totm dec 2019 Russian Launch and Mission Thread

[XB-70A]

On 3/23/2020 at 10:34 AM, XB-70A said:

Sea Launch and her carrier have arrived to Slavyanka's shipyard (Primorsky Krai), some times after Odyssey.

 

On 6/8/2020 at 7:37 AM, XB-70A said:

On a serious note, I wish they would do the same for Zenit.

Sigh... Big, BIG sigh.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2020 by XB-70A
Replacing the original link with an embedded one.

[DDE]

On 6/10/2020 at 8:37 PM, XB-70A said:

Sigh... Big, BIG sigh.

There's insinuation among the Angara crowd that Soyuz-5 was conjured up solely to accommodate a Zenit revival for Sea Launch - thus shifting R&D costs of a private project onto the taxpayers.

That, and I do wonder about one of S7's bigwigs dying in an air crash,.

[DDE]

 

[Nightside]

13 hours ago, DDE said:

 

Not USB compatible?

[kerbiloid]

14 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Not USB compatible?

Do you have a 3kW UPS?

[CatastrophicFailure]

4 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Do you have a 3kW UPS?

I do. It’s gasoline powered tho... 

Also, how am I the first to post this?

 

[kerbiloid]

5 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Also, how am I the first to post this?

Size matters...

Spoiler

10 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Do you have a 3kW UPS?

I do. It’s gasoline powered

 

[DDE]

12 hours ago, Nightside said:

Not USB compatible?

Looks like a DVI to me.

[kerbiloid]

One of ISS designers, Igor Khamitz (1964), is appointed as the new chief designer of PTKNP/Federation/Oryol.

He is from Energy Corp.
Since 2007 he is the head of the crewed and transport crafts design center.
He participated in Zvezda and Pirs modules design and in the ATV shaping.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/714062

[DDE]

[CatastrophicFailure]

[DDE]

Prepare your Geiger counters

 

[kerbiloid]

The only woman from the current Russian Cosmonaut Corps, Anna Kikina, will probably fly in the autumn of 2022, together with Oleg Kononenko.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/714914

Quote

Born on August 27, 1984 in Novosibirsk . She graduated from the Novosibirsk school number 29 (school of a healthy lifestyle). In 2005 she graduated from courses at the Ministry of Emergencies : instructor in teaching the population the basics of first aid , has a lifeguard certificate ^[2] .

In 2006, she graduated with honors from the Novosibirsk State Academy of Water Transport with a degree in Emergency Protection, as a hydraulic engineer . In 2008, she defended a diploma in the specialty “Economics and Management at an Enterprise (Transport)” with the qualification of “economist-manager” ^[3] .

Until 2012, she worked as a radio host, program director (administrator of radio broadcasting ) at LLC Radio-Siberia Altai ( Gorno-Altaysk , Altai Republic ) ^{[4] [3]} .

Quote

In February 2013, along with cosmonaut candidates O. V. Blinov and P. V. Dubrov, she underwent training in a forest near Moscow to work out actions after landing in a wooded and marshy area in winter.

On June 5, 2014, after completing the course of general space training, she passed the State Exam with a rating of “4.5”. However, on June 19, 2014, according to the results of a secret ballot by the Interdepartmental Qualification Commission ( ICRC ), the qualification “test cosmonaut” was not assigned to it. Contrary to this decision, Kikin was left as an astronaut candidate at the end of June 2014, subject to an annual course of additional classes ^[5] .

In July 2014, she participated in water training on boarding a helicopter in hovering mode, and then in training to train crew after landing in desert or semi-desert conditions on Baikonur . In August 2014, she took part in a three-week special parachute training for astronauts. In October 2014, she took part in training on crew actions in the event of an emergency landing in mountainous terrain.

Quote

Since September 2016, after the election of the astronaut E.O. Serova as the State Duma deputy , Anna Kikina is the only woman in the cosmonaut corps of Roscosmos.

From November 7 to 24, 2017, Kikina, as a flight engineer No. 1, took part in the SIRIUS international isolation experiment simulating a flight to the moon . During the experiment, she participated in training on simulating the docking of the promising Russian spacecraft Federation in Earth’s orbit and modeling the remote control of the moon rover using a virtual reality helmet. Conducted testing a suit for the crew of the ship "Federation" ^[6] .

In May 2018, along with cosmonauts S.N. Ryzhikov and S.V. Kud-Sverchkov, she underwent special parachute training for astronauts. She made forty parachute jumps to practice combined operator activities.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кикина,_Анна_Юрьевна

So, looks like a lunarship crew practice.

[kerbiloid]

(I'll just copy the google translation, as it's brief)

Quote

"Roskosmos" named the flaws of the ship Ilona Mask Crew Dragon

The design of the Crew Dragon spacecraft (the first private spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the ISS) created by Ilona Mask has a number of inconveniences, as well as features that threaten the health of astronauts. This is stated in the article of the journal "Roskosmos".

Specialists are alarmed that the huge thrust liquid engines of the integrated propulsion system of the emergency rescue system are installed directly behind the cab wall. A number of experts also doubt that it is safe for the crew to be in close proximity to a couple of tons of toxic fuel components supplied to the engines of the emergency rescue system under pressure.

“Nitrogen tetroxide and monomethylhydrazine are still not water and not even hydrogen peroxide,” the author of the article in the journal Russian Space points out in a note.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/27/06/2020/5ef71f7f9a79473df9f1a5eb

Oh, google, google...

Edited June 27, 2020 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

9 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Specialists are alarmed that the huge thrust liquid engines of the integrated propulsion system of the emergency rescue system are installed directly behind the cab wall. A number of experts also doubt that it is safe for the crew to be in close proximity to a couple of tons of toxic fuel components supplied to the engines of the emergency rescue system under pressure.

I can understand the Musketeers arguing that sooner or later we'd have to learn alongside MMH-NTO and a thousand worse things.

[sh1pman]

1 hour ago, DDE said:

Specialists are alarmed that the huge thrust liquid engines of the integrated propulsion system of the emergency rescue system are installed directly behind the cab wall. A number of experts also doubt that it is safe for the crew to be in close proximity to a couple of tons of toxic fuel components supplied to the engines of the emergency rescue system under pressure.

And nuclear subs have uranium inside. How could sub builders miss such a tremendous flaw and safety threat???

[Silavite]

12 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Specialists are alarmed that the huge thrust liquid engines of the integrated propulsion system of the emergency rescue system are installed directly behind the cab wall. A number of experts also doubt that it is safe for the crew to be in close proximity to a couple of tons of toxic fuel components supplied to the engines of the emergency rescue system under pressure.

If Glushko were still alive he'd probably say something like, "Only MMH and NTO? No pentaborane? And what's this; the booster uses kerolox?? This is far too pedestrian..."

[kerbiloid]

Of the Hypergolics Anonymous thread???

Wasn't Proton too dangerous due to the almost same fuel?

Edited June 28, 2020 by kerbiloid

[Scotius]

Roscosmos is cordially invited to build better, safer capsule that doesn't use any nasty chemicals. And is still reuseable. And costs about the same as Dragon 2.

It's easy to criticize.

[Codraroll]

24 minutes ago, Scotius said:

Roscosmos is cordially invited to build better, safer capsule that doesn't use any nasty chemicals. And is still reuseable. And costs about the same as Dragon 2.

It's easy to criticize.

I think the critique is mostly there to downplay the fact that they've tried to build a successor to the Soyuz since the 1970s, but each attempt has been fruitless. So, like the kid who throws up his hands in math class and declares math to be stupid and useless anyway, they've decided that it's functionally impossible to build something better than Soyuz, and that all other spacecraft have dangerous flaws or design compromises that makes Soyuz superior in the long run. "We couldn't do it better, therefore it's perfection, and you will find that your attempts are flawed too, even if it looks like you've got something with twice the capability for half the cost. So there!"

[wumpus]

7 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Of the Hypergolics Anonymous thread???

Wasn't Proton too dangerous due to the almost same fuel?

Wasn't it Apollo-Soyuz where the Apollo spacecraft had a hypergolic (not sure fuel or oxidizer) leak that injured the crew?  I imagine a generation of Russian spacecraft designers heard a whole lot of how bad hypergolics were in the crew stages.

Seeing how much Spacex uses nitrogen RCS (instead of hypergolics), my guess is that Elon has a problem with them as well (probably having everyone involved in physically preparing for reuse being HAZMAT certified and all that PPE).  Some things just call out for hypergolics, and LES (and LEM) call out for them.

[kerbiloid]

5 minutes ago, wumpus said:

I imagine a generation of Russian spacecraft designers heard a whole lot of how bad hypergolics were in the crew stages.

Soyuz (ship) is hypergolic, too. (Its reentry vehicle isn't).

5 minutes ago, wumpus said:

LES (and LEM) call out for them.

Not a long history of the hypergolic LES, but all of the LES who had successfully worked, were solid.

And the post-flight Dragon LES testing was pretty spectacular, even if short.

Edited June 28, 2020 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

6 hours ago, Codraroll said:

I think the critique is mostly there to downplay the fact that they've tried to build a successor to the Soyuz since the 1970s, but each attempt has been fruitless. So, like the kid who throws up his hands in math class and declares math to be stupid and useless anyway, they've decided that it's functionally impossible to build something better than Soyuz, and that all other spacecraft have dangerous flaws or design compromises that makes Soyuz superior in the long run. "We couldn't do it better, therefore it's perfection, and you will find that your attempts are flawed too, even if it looks like you've got something with twice the capability for half the cost. So there!"

Well, they did try. Zarya was basically a Dragon but with 24 kerosene-peroxide thrusters.

Which makes the Roscosmos guys even saltier.

16 hours ago, Silavite said:

If Glushko were still alive he'd probably say something like, "Only MMH and NTO? No pentaborane? And what's this; the booster uses kerolox?? This is far too pedestrian..."

Actual quote:

Quote

14. The prospective development plan of OKB-456 has been developing for the last few years along the lines laid out in sections 1-13 and currently ranges out to 1970. In accordance with it:

d) Key developments are

I) High-powered UDMH-N₂O₄ motors: for first stages of R-36 and 67S4 (8D723, 8D724), for first stages of UR-500 and R-56 (PD43), for second and third stages of R-56 (11D44, 8D724) and a high-performance motor with ASL thrust of 600 tf and specific impulse of 300 sec ASL and 323 sec in vacuum for the first stage of heavy boosters (8D420);

II) Upper stage motors of 10-12 tf using: UDMH-N₂O₄ (8D725, I_sp=325 sec), H₂O₂-pentaborane (11D11, I_sp=375 sec), H₂O₂-beryllium hydride (RD-550, I_sp=400-460 sec, under investigation);

III) Gas-core nuclear rocket with liquid hydrogen reaction mass with thrust 200-600 tf (RD-600, I_sp=2000 sec) as second-stage engine…

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by DDE

[kerbiloid]

31 minutes ago, DDE said:

H₂O₂

They probably mistyped F2O2...

[sh1pman]

6 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

They probably mistyped F2O2...

It’s O2F2, oxygen difluoride, stuff from hell.

Quote

Dioxygen difluoride reacts vigorously with nearly every chemical it encounters – even ordinary ice – leading to its onomatopoeic nickname "FOOF" (a play on its chemical structure and its explosive tendencies).