{"id":1812034,"date":"2023-01-26T15:24:11","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T20:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1812034"},"modified":"2023-01-26T15:24:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T20:24:11","slug":"the-soviet-space-programs-remarkable-electromechanical-navigation-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/01\/the-soviet-space-programs-remarkable-electromechanical-navigation-device\/","title":{"rendered":"The Soviet Space Program’s Remarkable Electromechanical Navigation Device"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Front-facing<\/a>
Ken Shirriff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You must see this. Ken Shirriff got his hands on an example of a navigational device from a Soyuz spacecraft and opened it up to see how it worked<\/a>. Known as a Globus (its proper name is \u0418\u043d\u0434\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0442\u043e\u0440 \u041d\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0433\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u041a\u043e\u0441\u043c\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439\u2014roughly, space navigation indicator), it\u2019s an incredibly complicated marvel of gears and cams, an electromechanical analog computer that showed the capsule\u2019s position on a physical globe. The position was predicted\u2014the Globus received no navigational data. Ken\u2019s got lots of photos of the innards at his website<\/a>. See also his Mastodon thread<\/a>. He has hopes of getting the thing operational, so keep an eye out for that.<\/p>\n

(Based on the presence of NASA tracking sites on the globe, Ken thinks this particular unit was meant for the Apollo-Soyuz<\/a> program, but I kind of wonder whether that was a function of the 1967 Rescue Agreement<\/a> between the U.S. and the USSR instead.)<\/p>\n

The Mercury capsule had something similar for a while: the Earth Path Indicator. One example sold for nearly $100,000 in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You must see this. Ken Shirriff got his hands on an example of a navigational device from a Soyuz spacecraft and opened it up to see how it worked. Known as a Globus (its proper… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,752],"tags":[748,1607,1344],"class_list":["post-1812034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-astronomy","category-navigation","tag-soviet-union","tag-soyuz","tag-spaceflight","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5539,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/earliest-known-astrolabe-confirmed-by-3d-imaging\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":0},"title":"Earliest Known Astrolabe Confirmed by 3D Imaging","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"An artifact recovered in 2014 from the wreck of one of Vasco da Gama's exploring ships, the Esmerelda,\u00a0which sank in the Indian Ocean 1503, was believed to be an astrolabe, a navigation tool used to measure the inclination of celestial objects, but the 17.5-cm bronze disc appeared to lack any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Navigation"","block_context":{"text":"Navigation","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/navigation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/astrolabe-warwick-277x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1840530,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/adventures-in-unpreparedness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":1},"title":"Adventures in Unpreparedness","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Two recent cautionary tales about the risks of going forth without proper navigational tools. First, I\u2019m a bit confused about this BBC News report, which cites what3words as coming through when a boat broke down in the Channel Islands area: [The rescue service] said although the vessel had no working\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1831740,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/the-geochron-and-how-one-was-restored\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":2},"title":"The Geochron, and How One Was Restored","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z2EUPDSabY0 The Geochron has been around since the mid-sixties and I only just learned about it this week. It\u2019s an analog, electromechanical world clock and map. The backlit, translucent map is motorized: it scrolls from left to right to indicate the rotation of the earth. Noon is at the centre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/z2EUPDSabY0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/wichita-navigation-company-profiled\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":3},"title":"Wichita Navigation Company Profiled","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Last October the\u00a0Wichita Eagle profiled\u00a0Ken Gebhart, the 79-year-old owner of Celestaire, a local company that sells navigation equipment, including sextants. The sextants are Chinese imports; Celestaire itself makes the navigation tables and almanacs that accompany sextant use.\u00a0You might have thought that sextants had\u00a0gone the way of horses and buggies, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Industry"","block_context":{"text":"Industry","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/industry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"spica-sextant","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/spica-sextant-150x142.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1786951,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/01\/world-magnetic-model-being-updated-a-year-early\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":4},"title":"World Magnetic Model Being Updated a Year Early","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"10 January 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"The World Magnetic Model\u2014the standard model of the Earth's magnetic field and a crucial part of modern navigation systems\u2014was last updated in 2015. That update was supposed to last until 2020, but problems with the model started within a year of the last update. As Nature reports, a geomagnetic pulse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Navigation"","block_context":{"text":"Navigation","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/navigation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1523092,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/navigation-a-very-short-introduction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1812034,"position":5},"title":"Navigation: A Very Short Introduction","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The problem with Jim Bennett's\u00a0Navigation: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, May 2017) is summed up in its subtitle: it's very short, and it's only an introduction. Part of Oxford University Press's Very Short Introductions series,\u00a0Navigation discusses the tools and methods used by mariners and navigators to find their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/navigation-bennett-191x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812034"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812048,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812034\/revisions\/1812048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}