Soyuz mass center during re-entry

I'm trying to find information on the Soyuz capsule's center of mass
during re-entry.

Presumably, the center of mass is near the base of the capsule, but
offset slightly from the axis of symmetry to give the Soyuz an angle of
attack into the relative wind. This would generate a bit of lift to
avoid following a pure ballistic trajectory.

Can anyone point me towards information that precisely locates the mass
center?

On 24 Feb 2005 13:56:16 -0800
"Mark Street" wrote:

Presumably, the center of mass is near the base of the capsule, but
offset slightly from the axis of symmetry to give the Soyuz an angle
of attack into the relative wind. This would generate a bit of lift
to avoid following a pure ballistic trajectory.

I don't have that info but my interpretation is that without control
from the RCS the Soyuz will follow a pure ballistic trajectory.
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Well, I don't know that precisely, but you could probably get pretty
close by calculations - Max G is is one over the L/D ratio, so in Soyuz
about 0.3? So I would bet the center of mass is about one third of the
way in from the bottom edge.

How close am I?

-David

In article . com,
Mark Street wrote:
Presumably, the center of mass is near the base of the capsule, but
offset slightly from the axis of symmetry to give the Soyuz an angle of
attack into the relative wind. This would generate a bit of lift to
avoid following a pure ballistic trajectory.

Correct. As with Apollo etc., following a pure-ballistic trajectory is a
backup strategy for a guidance failure (you set up a continuous slow roll
that zeroes out the average lift).

Can anyone point me towards information that precisely locates the mass
center?

Alas, no detailed info on hand...
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