Skylab: External Tour (A Blender Animation)
Skylab was America's first space station.
Video Text Callouts
-Wardroom Window: Main viewing window.
-Refrigeration System Radiator: Used for food, urine freezing and water chilling.
-Thruster Attitude Control System (TACS) stored Nitrogen (N2) under shroud: One of two systems that provided attitude control. Stored in 22 spheres above the radiator and inside the gold foil.
-Oxygen Tanks: 6 O2 tanks were mounted on the Fixed Airlock Shroud (FAS).
-Nitrogen Spheres: 6 N2 tanks attached to the Airlock Module Trusses. Used a 2-gas mix of oxygen and nitrogen for breathing.
-Discone Antenna: Communication antennas on 2 long booms to move antenna pattern away from the Solar arrays and the deployed Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM).
-Battery Module: 2 battery modules (BM) attached to the Airlock Module Truss. Each BM consisted of 4 power conditioning groups (PCGs). Each PCG had a battery charger, Ni-CAD battery, and a voltage regulator.
-D024 Sample Panels. Sample materials exposed to space and sun. Panels were retrieved and returned to earth.
-Solar Radio Noise Burst Monitor Antenna. Antenna would ring a solar burst alarm.
-EVA Hatch: Design based on Gemini Door.
-Structural Transition Section Window: 4 windows.
-ATM deployment reel: Winch rotated and locked the ATM 90 degrees after the payload shroud was jettisoned.
-Microwave Statterometer Antenna: Experiment S193 used a radiometer, scatterometer, and radar altimeter.
-Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) S192 10-Band Multispectral Scanner: Gathered high-spatial-resolution line-scan imagery data.
-Radial Docking Port: Never used and was intended for docking a rescue vehicle.
-Docking Target: Used to help the command module dock. The docking target was sighted in command module window number 2 through an optical device in order to get correct alignment for docking.
-EREP S190 Experiment Window: Used for the multispectral photographic facility. Used a 6-channel, high precision 70mm camera system.
-EREP S191 Infrared Spectrometer: Studied the application of IR in space.
-EREP S194 Experiment L-Band Antenna: Recorded the brightness temperature of the earth in the L-band range.
-CM/SM Umbilical: Connected power and consumables between the Command Module and Service Module
-Command Module Sextant: Used to sight stars to update the navigation system.
-Radial Docking Port: Primary docking port for Apollo spacecraft.
-Proton Spectrometer: Mounted to L-Band Truss. Used to study electrons and protons trapped in the South Atlantic Anomaly radiation belts.
-VHF ranging antenna: Helped CSM compute and display range and range rate between the CSM and Skylab during rendezvous.
-Charger Battery Regulator Modules (CBRM): 18 total located around the ATM. Each CBRM had a regulator, charger, and NI-CAD battery.
-Star Tracker: Provided ATM roll information to the attitude control system.
-Control Moment Gyro (CMG): 3 CMGs mounted orthogonally on the ATM. CMGs are high spinning masses. The space station responds in pitch, roll, and yaw by increasing or decreasing the particular CMG spin rate.
-CMG Inverter Assembly (CMGIA): delivered power to CMG spin motors, Fine Sun Sensor (FSS), and star tracker (ST) (along with power to other equipment)
-J-Box Assembly power Transfer Assembly
-Experiment Pointing Electronic Assembly
-Workshop Computer Interface
-AUX/Main power Distribution
-EVA ladder
-ATM Canister Controller
-Service Module: carried services for the command module (electrical power, propulsion, oxygen, etc)
-Command Module: carries 3 astronauts to Skylab and back home.
Animation notes:
-Skylab Modeling is in the undamaged state. My models shows both main arrays and the shield in place.
-I did not model the thermal blanket at the base of the airlock module in order for you to see the details underneath the blanket.
Acronyms:
-ATM: apollo telescope mount
-CBRM: charger battery regulator modules
-CM: command module
-CMG: control moment gyro
-EREP: earth resources experiment package
-EVA: extravehicular activity
-SAS: solar array system
-SM: service module
-STS: structural transition section
-TACS: thruster attitude control system
-VHF: very high frequency