Ken ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The Globus INK (1967) is a remarkable piece of Soviet spacecraft equipment. Its rotating globe showed cosmonauts the position of their Soyuz spacecraft. An electromechanical analog computer, it used gears, cams, and differentials to compute the position. Let's look inside 🧡
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The Globus used complex gear trains driven by solenoids to move the globe.
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The globe uses a clever mechanism to rotate in two dimensions. Rotating along the dotted axis traces out the 51.8Β° orbit. Turning a concentric shaft causes the two halves of the globe to rotate around the polar axis, held by the fixed metal equator.
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The spacecraft's initial position was entered into the Globus by turning the central knob, rotating the globe. The Globus did not receive any position input from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) but just projected the spacecraft's location from the initial value.
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The orbital period could be adjusted Β±5 minutes. Followers riding on a spiral cone cam turned at adjustable speeds based on their position, slow at the top, faster at the bottom. Three adjustments (minutes, tenths, and hundredths) were added by differential gears.
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
Latitude and longitude were displayed on indicators. They depended on complex trig functions, computed by specially-shaped cams. Coincidentally, the latitude indicator matches the Ukrainian flag. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 21, 2023
The globe showed geographical features as well as the boundaries of the USSR and politically-aligned regions. As well as tracking their position, cosmonauts could judge the safety of potential landing sites, both physically and politically.
Show threadPavel A. Samsonov
@kenshirriff Huh, North Korea is outside of the red border?
Jan 21, 2023 at 6:29pmWeb
Show threadKanaMaunaJan 21, 2023
@PavelASamsonov @kenshirriff I guess they knew which friends were reliable and which ones were not.
Show threadPavel A. SamsonovJan 21, 2023
@KanaMauna @kenshirriff Then it's weird to have Yugoslavia on there given that Tito was explicitly anti-Soviet by 1975.
Show threadKanaMaunaJan 21, 2023
@kenshirriff @PavelASamsonov True. Maybe this item dates to early in the Apollo-Soyuz project, which started in 1972?
Show threadKen ShirriffJan 22, 2023

@KanaMauna @PavelASamsonov Yes, I'm pretty sure this is from Apollo-Soyuz.

https://oldbytes.space/@kenshirriff/109728405244224595

Ken Shirriff (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image But why does the globe have dots indicating NASA communication sites such as Goldstone, Bermuda, and Merritt Island? This Globus must be from the Apollo-Soyuz project (1975), where an Apollo spacecraft docked with Soyuz in orbit.

OldBytes Space - Mastodon
Show threadPavel A. SamsonovJan 22, 2023
@kenshirriff @KanaMauna Yeah but Yugoslavia split with the USSR in 1948, there's no time during the space race when it would have been considered an ideological ally
Show threadΠΏΠ΅Ρ€Π²ΠΈΡ‡Π½Ρ‹ΠΉ Π±ΡƒΠ»ΡŒΠΎΠ½ с пСльмСшкамиJan 22, 2023
@PavelASamsonov @kenshirriff @KanaMauna
They somewhat reconciled under Khruschev (see the Belgrade declaration of 1955). The Hungarian revolution soured the things, but probably Yugoslavia was still a better bet than China or NK (due to the fresh Sino-Soviet split)