Author Topic: Dragon 2 ISS docking simulator (Read 22504 times)

FutureSpaceTourist · « **on:** 05/12/2020 06:07 pm »

https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 05/12/2020 06:04 pm

twitter.com/spacex/status/1260269423090208768

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Simulator of Crew Dragon docking with @space_station → http://iss-sim.spacex.com

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1260269425199992832

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Crew Dragon missions will autonomously dock and undock with the space station, but crew can take manual control of the spacecraft if necessary

Edit to add: basic screenshot from my phone

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #1 on:** 05/12/2020 06:22 pm »

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1260273848060203008

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The virtual simulator is the actual interface that NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will use when they manually pilot Crew Dragon.

A few docking tips:

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #2 on:** 05/12/2020 06:34 pm »

The gauntlet has been thrown down

https://twitter.com/jimbridenstine/status/1260271033489260548

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Last year I got to try out the @SpaceX #CrewDragon docking simulator with @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken. And yes, I nailed it on my first try! Learn more about Crew Dragon’s control systems and custom-made spacesuits: go.nasa.gov/3ctjQO3 #LaunchAmerica

AbuSimbel · « **Reply #3 on:** 05/12/2020 07:34 pm »

Nailed on the first try as well. Where do I redeem my free tickets for the ISS?

Jarnis · « **Reply #4 on:** 05/12/2020 07:44 pm »

Easily a success on the first try...

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #5 on:** 05/12/2020 08:27 pm »

https://twitter.com/astrobehnken/status/1260303242212319239

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Really cool that @SpaceX shared this! Now you can share the experience of docking to @Space_Station with @Astro_Doug and I!

Vettedrmr · « **Reply #6 on:** 05/12/2020 09:19 pm »

Nice little diversion between hosting Zoom meetings for my junior Engineering high school students!

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #7 on:** 05/12/2020 09:44 pm »

Credit where credit’s due:

https://twitter.com/astro_g_dogg/status/1260316766095335424

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Check out the sweet displays and controls we developed for the Crew Dragon. Kudos to @SpaceX software & space ops engineers who designed them: @shanemielke, Mike Westenhaver, Mike Heiman, George Mychaskiw, Ceili Burdhimo and others - including @AstroBehnken & @Astro_Doug

CorvusCorax · « **Reply #8 on:** 05/13/2020 02:27 am »

Didn't know there's a separate thread for this.

Might as well:

If you do NOT want to know the easter eggs in this simulator in advance, do NOT look at the party thread

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #9 on:** 05/13/2020 03:28 am »

https://twitter.com/astrobehnken/status/1260388538518065154

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I can't leave this thread without adding another name from the @SpaceX display software team, Sofian Hnaide. It isn't easy trying to chase down all the nuances we notice during hours of sim time! Thank you for that!

CorvusCorax · « **Reply #10 on:** 05/13/2020 03:49 am »

How to enable HARD MODE in the simulator:

I haven't found a hidden feature to enable this, but since its all browser based, you can hack this, too.

1. Start the simulator in Firefox or Chrome
2. Right click on the HUD, select "Inspect Element"
3. Find the <div> with id="hud"
4. Change the inline style from "visibility: inherit;" to "display: none"
5. Press enter or click elsewhere, then close the Inspection Console
6. Hard mode enabled. Good luck aligning with the docking port, much less getting below 0.2 degree accuracy in all 3 axis >:>>>

Edit: Now someone needs to create a greasemonkey script or so to customize the sim and its difficulty

CorvusCorax · « **Reply #11 on:** 05/13/2020 04:47 am »

How to enable Cheat Mode:

1. Start the simulator in Firefox (Should work in Chrome but untested)
2. Open the JavaScript Console
Enter the following code:

function checkCollision(){}

3. This overrides/removes the code to check for (successful or failed) game ending. You can now fly through the ISS, or make a deorbit burn or even try to reach the moon. (Warning, the simulator might not be capable of letting you reach either of these destinations) - successful docking is also no longer detected.

If - instead of an empty function - the original function which can be found in the javascript source is copied - one can relax the requirements for successful game ending - which might be useful to make hard mode playable - increase the maximum allowed distance from ISS (default 500m) or even try to dock with alternative docking ports.

Once again it should be possible to make these changes/overrides permanent using greasemonkey or similar.

launchwatcher · « **Reply #12 on:** 05/13/2020 02:35 pm »

the KSP forum's speedrun thread is here:

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/193816-spacex-dragon-docking-simulator-speedrun/

"Ultimate Steve"'s 0:46 speedrun:

webdan · « **Reply #13 on:** 05/13/2020 03:00 pm »

Really glad to see this... success on first try, took my time, it's not a race unless ya gotta, you know, go.

Back when I was writing graphic software for my Amiga 1000, I built a similar simulator, with a self digitized Shuttle and LDEF. I was essentially flying around both using the awesome MMU.

The earth was wireframed for land masses, major rivers and large lakes. Orbiting every 90 minutes, the earth rotated once a day. I would leave it alone for hours and try to guess where I was upon my return.

So this was fun, thanks SpaceX

Dang it, that's about 30 years ago!

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #14 on:** 05/13/2020 05:22 pm »

OMG! Sounds like the sort of thing Elon would do

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1260607694110691330

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There is a red Tesla Roadster floating in orbit in the SpaceX Crew Dragon docking simulator

webdan · « **Reply #15 on:** 05/13/2020 05:42 pm »

Anybody else notice that we're orbiting retrograde? I don't think the inclination is correct either...

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #16 on:** 05/13/2020 06:11 pm »

Edit to add: link for full video

CorvusCorax · « **Reply #17 on:** 05/13/2020 06:18 pm »

Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 05/13/2020 05:22 pm

OMG! Sounds like the sort of thing Elon would do

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1260607694110691330

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There is a red Tesla Roadster floating in orbit in the SpaceX Crew Dragon docking simulator

OK, now that the secret is out, you CAN look at the party thread. Posted the screenshot there yesterday:

Quote from: CorvusCorax on 05/13/2020 01:24 am

Test 10: Find the Easteregg!!!!

( Fun fact: The Soyuz docked to ISS has no collission box -- but the cherry red roadster (which oddly enough has its roof closed) has )

CorvusCorax · « **Reply #18 on:** 05/13/2020 06:57 pm »

How to play ISS-SIM Offline.

SpaceX provided us with a real gem. The Simulator is entirely written in Javascript and runs in the browser. As such, it is technically open source.

That means, you also can download it and run it offline. Modify it, exchange the models and graphics, add lasers and plasma guns, etc...

Now lacking a license that allows redistribution (I found no licensing information from SpaceX but they use 3rd party libraries who's license disallow redistribution) I can't provide it for download, and neither can you, (so this is only suitable for personal amusement)

but I can share how to download and run the simulator in 7 easy steps:

1. Get Linux (any distribution). Linux is not really required for this, you can use Windows, Mac or even Android, but I cannot give you a tutorial, you'd be on your own.

2. Install a local webserver to host the simulator (for example apache) in ubuntu:
sudo apt install apache2

3. Within the document root, download the ISS-SIM html file and scripts:
wget -r https://iss-sim.spacex.com/index.html

This will download all the code, but not all of the graphics and 3d models, since those are loaded on demand by the javascript code (and different ones for mobile and desktop)

4. Find the URL's for the dynamically loaded textures and graphincs and download them:
wget -r $( for url in $( grep -RoE "(texture|json)Loader.load$[^)]*$" iss-sim.spacex.com/js/threed.min.js |sed -e 's/^[^"]*"//' -e 's/".*$//' ); do echo https://iss-sim.spacex.com/$url; done; )

5. Find the URL's for the dynamically loaded 3d models and download them;
wget -r $( for url in $( grep -RoE '[^"]*.glb' iss-sim.spacex.com/js/threed.min.js ); do echo https://iss-sim.spacex.com/3d/$url; done; )

6. In your browser, go to http://localhost/iss-sim.spacex.com/index.html

7. Once this is working, you can start editing index.html and iss-sim.spacex.com/js/threed.min.js and other files to mod the simulator as you please. The javascript is minimized, but you can make it easily editable with jsbeautifier (jsbeautifier.org)
sudo apt install jsbeautifier js-beautify iss-sim.spacex.com/js/threed.min.js

have fun :-)

Rzeppa · « **Reply #19 on:** 05/13/2020 07:02 pm »

OMG what a wonderful sim! As others reported above, I nailed it on my first try. I found it easy to get yaw, pitch and roll down to 0.0°/s at 0.1 and 0.0° from nominal, and found that I could get y translation to 0.0, however z translation needed constant station keeping. My initial approach for the first 190 meters or so I was going a little fast at -0.045m/s, but for the final 10 meters or so I slowed down to 0.025/s.

I decided the next time I try it I might try coming in even hotter than 0.045m/s, it really took a long time for the approach. And, if I still have issues with Z translation, just not worry about it as much until I get closer to docking. It occurred to me I'd probably end up wasting propellant al la Dreamliner if I spent too much time worrying about keeping it at or below 0.2 meters off nominal.

I'll have to check out that Roadster too! Thanks for sharing that!