SSU Documentation

[Urwumpe]

FPA = Flight Path Angle.

[zerofay32]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urwumpe

 FPA = Flight Path Angle.

What does it do?

[Urwumpe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerofay32

 What does it do?

Defines at which angle above the horizon the velocity vector should be at MECO.

[zerofay32]

Ok, makes sense. Any comments on any of the other entries?

[SiameseCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerofay32

 Alright, I've been gathering my notes and going through some of the other SSU threads (mainly the v1.25 bug thread). First I want to hammer down the Mission File entries. Here is a list of entries that I have found so far and what, if anything, I can discribe about them:

NAME (does this have to reflect anything specific? like Mission file name, name of the shuttle vessel in the scenario file or something else?)
Orbiter (I beleave that this determines the nameplate on the shuttle or does it determine the mesh used?)
OrbiterTexture (this entry determines which texture is used on the orbiter) Avalible entries are: Early_Columbia, LateColumbia, and Atlantis_Original.
TargetInc Sets the target Inclination for the AP. (what in the range of this entry?)
TargetLan Sets the target Lan for the AP. (exactly how is this used and what is the range of accepted values?)
MECOAlt Sets the target altitude for MECO. (what is the units, km, nm, other?)
MECOVel Sets taget velocity to be acheaved at MECO. (Units? km/s, fps, other?)
MECOFPA (Just not sure what this one is and don't want to guess wrong)
Use ExtAL true/false - determines if the External Airlock is present.
UseRMS true/fase - determines if the SRMS is present on the Port PLB sill
UseODS true/false - determines if the Obiter Docking System is present on the Ext A/L. (Does UseExtAL must be true for this entry to work? or if this entry is true does it force the A/L to be present?)
MaxSSMEThrust sets the maximum thrust of the SSMEs. 100, 104, (109?)
UseStbdMPM true/false - determines if the Starboard MPMs are present but dose not create the OBSS. OBSS must be defined in the Scenario file. (Does this do anything to the attachment points of the orbiter? ie make/move one to be used by the OBSS or is the OBSS attachment pt always there?)
PayloadZPos1 (what are all the payload entries for the mission file and what do they determine?)

Thats all I was able to figure out for the mission file. Let me know what I have wrong, or right, and any entries that I missed.

Andrew

MECOAlt: alt in km
MECOVel: speed in m/s
MECOFPA: angle in degrees
TargetInc: inclination in degrees. Should be between 0 degrees and 180 (in practice, max/min values will be limited by latitude of launch site).
TargetLAN: ignored at the moment; angle in degrees from -180 to +180

OrbiterTexture: texture used for shuttle mesh; in theory this can be any texture in the Textures/SSU folder.
Orbiter: Name painted on shuttle; requires 'EnableWingPainting' to be TRUE (ignored otherwise)

[zerofay32]

Should 'EnableWingPainting' be found in the Mission file or the scenario (which is next for me to start looking though)?


EDIT: Also what about the 'PayloadZPos1' entry. Does this effect the attachment point or is this something for the payload latches?

[Donamy]

EnableWingPainting should be in the mission file.

I think the payloadZPos1 is for moving the airlock.

[DaveS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donamy

 I think the payloadZPos1 is for moving the airlock.

No. ODSZPos moves the airlock along the orbiter Z axis.

[SiameseCat]

PayloadZPos moves the payload attach points along the z-axis. The index for this parameter can be from 0 to 15. PayloadZPos0 sets the position of attachment point 5, etc.

[zerofay32]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveS

 No. ODSZPos moves the airlock along the orbiter Z axis.

Which would enable one to install a tunnel section in between the A/L and the bulkhead like during Shuttle-Mir flights and STS-88, Correct.

And thanks for the answer Donamy on the WingPainting entry.

EDIT: About ODSZPos; not to nitpick but wouldn't ExtALZPos be more acurrate since the ODS is technicaly attached to the A/L. My guess is that this is a holdover from when the ODS and A/L wheren't separated but it may make more sense to have it the other way...

EDIT2: I'm guessing that OMSAssistStart(End) is in seconds after liftoff, correct?

[SiameseCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerofay32

 EDIT2: I'm guessing that OMSAssistStart(End) is in seconds after liftoff, correct?

Yes.

[zerofay32]

I have an update on the manual. I've been working on it for a couple of weeks now. I havn't posted anything yet because I was having problems with getting the graphics to work properly but that has been solved. Attached is just the incomplete PDF. I have it set up so all the graphics are in one folder, and LaTex will only look in this folder. I also have the document separated into several TeX documents. They are broken down like this:

Main Manual Document (which includes section 1)

2 SSU Systems
3 Flight Data Files
4 Mission Files
5 Scenario Files

These are shown in the posted pdf but all they are right now is the main section title, and most of section one is complete.

I'm approaching this like we are introducing STS to someone for the first time. Because eventually, there will be new users that will have never seen a shuttle actually fly. So until we can just say "Read the SCOM" I feel that it would be best to explain not only SSU features but give a general description of STS. Another thing I'm doing is to set up the manual in the same style as SCOM so that the transition for users back and forth will be smooth, hopfully.

[Urwumpe]

Looks pretty good. I would maybe just change the font of the text to something around Arial.

[zerofay32]

I thought I had changed the font to helvetica but needed another command line. Attached is the manual with the "as intended" font.

[DaveS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerofay32

 I thought I had changed the font to helvetica but needed another command line. Attached is the manual with the "as intended" font.

Looks much better now! Keep up the great work!