Life Support Umbilical Interoperability Simulator (2D)

Module B Connector Standard

Approach & Supply

Docking approach speed 1.0×

Module A tank pressure 140 kPa

Umbilical gas conductance 0.90

Interface Lines

Live Readouts

Gas mass flow

0.0 g/s

Pressure Δ

0.0 kPa

Power transfer

0.00 kW

Data link

—

How it works

Real spacecraft life-support umbilicals (ISS's IDSS/APAS berthing interfaces, Artemis's Gateway ports) must match on four independent layers at once — a mechanical connector is not enough on its own:

Gas — O₂/N₂ supply, keyed fitting + matching thread pitch
Water — potable/waste quick-disconnects, matching seal diameter
Power — bus voltage and pin-out (28 V / 120 V, polarity)
Data — shared communication protocol / bit rate

Each line only passes flow if both modules speak the same standard on that line — a "modified standard" module can share gas and power pinouts with the original spec while using an incompatible water seal and a different data protocol. The inset face-on diagram (top-right of the main view) shows the real 2×2 arrangement of the four ports on the docking plate.

Once two matched lines mate, gas exchange follows a linear-conductance model between two finite pressure volumes:

dP1/dt = -G*(P1-P2) / V1
dP2/dt = +G*(P1-P2) / V2
m_dot = k*G*(P1-P2)   (mass flow, g/s)

G is the umbilical's gas conductance (tunable above), V1/V2 the fixed module volumes (1.0 m³ / 1.2 m³). This model conserves the volume-weighted quantity V1*P1 + V2*P2 exactly — verified numerically — so the two pressures relax to a shared equilibrium rather than an arbitrary midpoint; a higher conductance just gets there faster. Power transfer ramps up on a short RC-style charge curve after mating; data link is binary (protocol match/mismatch), reported instantly. The strip chart below the main view plots P1, P2 and power live so you can watch the equalization curve directly.

SEPARATED

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