the Integrated Console of Manual Control Loop for the Russian Segment of the International Space Station Yurii Tiapchenko, deputy Chief Designer and head of the Division of Onboard Information Display Systems (1993-2002) at the Specialized Experimental De

Abstract

The paper presents the Neptune-ME information display system (IDS) as a spaceman console (SC) of the descent module of the Soyuz-TMA piloted transport spaceship, and the integrated console (IC) of manual control loop for module equipment in the Russian segment of the Alpha international space station. The Neptune-ME is an upgraded version of the Neptune-M console of the Soyuz-TM spaceship. The upgrading has been performed using the up-to-date computing techniques and methods of man-computer interface (MCI) design. This is the IDS of the fifth generation in piloted cosmonautics. The instrument interface of the new SC corresponds to the instrument interface of the earlier one. The MCI of the console under consideration is principally other than the Neptune-M MMI. The IC replaces the "Pluton " and "Merkurii " command consoles which are widely used in the MIR orbital station. The facilities and methods of console design proposed in the paper can find wide use in different application systems. Information Display Systems for Soyuz Spaceships The control systems of the "Soyuz-7K", "Soyuz-A8 " (Soyuz-Apollo program) and the Salyut station designed by the Energiia Russian Space Corporation used the Sirius IDS. Fig. 1 shows the general view of the main instrument panel spaceship consoles. This was the third generation syste