Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!agate!labrea!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!killer!pollux!ti-csl!DMeyer@mips.csc.ti.com
From: DMeyer@mips.csc.ti.com (Dane Meyer)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Soviet Shuttle Dynamics
Message-ID: <62428@ti-csl.CSNET>
Date: 31 Oct 88 22:06:58 GMT
Sender: news@ti-csl.CSNET
Lines: 45


  Ken Scofield posed the following question regarding the net booster
forces on the Soviet Shuttle with respect to it's center of gravity.
Anyone have your physics book handy?

                                                                              
Dane Meyer  (Texas Instruments, Dallas)
                                                                 
ARPA/CSnet: dmeyer@csc.ti.com
UUCP:       {convex!smu im4u texsun pollux ihnp4!infoswx rice}!ti-csl!dmeyer
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  ...

  And speaking of life's great mysteries, here's another one:  If the 
Soviet shuttle has no onboard main engines, how in the world do they get
a net force that is anywhere close to passing through the center of mass?
Our shuttle essentially sits atop a tripod, with the main engine cluster
comprising one leg and the SRB's the other two.  This is a very stable
arrangement, and as has been stated, gimboling of the nozzles can 
compensate for virtually any imbalance.  But on the Soviet shuttle, all
engines are clustered about the main booster.  With the shuttle hanging
on the side of the booster like an inert wart, the system center of mass
is *not* on the centerline of the booster -- it's somewhere between the
belly of the shuttle and the centerline.  So how can they compensate for
this?  I haven't seen any good pictures of it yet, but my guess is they
move the side-pods (the equivalent of the SRB's) off-center and sort of
"tuck" them under the shuttles' wings.  This would shift the C.G. more 
toward the belly of the shuttle, but also give sort of a "squashed" tripod.
			   _____
			  /     \  Energia
		         /       \ 
		      / \\   c   // \
		      \_/ \_____/ \_/
		       -----/ \-----
			    \_/
			     | shuttle
			     |

Does anyone have an explanation

Ken Scofield

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