems allow determining the priority lines of applied scientific studies in this subject area.

Motivation and Results of Modernization of Multipurpose Computer-Aided Simulator of Robotic Systems.

The paper discusses the features of creating a multi-purpose computer-aided simulator of robotic systems (UKS RTS) at the Cosmonaut Training Center, analyzes its experimental development and use in the process of training of cosmonauts, and identifies the reasons for further modernization. The results of updating the constituent parts of the RCS RTS and retrofitting the simulator with new elements that provide an expansion of its functionality are presented.

Automatic Processing of the Information Received from the Space Rocket Onboard Video Control System.

The paper discusses the information processing method developed by the Mis-sion Control Center (AO TSNIImash) specialists, used to process the infor-mation received from the Soyuz space rocket onboard video control system. Specific features of the information being received are presented. Methods of restoring corrupt information are proposed. The results of information pro-cessing during real Soyuz-FG and Soyuz-2 space rocket launches are given.

Forming the Rational Telemetry Message Traffic of Rocket and Space Engineering under the Restrictions on the Resources of Data-Transmission Channels.

The paper presents the formulation of the mathematical problem for developing the rational telemetry message traffic via data-transmission channels. The source data region, required varying parameters, indicators and criteria of quality for the telemetry message traffic, and restrictions on the permissible solutions region were determined. The methodology for solving the set problem using the mathematical apparatus of sequential optimization is proposed. The developed methodology was tested using the source data and telemetric information recorded during launches of “conditionally light” spacecraft by the “Proton-M” launcher vehicle with the “Briz-M” upper stage from the Baikonur cosmodrome.