US or Russian spacecraft: Which is user-friendly? Indian astronaut's research study gives details

All modern-day spacecraft can fly autonomously, with minimal manual intervention. However, each spacecraft has the option for full manual control by the crew. Full manual control is a life-safer in contingency scenarios. Irrespective of how proven and reliable a spacecraft is, its crew members must be thoroughly proficient in manually steering the craft in space, docking with a space station, unlocking, de-orbiting for return to Earth, and much more.

As part of his M.Tech research, Indian astronaut candidate Group Captain Ajit Krishnan compared and evaluated the Russian approach and the American approach of manually steering the spacecraft and the spacecraft design followed by the two pioneering nations.

Originally fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force, Group Captain Krishnan and his three fellow astronaut candidates have completed their training at Russia's Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, in 2021. Since then, they have been training at various facilities of ISRO and the Indian Air Force.

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The astronaut candidates have also been helping ISRO with designing and developing some components and interfaces of the Indian homegrown Gaganyaan spacecraft. In August, two of the four candidates will travel to the US to undergo advanced training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.

"All operational spacecraft (astronaut capsules) such as SpaceX Crew Dragon, Russia's Soyuz, Boeing Starliner and even the future NASA Artemis Orion feature full manual controls that help the crew control the craft. However, each craft has a different type of interface and controls."

"As part of his research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, Ajit Krishnan compared the controls, interfaces, and crew orientation(angle of view from the craft to the outside) of the American and Russian systems," Pradipta Biswas,Associate Professor, IISc, and Ajit Krishnan's research guide, explained to WION.

Interestingly, the comparisons were done in virtual reality mode, using a commercially available VR headset and a special glove that restricts hand movement, thereby giving a feel of wearing a spaceflight suit. As part of the research, Ajit and a dozen of his fellow test pilots from the Indian Air Force's Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), tried manually steering the American and Russian spacecraft on a simulator that the IISc team had specifically developed for this purpose.

"The Russian Soyuz Spacecraft uses a control stick for steering, like the one in fighter planes, whereas the SpaceX crew Dragon uses a touchscreen panel," Prof Biswas explained. He added that the American craft offered a front view like in aircraft cockpits, while the Russian craft offered a bottom view where the astronauts would have to look below to see the earth.

Twelve ASTE test pilots and 12 civilians with minimal training operated the simulator and tried to manually steer both the American and Russian spacecraft in virtual reality mode. Their mission was to steer the orbiting spacecraft back to Earth. The group came up with very interesting findings.

According to Prof Biswas, the entire group found the Russian craft and its bottom-view, control stick much more user-friendly and intuitive. While virtually operating the Russian system, there was no significant time difference between the manner in which fighter pilots steered the craft and the manner in which amateur civilians did so.

It was also learnt that the American style of steering and operating by using a touchscreen control was more fuel efficient and economical, as opposed to the Russian control stick method. "We constantly keep moving a control stick and every movement of the control stick will spend some amount of fuel. Whereas, in the case of a touchscreen, we have to press the touch panel only when necessary and then the steering is done accordingly. Therefore, the touchscreen method uses up less fuel," Prof Biswas added.

The M.Tech research done by Group Captain Ajjt Krishnan is not connected to and will not have any bearing on India's Gaganyaan programme. However, the results of their study would be helpful for future projects involving spacecraft design, design of spacecraft controls and related systems.

The customized software that we have developed, the VR headset with eye tracker, and EEG tracker, can be used in the process of making decisions on how to design the various facets of an astronaut-carrying spacecraft and even passenger aircraft, Prof Biswas concluded.