With the successful entry of the Tianhe core module into orbit, China's manned spaceflight has fully entered the era of the space station. Three astronauts from each of the two crews took the Shenzhou 12th and 13th spacecraft into space and stationed on duty at the "Tiangong".
From the video of the connection between heaven and earth, we can get a glimpse of the internal layout of the spacecraft, and more attentive netizens have noticed many buttons inside the spacecraft and space station. These buttons are complex and have been carefully designed by designers to help astronauts better maneuver spacecraft in space.
The astronaut controls the button while reading the operating instructions
#令人眼花缭乱的操控区 #
Before the 1970s, because computer technology was not mature enough, researchers used assembly language to develop spacecraft operation instructions, manned spacecraft through the display display status and operating process, and set up a large number of joysticks, buttons, alarm lights, meters, etc.
At that time, most of the manned spacecraft of the United States and the Soviet Union used electromechanical instruments, and the layout of the cockpit borrowed from the "T" shaped layout of the aircraft cockpit of the same period. According to the navigation mission of the manned spacecraft, the most important instruments for astronauts to operate, such as all-attitude meters, horizon meters, flight altitude and other basic instruments, are placed in the main viewing area of astronauts in order to complete the main task. In addition, some minor flight instruments are placed near the main viewing area.
Photographer Dan Winters once took a set of photographs called "Space Capsule", which showed the cockpits of the three space shuttles "Endeavour", "Atlantis" and "Discovery", and the buttons with different forms and functions were arranged near the cockpit control station, installed on the four walls of the cockpit, and even the "ceiling" was covered.
On January 16, 2015, NASA released a video of the internal structure of the International Space Station. Due to the needs of astronauts' lives, space station maintenance, scientific research, etc., the functions of space station buttons are more abundant.
Interior photos of the International Space Station released by NASA
These buttons have buttons to ensure the normal operation of the spacecraft, mainly buttons to control attitude control systems, life support systems, call communication systems, etc.; there are also buttons to ensure the work and life of astronauts, such as buttons to control air update systems, wastewater treatment and regeneration systems, space services, etc. Their role includes controlling the flight attitude of the spacecraft, monitoring the working state of the spacecraft, and protecting the lives of astronauts. However, many times these systems are automatically controlled by computers, and astronauts will only manually control those buttons in emergency situations or when there are special needs.
#不受待见的触摸屏 #
There are so many buttons on manned spacecraft, scientific and reasonable design is particularly important, to ensure the convenience of operation at the same time, to avoid a variety of problem-prone designs.
For example, during the operation of manned spacecraft in space, because the space environment is complex, astronauts may often be in an inverted state to operate the button, it is difficult to complete the input of complex commands, so when defining the button, it is necessary to avoid letting the astronaut frequently enter instructions or enter instructions that are too long.
In manned spacecraft, it is also necessary to avoid the use of touch screens in large areas. Because the touch screen is easy to operate, it has brought great convenience to people's lives, but it rarely appears on manned spacecraft.
First of all, from the perspective of operability, the touch screen is more likely to "misoperate". Unlike physical buttons that need to be "pressed", the virtual button of the touch screen is "click to". The spacecraft will shake violently during flight, and it is difficult to "hit it with one blow", so it is difficult for astronauts to control the spacecraft on the touch screen at this time.
Secondly, from the perspective of reliability, the touch screen is more likely to have problems or be damaged than physical buttons, and once there is a problem, the control keys on the entire screen cannot be used. If the touch screen becomes the only operating medium for the main control system, if there is a problem, the astronaut will lose control of the spacecraft.
In contrast, physical buttons have long been recognized as the most reliable design, along with the development of manned spacecraft. It gives physical feedback during operation, which is more realistic and accurate than the touch screen.
Orion spacecraft control interface
#按钮设计的五项原则 #
The spacecraft is not the programmer's computer, and it is enough to wait for the output result after completing the input instructions. In order to complete tasks such as out-of-the-cabin maintenance, scientific experiments, and human health testing in daily flights, it is inevitable that astronauts manually control buttons to complete specific tasks. There are five main principles for designers when designing products according to user needs:
First, the button design should be absolutely simple. To bring together complex functions in one button, a control button completes a function; and the buttons are independent of each other, and the damage of one button will not affect the normal operation of other buttons.
For example, the actions of cabin body docking and separation are controlled by independent buttons, including buttons that control docking and separation according to program settings, as well as manual docking and separation buttons.
The second is to be equipped with operating instructions. The spacecraft designer has compiled the operating instructions, and it still takes a lot of time to familiarize these operations with great care to complete the demonstration verification test perfectly. Astronauts are not spacecraft designers, and although they have undergone long-term training, in a high-pressure environment, they cannot rely entirely on the astronauts' memories of operating instructions, but must be equipped with operating instructions in case of emergency.
The "Shenzhou XII" astronauts hold the operating instructions in their hands when they operate, which is what the designers specially equipped for users.
The third is to distribute the button position according to the importance of the function, and set up button lights of different colors. These designs can help astronauts intuitively understand the importance of the button function, which can shorten the lookup time and facilitate operation, while also reducing the probability of making mistakes.
The buttons of the US Space Shuttle follow the above principles, and these buttons of different colors are arranged neatly and neatly on the control table, which is clear at a glance.
Fourth, important indicators and alarms are clear at a glance. When there is a problem with a manned spacecraft, in addition to the alarm, there is a warning light flashing, and the warning light is also set to different colors to distinguish the importance of the alarm.
The red logo is the highest alarm, so be sure to put the most intractable problems in the most obvious position, such as when oxygen is low.
Fifth, there must be a design to prevent misconduct. Important control buttons should be equipped with protective covers to prevent accidental touch, such as the return button. Imagine an astronaut mistakenly pressing the return button during a mission...
In addition, software and hardware are used on manned spacecraft to control the operation process collaboratively, for example, the attitude control of the spacecraft is completed by three parts: the measuring device, the data processing system and the actuator.
#未来的发展趋势 #
Human-computer interaction adheres to the design concept of human-centered, after years of development, the level of voice control technology has improved rapidly, and with the support of speech recognition technology, computers can understand human language instructions to complete the control. This technology can be used to automate the flight of manned spacecraft. The expansion of this function can not only reduce the physical load of astronaut operation, but also shorten the reaction time of astronauts.
On May 31, 2020, the manned Dragon spacecraft developed by SpaceX successfully made its first flight. During the launch, in addition to the launch vehicle, many people also noticed the operating system of the manned Dragon spacecraft. Its control interface does not have a lot of buttons and dials, but uses a super large touch screen, which looks like the touch screen on tesla electric cars. There are a lot of complex systems integrated on the screen, and the whole operating system looks very cool and amazing. With few physical buttons, the entire cockpit looks very simple and full of technology.
The manned "Dragon" spacecraft has a large touch screen
Manned Dragon spacecraft for emergency use
Physical button
With the continuous development of space technology, a series of changes are gradually underway, and the physical buttons on manned spacecraft are gradually decreasing.
With the improvement of touch screen reliability and the development of voice assistant technology, perhaps in the near future, manned spacecraft can be very easy to pick up, more in line with what we think of spacecraft.
Source/ China Aerospace News WeChat public account
Text/Ma Zhenzheng
Editor/Yang Sishuang
Audit/Yang Jie
Producer/Cao Xiaoyong
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