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Russian Launch and Mission Thread


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Am I weird for liking to watch the RCS firing as it comes in?

It's almost certainly the combination of the solar panel "wings" and the rounded shapes, but watching a Soyuz or Progress come in, it looks so much more graceful than anything else (except perhaps a shuttle, for the same reasons-- wings and rounded shapes).

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5 hours ago, MaxwellsDemon said:

Am I weird for liking to watch the RCS firing as it comes in?

It's almost certainly the combination of the solar panel "wings" and the rounded shapes, but watching a Soyuz or Progress come in, it looks so much more graceful than anything else (except perhaps a shuttle, for the same reasons-- wings and rounded shapes).

I replay the Salyut 7 docking scene way too often, too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, today Putin unveiled an interesting piece of rocket technology: a nuclear-powered cruise missile with (supposedly) unlimited range.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-claims-russia-has-nuclear-arsenal-capable-of-avoiding-missile-defenses/2018/03/01/d2dcf522-1d3b-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.5a3844d81eff

Quote

Putin claimed that late last year, Russia had successfully tested a cruise missile that was propelled by a nuclear-powered engine. This engine gave the cruise missile practically unlimited range, distinguishing it from existing cruise missiles.

Any ideas how it might work? NTR? Nuclear thermal jet? Something else?

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13 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Any ideas how it might work? NTR? Nuclear thermal jet? Something else?

Nuclear Ramjets are a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto

Still i don't buy the story. Russias thing seems to be that they build one prototype, and then proclaim superiority. Even though they probably couldn't mass produce anything of that complexity.

Edited by Canopus
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9 minutes ago, Canopus said:

Nuclear Ramjets are a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto

Still i don't buy the story. Russias thing seems to be that they build one prototype, and then proclaim superiority. Even though they probably couldn't mass produce anything of that complexity.

I don't think they need to mass produce these things. Since these missiles carry nuclear payload, only a couple of them are needed, and only in case of a nuclear war. No point in wasting hundreds of them to kill some terrorists in some desert.

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5 hours ago, sh1pman said:

So, today Putin unveiled an interesting piece of rocket technology: a nuclear-powered cruise missile with (supposedly) unlimited range.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-claims-russia-has-nuclear-arsenal-capable-of-avoiding-missile-defenses/2018/03/01/d2dcf522-1d3b-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.5a3844d81eff

Any ideas how it might work? NTR? Nuclear thermal jet? Something else?

Russia can barley maintain quality control for chemical rockets,  this feels like a disaster waiting to happen 

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16 minutes ago, insert_name said:

Russia can barley maintain quality control for chemical rockets,  this feels like a disaster waiting to happen 

When you’re building a strategic missile, a Chernobyl at the destination is a feature, not a bug.

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22 minutes ago, insert_name said:

Russia can barley maintain quality control for chemical rockets,  this feels like a disaster waiting to happen 

Well, crappy quality standards are mostly limited to Khrunichev (that makes Protons) and Lavochkin (Fregat upper stages) centers. With military tech, I think the quality standards are quite a bit better.

(if you fail to meet them, you disappear-kind of standards)

Edited by sh1pman
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Pretty sure this is puffery on Putin's part, a la Khruschev's "manufacturing missiles like sausages."  Especially the part about "uninterceptable" cruise missiles.

But, saber-rattling has a long and distinguished history, and no country I know (past or present) is immune to it.

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