Slide 1

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 2

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 3

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 4

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 5

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 6

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 7

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 8

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 9

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 10

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 11

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 12

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 13

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 14

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 15

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 16

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 17

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 18

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19


Slide 19

Russian Vehicle
Automated Rendezvous and Docking

C. Scott Merkle
NASA Johnson Space Center
Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division
5/22-23/2002, AR&C Working Group

S. Merkle/281-483-2946
[email protected]

Soyuz/Progress
• Rendezvous and Docking Profile
• Russian Vehicle & ISS Constraints
• Big Lesson Learned (M-34 Mir Collision)

2

Russian AR&C System
•

Primary “Sensor” is Kurs Radar Antenna System
– Long range (200km to 200 meters) via omni-directional antennas
•

Range, range rate, bearing

– Short range (200 meters to dock) via active and passive fixed and gyro-stabilized scanning
antennas.
•

•

Range, range rate, relative attitude

Data Management System
– 3 independent fault tolerant computers
– IVHM system allows for pre-programmed aborts

•

Docking Contact Conditions
– Closing Translational Rate 0.2 m/s
– Angular rates < 1 deg/sec
– Lateral Misalignments < 0.3 m

•

Manual Takeover
– Soyuz pilot can take over rendezvous at any time during approach
– Unmanned Progress can be remote piloted via TORU system (from 200 meters)

3

Soyuz/Progress

4

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Soyuz/Progress use a 34 orbit rendezvous profile based on an initial phase
angle of 240-330 degrees, culminating with nominal docking on Daily Orbit
2 of the third flight day
• Maneuver profile made up of three maneuvers consisting of five burns
• “DV#” nomenclature is that used by Ballistics
• DV1/DV2 combination on orbits 4 and 5 is a maneuver to initiate the
phasing rate
• DV3 on orbit 16 is a phasing adjust
• DV1-DV3 are ground targeted
• DV4/DV5 combination on orbits 32 and 33 is an optimized intercept
maneuver

5

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
DV5 @ 100 km
OOP mnvr

DV3

DV4
@ 400km

DV1

DV2
+Rbar
+ZLVLH

6

Orbit
Insertion

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• AR&D nomenclature renames burns to Impulse 1 with DV4
• Impulses 1-6 are calculated onboard Soyuz/Progress
– Impulses 1-2 based on state vectors uplinked
– Impulses 3-6 based on state vectors updated with Kurs data
• Offset targeting scheme allows Soyuz/Progress to pass by ISS
safely if no burns are performed after the intercept maneuver
• Russians chose offset target out-of-plane (OOP) due to this axis
having the smallest dispersions; initial offset is 1000 meters
– Impulse 1 includes OOP rate null, driving planar crossing to 1/4
rev later
– Impulse 2 is an OOP burn performed at/near planar crossing to
drive OOP miss distance to desired range
– Thus Impulse 3 (1/4 rev later) and target point at ISS altitude
(3/4 rev later) occur at the OOP maximum

7

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
Out-of-plane view
Impulse 1 (DV4)

+Vbar
Impulse 2 (OOP mnvr)

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

-Hbar
+YLVLH
+ZOCK
Impulse 3 (DV5)

8

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• OOP direction (north or south) will always be the same as the sun
side of the orbit, in order to keep the target (ISS) lit for visual
monitoring
• Impulses 4-6 are braking burns which also remove the OOP
component
– Impulse 4 targets for 3/4 of the initial OOP offset
– Impulses 5-6 target for 300 meters OOP
• At a range of 400 meters, AR&D software transitions to the
flyaround mode, in which it begins looking for the Kurs directional
antennas on the docking port
– During this mode, the range is reduced to 200 meters
• A flag can be set that tells the software to approach to a nadir port
or to an aft port if ISS is near LVLH (0,0,0), but capability
maintained to go to a port at any ISS attitude

9

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Impulse 5

Approach to aft port
+Vbar

Impulse 6

Impulse 4

ISS

Approach to nadir port
Impulse 6
Impulse 5
Impulse 4

+Rbar

10

200 m

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
In-plane view
Berthing cone
+Vbar

ISS

+XLVLH
+XOCK

200 m
400 m
+Rbar
+ZLVLH
-YOCK

11

Soyuz/Progress Rendezvous Profile
• Once aligned with the docking port, the Soyuz/Progress will
stationkeep at a range of 120-200 meters until it receives the
command to continue
• When this command is received, the Soyuz/Progress AR&D
software begins the berthing mode
• Range/range rate profile results in ~8 minute final approach along
the docking port, depending on initial stationkeeping range

12

5P Docking Video

13

Russian Kurs-related Constraints
• Pre-positioning of ISS solar arrays and radiators must be complete
100 minutes prior to the planned docking time in order to minimize
blockage and multipathing of the Kurs signal
• In combination with array pre-positioning, the maneuver to the
docking attitude must also be complete 100 minutes prior to the
planned docking time
• This time was chosen by the Russians in order to complete these
operations prior to the time the Soyuz/Progress Kurs attempts to
lock on to the ISS Kurs

14

Russian Communication Constraints
• Russian ground comm is required for docking because MCC-M is
prime for decision-making (including aborts) for both Soyuz and
Progress, and they need telemetry and visual monitoring insight
into the docking process
• If a relay satellite were available, only video would be made
available to the ground via transfer from ISS because
Soyuz/Progress do not currently have the capability to interact
directly with a relay satellite
– Note that video with a data overlay is the only data being sent
from Soyuz/Progress to ISS

15

VIPeR Attitude Constraints
• ISS attitude constraints due to thermal limits on station system
components.
• All attitudes are YPR sequence
• LVLH(0,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(180,0,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through end of program
• LVLH(0,-90,0) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 4R docking
• LVLH(0,-90,180) +/- 15 deg acceptable through 3A docking
• LVLH(0,90,180) +/-15 deg acceptable through Stage 6A
• XPOP(0,0,0) +5/-15 deg acceptable through EATCS activation on
12A.1, i.e. 12A.1 docking
• XPOP(0,0,180) +5/-15 deg acceptable through 3A undocking

16

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Required for visual monitoring of nominal berthing and docking
modes and contingency manual takeover
• Dependent on docking target design, spotlight and videocamera
and periscope capability
• Daylight lighting options
– The target is lit by direct sunlight, with the sun in a 70-degree
half-angle cone centered on the docking target standoff cross
axis, but only in the half of this cone such that the
Soyuz/Progress will not shadow the target at close ranges
– The target is lit by Earthshine of intensity 20,000-30,000 lux, and
the Sun-Earth-ISS angle is less than 70 degrees (i.e. ISS is not
near the terminator)

17

Russian Lighting Constraints
• Night lighting requirements/options
– In all cases the docking port and target are lit by the
Soyuz/Progress headlight
– All external USOS lights must be turned off
– The Soyuz/Progress must have completed the flyaround mode
and be in stationkeeping when entering orbital night (applies to
Soyuz relocations as well)
– Soyuz will stationkeep and begin final approach from 100
meters rather than 120-200 meters
– Progress will stationkeep and begin final approach from 50-75
meters rather than 120-200 meters; more constrained than
Soyuz due to more limited capabilities of the TV camera

18

Progress M-34 Collision
• Progress M-34 Collision in 1997
– Russian goal was to save money by eliminating hard to find Kurs radar
boxes.
– Plan was to conduct dockings from 8 km using remote station pilot
– Cause of collision was multiple factors
• Poor pre-mission planning
• Inadequate training for pilot and “safety” engineer.
• Lack of independent range/bearing check (Kurs system purposely turned
off).
• Ground uplink of old state vector put Progress way outside expected manual
handover point.

19