Unmanned Shuttle Operation?

[AES/newspost]

Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

[Ron Natalie]

"AES/newspost" > wrote in message ...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

What would be the point even if they could?

[HECTOP]

you may find this of interest:

http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya.htm

HECTOP
PP-ASEL-IA
http://www.maxho.com
maxho_at_maxho.com


"AES/newspost" > wrote in message
...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

[Earl Grieda]

"AES/newspost" > wrote in message
...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

Suppossedly this has been possible from the very beginning. If they could
automatically dock with the space station (the Russian capsules can so it
should be possible for the shuttle) then it would be useful for ferrying
supplies to continue construction.

Earl G.

[Gig Giacona]

While they could probably do it they won't. There are better ways to lift
unmanned payloads.


"AES/newspost" > wrote in message
...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

[Richard Cochran]

AES/newspost > wrote in message >...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

See sci.space.shuttle for more details, where this has been discussed
quite frequently in quite a bit of detail.

No, the shuttles require humans at a minimum to lower the landing
gear and to deploy the air data probes. I believe there are a few
other steps I've missed.

How much trouble would it be to automate the few steps requiring
humans? As shuttle modifications go, I'm guessing this one might
not be huge, but even seemingly simple things can become complex
and very expensive pretty quickly. More importantly, there's
really very little motivation to give fully automated capability
to the shuttle. All the missions require humans. If there's a
safety concern, it's unlikely that a shuttle would be considered
too dangerous to carry humans, yet safe enough to overfly populated
areas. And there are no suitable landing strips that don't involve
a reentry over populated areas.

Theoretically, you could modify a Lockheed L-1011 to fly across
the country without humans on board (it's already got most of
the capability in its autopilot), but what's the point?

--Rich

[Kevin Darling]

AES/newspost > wrote in message >...
> Can any of the existing (remaining) shuttles launch, enter orbit,
> reenter, and land completely unmanned, i.e., completely under computer
> control? Or could they be modified to do so without too much trouble?

My guess would be that, yes, they could deorbit and land automatically
if necessary, or be modified to do so.

The Soviet shuttle Buran flew unmanned and landed totally on autopilot
during its test flight in 1988.

Kev