5 ms·

Is the touch screen usable during lift-off / landing? I'm thinking gravity (4+g?) and trepidations is making it hard to touch a specific spot. Or, maybe there

Is the touch screen usable during lift-off / landing? I'm thinking gravity (4+g?) and trepidations is making it hard to touch a specific spot. Or, maybe there isn't much to do manually during this phase, and for the little things there are some classic controls.

mlindner 6y ago
There's physical buttons and handles as well for manual abort and what not.
Koshkin 6y ago
Can't be worse than touchscreens in a tank: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a19087/russias-t-14-tank-with-touchscreen/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a1908...
- cevn 6y ago
  oops.. fat fingered the target again..
- rlt 6y ago
  The lag on that touchscreen is bothering the hell out of me. It reminds me of crappy in-flight entertainment systems. Is it physically turning a camera, or is it just that bad?
orbital-decay 6y ago
It's both. They have a handle below the screen precisely for this reason. [1] You can grab it and press the buttons below/tap the lower part of the screen above with your thumb. This seems much more reasonable and pragmatic than the sci-fi looking mockup they originally presented. [2] Although my understanding is that it's probably not a huge problem, because Soyuz introduced the stick to push the buttons only in its later variants. Also, judging from the photos, they seem to have their button covers supported by the frame. In 2003, there was an incident when a cosmonaut inadvertently fired RCS thrusters on the Soyuz attached to the station, simultaneously pushing several buttons with his foot while loading the spacecraft with cargo to be returned to Earth, crushing the protective caps that were pressing against the (relatively flimsy) case. The thrusters fired for quite some time until a ground operator noticed it and turned them off remotely. After that, the covers in Soyuz were redesigned to press against the frame. Seems like that incident has been learned from in Crew Dragon as well. [1] https://imgur.com/KyAaQS0 https://imgur.com/KyAaQS0 [2] https://imgur.com/pTYfAew https://imgur.com/pTYfAew
- mariushn 6y ago
  Thanks for the informative comment & 2003 story!
- bhhaskin 6y ago
  I would imagine they would have control lockouts as well. Not something super complicated/time consuming to disengage, but something to prefect that exact scenario from happening.
  - orbital-decay 6y ago
    Yes, the lockouts were in place during that incident too, but for several good reasons they are non-modal - you have to hold two buttons at the same time to trigger some critical operations like manual RCS controls. Which is exactly what happened, so the confirmation procedure had to be changed as well.
Ididntdothis 6y ago
I have listened to a podcast about the F-35. It has touchscreens but they also put a lot of the critical functions onto the stick so the touchscreen doesn't need to be used when things are shaking. I imagine it's the same here. The astronauts probably don't have much to do during a launch and can't do much when things go wrong.
dahfizz 6y ago
If you watch the livestream, the UI elements are much larger on the touch screens than would be possible if there was a dedicated physical button for every possible function. If precision is a concern, then these screens are safer.
bhhaskin 6y ago
There really isn't a whole lot you can do during lift-off/landing anyways. Main thing is the abort handle and that is pre-programmed.
rkagerer 6y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/2floxq/are_there_consequences_for_using_a_touchscreen_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/2floxq/are_there_co... If I remember right, all the important controls are done with buttons and a joystick, while h touch screens are only for informational displays.

mlindner 6y ago

There's physical buttons and handles as well for manual abort and what not.

Koshkin 6y ago

Can't be worse than touchscreens in a tank: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a19087/russias-t-14-tank-with-touchscreen/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a1908...

cevn 6y ago
oops.. fat fingered the target again..
rlt 6y ago
The lag on that touchscreen is bothering the hell out of me. It reminds me of crappy in-flight entertainment systems. Is it physically turning a camera, or is it just that bad?

orbital-decay 6y ago

It's both. They have a handle below the screen precisely for this reason. [1] You can grab it and press the buttons below/tap the lower part of the screen above with your thumb. This seems much more reasonable and pragmatic than the sci-fi looking mockup they originally presented. [2] Although my understanding is that it's probably not a huge problem, because Soyuz introduced the stick to push the buttons only in its later variants. Also, judging from the photos, they seem to have their button covers supported by the frame. In 2003, there was an incident when a cosmonaut inadvertently fired RCS thrusters on the Soyuz attached to the station, simultaneously pushing several buttons with his foot while loading the spacecraft with cargo to be returned to Earth, crushing the protective caps that were pressing against the (relatively flimsy) case. The thrusters fired for quite some time until a ground operator noticed it and turned them off remotely. After that, the covers in Soyuz were redesigned to press against the frame. Seems like that incident has been learned from in Crew Dragon as well. [1] https://imgur.com/KyAaQS0 https://imgur.com/KyAaQS0 [2] https://imgur.com/pTYfAew https://imgur.com/pTYfAew

mariushn 6y ago
Thanks for the informative comment & 2003 story!
bhhaskin 6y ago
I would imagine they would have control lockouts as well. Not something super complicated/time consuming to disengage, but something to prefect that exact scenario from happening.
- orbital-decay 6y ago
  Yes, the lockouts were in place during that incident too, but for several good reasons they are non-modal - you have to hold two buttons at the same time to trigger some critical operations like manual RCS controls. Which is exactly what happened, so the confirmation procedure had to be changed as well.

Ididntdothis 6y ago

I have listened to a podcast about the F-35. It has touchscreens but they also put a lot of the critical functions onto the stick so the touchscreen doesn't need to be used when things are shaking. I imagine it's the same here. The astronauts probably don't have much to do during a launch and can't do much when things go wrong.

dahfizz 6y ago

If you watch the livestream, the UI elements are much larger on the touch screens than would be possible if there was a dedicated physical button for every possible function. If precision is a concern, then these screens are safer.

bhhaskin 6y ago

There really isn't a whole lot you can do during lift-off/landing anyways. Main thing is the abort handle and that is pre-programmed.

rkagerer 6y ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/2floxq/are_there_consequences_for_using_a_touchscreen_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/2floxq/are_there_co... If I remember right, all the important controls are done with buttons and a joystick, while h touch screens are only for informational displays.