An Experimental Study of Manual Control During Terminal Rendezvous under Adverse Conditions

摘要

Human performance was measured in an orbital rendezvous task under adverse conditions; e.g., thrust misalignments. An experiment was carried out using four subjects, a control-display cockpit simulator, and a six degree of freedom analog computer mechanization. Two thrust configurations (single vs multiple engine) were studied and compared using performance criteria of fuel consumption and final errors in relative velocity and vehicle orientation. The single-axis attitude-thrust (single engine) configuration was superior with respect to fuel consumption. The three-axis orthogonal-thrust (multiple engine) configuration exhibited higher reliability and smaller final errors in relative velocity and orientation. (Author)