Perhaps the development of astronautics originates in science fiction: people have always wanted to fly - not only in the air, but also across the vast expanses of space. As soon as people became convinced that the earth's axis was not capable of flying into the heavenly dome and breaking through it, the most inquisitive minds began to wonder - what was there above? It is in the literature that one can find many references to various methods of lifting off from the Earth: not only natural phenomena such as a hurricane, but also very specific technical means - balloons, heavy-duty guns, flying carpets, rockets and other superjet suits. Although the first more or less realistic description of a flying vehicle can be called the myth of Icarus and Daedalus.
Gradually, from imitative flight (that is, flight based on imitation of birds), humanity moved to flight based on mathematics, logic and the laws of physics. The significant work of aviators in the person of the Wright brothers, Albert Santos-Dumont, Glenn Hammond Curtis only strengthened man's belief that flight is possible, and sooner or later the cold flickering points in the sky will become closer, and then...
The first mentions of astronautics as a science began in the 30s of the twentieth century. The term “cosmonautics” itself appeared in the title of Ari Abramovich Sternfeld’s scientific work “Introduction to Cosmonautics.” At home, in Poland, the scientific community was not interested in his works, but they showed interest in Russia, where the author subsequently moved. Later, other theoretical works and even the first experiments appeared. As a science, astronautics was formed only in the middle of the 20th century. And no matter what anyone says, our Motherland opened the way to space.
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky is considered the founder of astronautics. He once said: " First inevitably come: thought, fantasy, fairy tale, and behind them comes precise calculation." Later, in 1883, he suggested the possibility of using jet propulsion to create interplanetary aircraft. But it would be wrong not to mention such a person as Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich, who put forward the very idea of the possibility of building a rocket aircraft.
In 1903, Tsiolkovsky published the scientific work “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments,” where he came to the conclusion that liquid fuel rockets could launch humans into space. Tsiolkovsky’s calculations showed that space flights are a matter of the near future.
A little later, the works of foreign rocket scientists were added to the works of Tsiolkovsky: in the early 20s, the German scientist Hermann Oberth also outlined the principles of interplanetary flight. In the mid-20s, American Robert Goddard began developing and building a successful prototype of a liquid-propellant rocket engine.
The works of Tsiolkovsky, Oberth and Goddard became a kind of foundation on which rocket science and, later, all of astronautics grew. The main research activities were carried out in three countries: Germany, the USA and the USSR. In the Soviet Union, research work was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Study Group (Moscow) and the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (Leningrad). On their basis, the Jet Institute (RNII) was created in the 30s.
Specialists such as Johannes Winkler and Wernher von Braun worked in Germany. Their research into jet engines gave a powerful impetus to rocket science after World War II. Winkler did not live long, but von Braun moved to the United States and for a long time was the real father of the United States space program.
In Russia, Tsiolkovsky’s work was continued by another great Russian scientist, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.
It was he who created the group for the study of jet propulsion, and it was there that the first domestic rockets, GIRD 9 and 10, were created and successfully launched.
You can write so much about technology, people, rockets, the development of engines and materials, solved problems and the path traveled that the article will be longer than the distance from Earth to Mars, so let’s skip some of the details and move on to the most interesting part - practical astronautics.
On October 4, 1957, humanity made the first successful launch of a space satellite. For the first time, the creation of human hands penetrated beyond the earth's atmosphere. On this day, the whole world was amazed by the successes of Soviet science and technology.
What was available to humanity in 1957 from computer technology? Well, it is worth noting that in the 1950s the first computers were created in the USSR, and only in 1957 the first computer based on transistors (rather than radio tubes) appeared in the USA. There was no talk of any giga-, mega- or even kiloflops. A typical computer of that time occupied a couple of rooms and produced “only” a couple of thousand operations per second (Strela computer).
The progress of the space industry has been enormous. In just a few years, the accuracy of the control systems of launch vehicles and spacecraft has increased so much that from an error of 20-30 km when launching into orbit in 1958, man took the step of landing a vehicle on the Moon within a five-kilometer radius by the mid-60s.
Further - more: in 1965 it became possible to transmit photographs to Earth from Mars (and this is a distance of more than 200,000,000 kilometers), and already in 1980 - from Saturn (a distance of 1,500,000,000 kilometers!). Speaking of the Earth, a combination of technologies now makes it possible to obtain up-to-date, reliable and detailed information about natural resources and the state of the environment
Along with the exploration of space, there was the development of all “related directions” - space communications, television broadcasting, relaying, navigation, and so on. Satellite communication systems began to cover almost the entire world, making two-way operational communication with any subscribers possible. Nowadays there is a satellite navigator in any car (even in a toy car), but back then the existence of such a thing seemed incredible.
In the second half of the 20th century, the era of manned flights began. In the 1960s-1970s, Soviet cosmonauts demonstrated the ability of humans to work outside of a spacecraft, and from the 1980s-1990s people began to live and work in conditions of weightlessness for almost years. It is clear that each such trip was accompanied by many different experiments - technical, astronomical, and so on.
A huge contribution to the development of advanced technologies has been made by the design, creation and use of complex space systems. Automatic spacecraft sent into space (including to other planets) are essentially robots that are controlled from Earth using radio commands. The need to create reliable systems for solving such problems has led to a more complete understanding of the problem of analysis and synthesis of complex technical systems. Now such systems are used both in space research and in many other areas of human activity.
Take, for example, the weather - a common thing; in mobile app stores there are dozens and even hundreds of applications for displaying it. But where can we take photographs of the Earth’s cloud cover with enviable frequency, not from the Earth itself? ;) Exactly. Now almost all countries of the world use space weather data for weather information. It’s not as fantastic as the words “space forge” sounded 30-40 years ago. In conditions of weightlessness, it is possible to organize such production that it is simply impossible (or not profitable) to develop in conditions of earthly gravity. For example, the state of weightlessness can be used to produce ultrathin crystals of semiconductor compounds. Such crystals will find application in the electronics industry to create a new class of semiconductor devices.
Pictures from my article on processor production
In the absence of gravity, free-floating liquid metal and other materials are easily deformed by weak magnetic fields. This opens the way to obtaining ingots of any predetermined shape without crystallizing them in molds, as is done on Earth. The peculiarity of such ingots is the almost complete absence of internal stresses and high purity.
| Interesting posts from Habr: habrahabr.ru/post/170865 + habrahabr.ru/post/188286 |
In general... so many things are already being done in space - sometimes they tell you something you won’t believe :)
LET'S COME IN FUCK!
Moscow, VDNKh metro station - no matter how you look at it, the monument to the “Conquerors of Space” cannot be missed.
But not many people know that in the basement of the 110-meter-high monument there is an interesting museum of cosmonautics, where you can learn in detail about the history of science: there you can see the Belka and Strelka, and Gagarin with Tereshkova, and cosmonaut spacesuits with lunar rovers ...
The museum houses a (miniature) Mission Control Center, where you can observe the International Space Station in real time and negotiate with the crew. Interactive cabin "Buran" with a mobility system and panoramic stereo image. Interactive educational and training class, designed in the form of cabins. Special areas house interactive exhibits that include simulators identical to those at the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center: a transport spacecraft rendezvous and docking simulator, a virtual simulator for the International Space Station, and a search helicopter pilot simulator. And, of course, where would we be without any film and photographic materials, archival documents, personal belongings of figures in the rocket and space industry, items of numismatics, philately, philocarty and faleristics, works of fine and decorative art...
Harsh reality
While writing this article, it was nice to refresh my memory of history, but now everything is somehow not so optimistic or something - just recently we were superbisons and leaders in outer space, and now we can’t even launch a satellite into orbit... Nevertheless, we We live in very interesting times - if previously the slightest technical advances took years and decades, now technology is developing much more rapidly. Take the Internet for example: those times have not yet been forgotten when WAP sites could barely open on two-color phone displays, but now we can do anything on a phone (in which even pixels are not visible) from anywhere. ANYTHING. Perhaps the best conclusion to this article would be the famous speech of the American comedian Louis C. K, “Everything is great, but everyone is unhappy”:
Not long ago on our resource, dedicated to the greatest figures in the field of space exploration. The list also includes Nicolaus Copernicus and Isaac Newton, whose merits are beyond any doubt, and the “star” of modern space exploration, who promises to make rockets as familiar to earthlings as airplanes. Like our attentive readers, we felt that it would be unfair to ignore Soviet and Russian space leaders, but it would be better to give them more space for memory.
Unfortunately, the road to the stars is strewn with the precious merits of people that only a few remember. Respecting our common space past, we tried to remind you of the people who make the words “Russia” and “space” in some sense synonymous. Let us note that not only Tsiolkovsky and Korolev decided the cosmic destiny of the future, but, alas, only a few people can name a few more names.
You won’t find astronauts on this list, just as we wrote. And let's not forget that this is not a memorial, but an article about ten Russian most important figures in the field of space exploration. No one will be forgotten thanks to our joint efforts.
Few people know about the fate of this brilliant revolutionary of the late 19th century, who came up with the idea of the first rocket aircraft with an oscillating combustion chamber to control the thrust vector. This original project of a flying device was developed by Kibalchich on March 23, 1881, as sources say, shortly before the death penalty by hanging, but (!) after he was arrested and sentenced on March 17, 1881. Together with other Pervomartovites (a group of eight Narodnaya Volya members who participated in the preparation and murder of Emperor Alexander II in March 1881), Kibalchich was executed on April 15, 1881 according to the new style.
It is noteworthy that the engineer’s request to transfer the manuscript to the Academy of Sciences was not satisfied, and the general public learned about the project only in 1918. However, postage stamps dedicated to Kibalchich were issued in the USSR, and a crater on the Moon was named after him.
Sergei Korolev (1906 – 1966)
The name Korolev became a household name for the founder of practical cosmonautics. The Soviet scientist, designer and organizer of the production of rocket and space technology and rocket weapons of the USSR was one of the largest figures of the 20th century in the field of space exploration, in particular, rocketry and shipbuilding. He was directly involved in the pioneering development of ballistic missiles, the creation of the first artificial Earth satellite, preparations for sending the first man into space, the launch of vehicles to the Moon, the development of lunar projects and an orbital station. His contribution to the development of Soviet - and global - cosmonautics is difficult to overestimate, since under his leadership, one might say, it not only became the first and most advanced space power, but also took a long lead in rocket science. The activities of Sergei Korolev, among other things, ensured strategic parity. From the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite to the first cosmonaut, nothing happened without Korolev.
Valentin Glushko (1908 – 1989)
Few people know that Valentin Glushko, the largest Soviet scientist in the field of rocket and space technology, was one of the pioneers in this field, and his work laid the foundation for the domestic liquid-propellant rocket engine industry. You can learn more about solid-fuel and liquid-fuel rocket engines. Since 1977, Glushko was the general designer of the legendary NPO Energia.
The inventions and designs in the creation of which Glushko was directly involved include the world's first electrothermal rocket engine (1928–1933), the first Soviet liquid-propellant rocket engine ORM (1930–1931), a family of liquid-fueled RLA rockets (1932–1933) and powerful liquid rocket engines, which have been installed on almost all domestic rockets that have flown into space to date. These engines launched the first and subsequent Earth satellites, spaceships with Yuri Gagarin and other cosmonauts into orbit, and also participated in flights to the Moon and planets of the Solar System. The basic unit of the Mir orbital station was also developed by Glushko. This man also made a colossal personal contribution to world science, thanks to many years of work on the creation of fundamental reference books on thermal constants, thermodynamic and thermophysical properties of various substances, and others.
Alexey Bogomolov (1913 – 2009)
Alexey Bogomolov was perhaps the first Soviet scientist to understand the need to create large and efficient ground antennas. Under his leadership, in 1960–1965, antennas with a mirror diameter of 32 meters and then 64 meters were built. They provided communication with interplanetary research satellites and devices that studied the Solar System and its planets. Without these antennas, the scientific information of the autonomous vehicles Venera-15, Venera-16, Vega, Phobos and others might have been lost on the outskirts of our system. Moreover, the mapping of the surface of the northern hemisphere of Venus and the creation of an atlas of its surface were carried out precisely by the Venera-15 and Venera-16 spacecraft. Considering the long and agonizing wait associated with hopes for a flourishing surface of this, as it turned out, ferocious planet, a space radar specially created by Bogomolov was extremely necessary.
The work of Bogomolov and the team under his leadership in the fields of radar, television, transmission and storage of information, as well as increasing its reliability and accuracy, formed the basis for the creation of unique complexes of trajectory and telemetry measurements for rocket, space and aviation technology.
Friedrich Zander (1887 – 1933)
In 1909, Friedrich Zander became the first Soviet scientist and inventor working in the field of the theory of interplanetary flights and jet engines, who expressed the idea that it would be advisable to use structural elements of an interplanetary spacecraft as fuel. After ten years of systematic research into the problems of rocket and space science and technology, Zander proposed his basic idea: combine a rocket with an airplane to take off from Earth, then burn the airplane in flight as fuel in the rocket engine chamber to increase the rocket's flight range. In the same year, 1924, Zander developed the idea of using the Moon or other planets, or rather their gravitational field or atmosphere, to increase the speed of flight to other planets. He was the author of the idea of a gliding descent with braking in the planet's atmosphere. A Soviet scientist proposed a diagram and design of an internal combustion engine that did not need air.
These and many other ideas and developments of the prolific scientist and engineer made a contribution to the development of Soviet cosmonautics, which is difficult to overestimate.
Yuri Kondratyuk (Alexander Shargei, 1897 – 1942)
Kondratyuk’s book “The Conquest of Interplanetary Spaces” is on a special shelf for many rocketry enthusiasts. This work became so significant in classical rocketry that it determined the scientific methods of this field for a long time. Kondratyuk's calculations were used by NASA in the Apollo lunar program.
American astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, made a special trip to Novosibirsk to collect a handful of soil near the house where Kondratyuk lived. “This land has no less value for me than lunar soil,” this is how the famous astronaut subsequently commented on his actions. One can understand him: if not for the genius of Kondratyuk, who knows, perhaps Armstrong would not have left the first traces on the dusty lunar surface.
In his 1919 book “For Those Who Will Read to Build,” Kondratyuk, independently of Tsiolkovsky, originally derived the basic equation of rocket motion, described the designs of a four-stage oxygen-hydrogen fuel rocket, a paraboloidal nozzle, and much more. He proposed using atmospheric resistance to slow down the rocket during descent in order to save fuel. When flying to other planets, place the ship into the orbit of an artificial satellite, and use a small take-off and landing ship to disembark a person and return him back. This is exactly what the American space agency NASA implemented during the Apollo missions.
Kondratyuk also came up with the idea of using the gravitational field of oncoming celestial bodies to accelerate or decelerate, the so-called “perturbation maneuver.” Perhaps many of his calculations will still find application - when we closely cross the Solar System. In any case, the contribution of this Soviet scientist cannot be overestimated.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857 – 1935)
Many have heard about Tsiolkovsky. Perhaps this self-taught Soviet scientist and eternal space explorer, together with Korolev, shares first place in popularity and, of course, contribution to the development of the Russian space exploration sphere. Who, if not Tsiolkovsky, was the first to propose populating outer space with orbital stations, invented hovercraft, and advocated in every possible way for the development of humanity? It was Tsiolkovsky who believed and knew that one day life on one of the planets of the Universe would become so powerful and developed that it would be able to defeat the eternal force of gravity and spread throughout the Universe. Of course, we are talking about Earth. The ideas of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky were incredibly simply and beautifully described by the science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev in the book “KETS Star”.
The “father of astronautics” himself claimed that he developed the theory of rocketry simply as an application to his philosophical research. And this, by the way, is more than 400 works, about which the general reader knows little. Initially working on balloons and airships, in 1926–1929 Tsiolkovsky solved a practical question: how much fuel does a rocket need to gain take-off speed and leave the Earth? Tsiolkovsky worked a lot and fruitfully on the theory of flight of jet aircraft, invented his own gas turbine engine, was the first to propose a landing gear “retractable at the bottom,” calculated the optimal descent trajectory of a spacecraft upon return from space, and much, much more. The name Tsiolkovsky and astronautics are complementary things.
Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900 – 1974)
The first Soviet liquid-fuel rocket to fly in 1933 was built to a design by Mikhail Tikhonravov. He is also responsible for the first rockets with a flight altitude of up to 40 kilometers and multi-stage powder rockets for flight into the stratosphere. This is who truly took a “small step” from the Earth, but a giant leap for all humanity - and Russia, in particular.
Tikhonravov’s projects are directly related to the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, to Yuri Gagarin’s flight into orbit, to the first human spacewalk in history; they form the basis of many spacecraft that came out of the design bureau of Sergei Korolev.
Tikhonravov himself for a long time studied the possibility of building a reliable aircraft that flaps its wings - a flywheel. To this end, every summer, when he went on trips with friends on boats, he caught birds, carefully measured them and kept interesting statistics. The work of Tikhonravov, a “cog” in the precise mechanism of Soviet rocketry, gave impetus to the first excursions of people beyond the Earth’s orbit.
Nikolai Pilyugin (1908 – 1982)
At the suggestion of Sergei Korolev, Pilyugin became, in 1946, the chief designer of autonomous control systems at the research institute and a member of the legendary Council of Chief Designers, established by Korolev. However, Nikolai Alekseevich was known to the general public not only and not so much for his defense developments, to which he devoted most of his working time, but as a “navigator of space routes”: with his direct participation, launch vehicle control systems were created, as well as the first and other generations spacecraft for soft landings on the Moon and Venus, for flybys of planets, for satellites of Mars and others.
It is also noteworthy that after the end of World War II, the team under the leadership of Pilyugin enthusiastically continued the development of the domestic R-1 ballistic missile, which was based on the German V-2. We had to go the unbeaten path, manufacture and debug new elements anew and for the first time. But Pilyugin coped with the task, and the R-1 missiles had higher performance characteristics and higher hit accuracy than even the V-2.
Through joint efforts, Soviet leaders in the field of space exploration not only paved the “road to space”, writing all the main chapters in the development of rocket science from scratch, but also managed to make the Soviet Union a leader in the space race. Unfortunately, with the end of the space race and the collapse of the Soviet Union, space exploration (not only in Russia, but also in other countries) at the state level acquired only nominal importance.
But what will happen tomorrow? Will there be new Tsiolkovskys, Korolevs, Kondratyuks and Tsanders who will not just use their hands, but with the power of thought, take people beyond the solar system and beyond? You, dear readers, will have to answer this question.
PLAN
Introduction
Conclusion
List of sources used
Introduction
- Heroes and daredevils will pave the way
- first air trails:
- Earth - Moon's orbit, Earth - Mars' orbit
- and further:
Moscow
- Moon, Kaluga - Mars
- Tsiolkovsky K. E.
Officially, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in accordance with its obligations under the International Geophysical Year. The satellite emitted radio waves at two frequencies, which made it possible to study the upper layers of the ionosphere. However, this event had much greater political significance. The flight was seen by the whole world, and it ran counter to American propaganda about the severe technical backwardness of the Soviet Union. The prestige of the United States was dealt a big blow.
At a meeting with young scientists, acting Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov noted that he does not exclude the possibility that another national project may appear in Russia - cosmonautics.
We have come a long way in 50 years. Hundreds of thousands of people have made a very worthy contribution to the development of world astronautics. It’s a pity that for a long time this was a closed secret topic and there was parallel development. Often it was necessary to reinvent the wheel on both sides of the ocean. Now the space field is becoming an area of international cooperation. Of course, Russian scientists, technicians and cosmonauts will continue to make very important contributions to the development of space.
1. Current state of Russian cosmonautics
Our cosmodromes Kapustin Yar, Baikonur, and Plesetsk together brought Russia to first place in the world in 2009 in terms of the number of launches. We must pay tribute to the Space Forces, the Strategic Missile Forces, and Roscosmos: they not only cover the country, but also actively support Russian cosmonautics. Despite the problems, Russian cosmonautics remains a leading force in the domestic economy.
The year 2009 confirmed that the Russian military-industrial complex is capable of creating the most modern technologically complex systems. This complex was and remains a real production base for the progress of our astronautics. But at the same time, it must be recognized that all the priority achievements of astronautics in the 21st century are still based on the discoveries and achievements of science and technology of the 20th century. So, on January 20, 2010, Chairman of the Government V.V. Putin congratulated veterans and missile industry workers on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the first strategic intercontinental missile R-7. Modifications of this rocket under the Soyuz symbol still remain the most reliable space launch vehicles. There are scientific and design production enterprises founded by Korolev, Chelomey, Glushko, Yangel, Isaev, Makeev, Pilyugin, Barmin, Ryazansky, Kozlov, Reshetnev, Nadiradze, Konopatov, Semikhatov... The modern scientific base was created by Keldysh, Petrov, Tyulin, Mozzhorin, Okhotsimsky. However, it must be admitted that in recent years, Russian cosmonautics has fallen catastrophically behind the American and European ones in terms of direct fundamental scientific research. We do not have a single scientific spacecraft. We won't reach Phobos for ten years. “Coronas” either works or “sneezes”. At the same time, Russian oligarchs are creating luxury yachts, each of which is comparable in cost to a scientific spacecraft. So it turns out that we have yachts, and the Americans have almost the entire world of space science. The United States has made major discoveries in the field of astronomy, astrophysics, and in general has advanced human knowledge about our Universe very far with the help of special scientific spacecraft... As one of the characters in a film beloved by astronauts said: “It’s a shame for the state.”
Modern domestic astronautics has encountered previously unknown problems. For example, our legendary Soyuz carrier lost the production of hydrogen peroxide in Russia - the working fluid for the turbopump unit. We buy abroad. 50 years ago this would have been difficult to imagine. Now it is more difficult to find a qualified worker to work on modern machines than after the war, when millions did not return from the front.
The legendary advancement of astronautics, which we observed in the 60-70s, has slowed down very seriously, and since then we have not had any fundamentally new breakthroughs. For many reasons. If earlier this was a political issue, now such projects are moving into the realm of commerce. Unlike the Americans, we did not know how to use the technologies that had been developed in the national economy. And we experienced stagnation in the 70-80s in astronautics, that is, we, in principle, did not come up with anything new. We didn't have any serious programs. As for those developments that remain, they, of course, are still relevant today, but the whole question is whether we can really make this a national project, who will do it and what goals we will set. Previously it was: the first to space, the first man, the first to the moon, and so on and so forth, but now there is no such national idea, which means we will stall. And the area of space is not as attractive as it used to be. In total, 80 spacecraft were launched into space last year. Of these, about 30 are from Russian cosmodromes. But our carriers for the most part launched other people’s payloads into space, that is, these were commercial launches. And this is not surprising: launching a foreign communications satellite using reliable Russian Soyuz and Proton carriers costs one and a half times less than American ones.
For the serious development of astronautics, our state needs to improve the country’s entire economy. To maintain Russia among the leading space powers, fundamentally new technological and scientific positions are needed.
2. Prospects for the development of Russian cosmonautics
Prospects for Russian cosmonautics in the 21st century. are directly related to the leading trends and factors in the development of world cosmonautics, the fulfillment of Russia’s international obligations in the field of space exploration, as well as the preservation of the country’s space potential and its priority development.
As part of the Russian manned space development program for the next 25 years, the following phases should be implemented:
- industrial development of near-Earth space based on the development of the Russian segment of the ISS and its consumer properties,
creation of a cost-effective space transport system "Clipper",
implementation of the lunar program, which will mark the beginning of the industrial development of the Moon,
implementation of a manned research expedition to Mars.
Further construction of the Russian segment of the ISS should ensure maximum technical and economic efficiency of its capabilities. This should be done starting with the Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module (MLM), which is planned to be launched at the end of 2008. For this purpose, the module should use modern equipment of the service board systems and optimize the layout with the placement on board of universal workstations for scientific and applied experiments. This will make it possible in the future to receive significant income from the services provided to Russian and, above all, foreign users for conducting experiments and research, which in turn will ensure the creation of new modules on an extra-budgetary financial basis. The MLM must dock with the Russian service module of the ISS in order to ensure effective technical and economic development of the Russian segment in the future.
Such a scheme for organizing work on the development of the Russian segment of the ISS should give it the status of a full-fledged industrial facility in space.
The creation of a cost-effective transport system involves two components: the modernization of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft in the period until 2010, and the parallel development and commissioning of the reusable space transport system Clipper until 2015.
The modernization of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft is associated with the need to switch to a modern element base and further improve the digital on-board control system. This will allow for flight qualification of on-board systems that will be used in the Clipper project.
The reusable space system "Clipper" must be integrated into the existing ground-based space infrastructure of the transport system in operation today, both technologically, relying on the existing production facilities for the production of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and organizationally, including the use of launch complexes of the modernized Soyuz 2 rocket. 3" and the promising Angara rocket, the existing ground control complex, the airfield landing complex of the Burana orbital ship and the cosmonaut training infrastructure.
As a result, it is planned to build a fleet of reusable manned Clipper spacecraft for flights both to the ISS and for the implementation of autonomous tasks with the possibility of flights both from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and from Plesetsk.
It is the Clipper project that should fully ensure the payback of manned space exploration.
The first stage of the manned lunar program can be effectively carried out using Soyuz spacecraft, serial launch vehicles and upper stages of the DM type. In this case, the Russian segment of the ISS should be used as an assembly site for the interorbital space complex before its flight to the Moon. The crew of astronauts from the Moon will return directly to Earth at the second escape velocity. This approach will make it possible in the near future to implement the landing of the first expeditions to the Moon and to fully develop the organizational and technical principles of flights to the Moon, which will significantly reduce technical and economic risks.
At the second stage of the lunar program, a permanently operating reusable lunar transport system should be created. It consists of: manned spacecraft created on the basis of the Clipper ship and interorbital tugs with liquid jet engines for organizing flights of manned spacecraft between the near-Earth and lunar orbital stations, as well as tugs with electric propulsion systems and large-sized solar panels for “slow” transportation large loads. At this stage, a permanent lunar orbital station should be created as a space port (similar to a near-Earth orbital station) with a reusable lunar takeoff and landing module based on it, which ensures the transportation of people and cargo between it and the surface of the Moon.
At the next, third, stage, a permanent base on the Moon should be created in order to begin industrial development of the lunar surface.
The manned mission to Mars consolidates technologies developed in previous phases, including long-duration orbital modules, electric propulsion inter-orbital tugs and Clipper vehicles. The expedition itself will be implemented in three stages. The first is the testing of the Mars Expeditionary Complex (MEC) at short distances during the flight to the Moon, during its transition to the lunar orbit and return to the near-Earth orbit. The second stage is the flight of the MEC into a near-Martian orbit with a crew of astronauts, but without landing them on the surface of the planet. At this stage, the landing of automata on the surface of Mars should be carried out from the MEC board in order to study the planet in more detail and work out the principles of returning the crew from the surface of the planet to the MEC. At the third stage, astronauts can land on Mars.
Conclusion
Space activity belongs to the category of the highest state priorities of Russia, regardless of socio-economic reforms and transformations and, of course, should be based on state support - political, economic, legal. Its organization should be based on a program-targeted approach, based on the identification of priority goals of space activities and the development of a program for achieving them, defining the main goals and objectives of space activities of the Russian Federation, the procedure, deadlines for completion and volumes of financing of work on the creation and production of space technology in interests of the socio-economic sphere, science, defense and international cooperation, taking into account the current conditions for conducting space activities (in the version of the medium-term plan for today, this is the Federal Space Program).
etc.................
History of the development of astronautics
To evaluate the contribution of a person to the development of a certain field of knowledge, it is necessary to trace the history of the development of this field and try to discern the direct or indirect influence of the ideas and works of this person on the process of achieving new knowledge and new successes. Let us consider the history of the development of rocket technology and the subsequent history of rocket and space technology.
The Birth of Rocket Technology
If we talk about the very idea of jet propulsion and the first rocket, then this idea and its embodiment were born in China around the 2nd century AD. The propellant of the rocket was gunpowder. The Chinese first used this invention for entertainment - the Chinese are still leaders in the production of fireworks. And then they put this idea into service, in the literal sense of the word: such a “firework” tied to an arrow increased its flight range by about 100 meters (which was one third of the entire flight length), and when it hit, the target lit up. There were also more formidable weapons on the same principle - “spears of furious fire.”
In this primitive form, rockets existed until the 19th century. It was only at the end of the 19th century that attempts were made to mathematically explain jet propulsion and create serious weapons. In Russia, Nikolai Ivanovich Tikhomirov was one of the first to take up this issue in 1894 32 . Tikhomirov proposed using as a driving force the reaction of gases resulting from the combustion of explosives or highly flammable liquid fuels in combination with an ejected environment. Tikhomirov began to deal with these issues later than Tsiolkovsky, but in terms of implementation he moved much further, because he thought more down to earth. In 1912, he presented a project for a rocket projectile to the Navy Ministry. In 1915 he applied for a privilege for a new type of “self-propelled mines” for water and air. Tikhomirov's invention received a positive assessment from the expert commission chaired by N. E. Zhukovsky. In 1921, at the suggestion of Tikhomirov, a laboratory was created in Moscow for the development of his inventions, which later (after being transferred to Leningrad) received the name Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL). Soon after its founding, the activities of the GDL focused on the creation of rocket shells using smokeless powder.
In parallel with Tikhomirov, former tsarist army colonel Ivan Grave 33 worked on solid fuel rockets. In 1926, he received a patent for a rocket that used a special composition of black powder as fuel. He began to push through his idea, even wrote to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, but these efforts ended quite typically for that time: Colonel of the Tsarist Army Grave was arrested and convicted. But I. Grave will still play his role in the development of rocket technology in the USSR, and will take part in the development of rockets for the famous Katyusha.
In 1928, a rocket was launched using Tikhomirov's gunpowder as fuel. In 1930, a patent was issued in the name of Tikhomirov for the recipe for such gunpowder and the technology for making checkers from it.
American genius
The American scientist Robert Hitchings Goddard 34 was one of the first to study the problem of jet propulsion abroad. In 1907, Goddard wrote an article “On the Possibility of Movement in Interplanetary Space,” which is very close in spirit to Tsiolkovsky’s work “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments,” although Goddard is so far limited to only qualitative estimates and does not derive any formulas. Goddard was 25 years old at the time. In 1914, Goddard received US patents for the design of a composite rocket with conical nozzles and a rocket with continuous combustion in two versions: with a sequential supply of powder charges to the combustion chamber and with a pump supply of two-component liquid fuel. Since 1917, Goddard has been conducting design developments in the field of solid fuel rockets of various types, including multi-charge pulsed combustion rockets. Since 1921, Goddard began experiments with liquid rocket engines (oxidizer - liquid oxygen, fuel - various hydrocarbons). It was these liquid fuel rockets that became the first ancestors of space launch vehicles. In his theoretical works, he repeatedly noted the advantages of liquid rocket engines. On March 16, 1926, Goddard successfully launched a simple propellant rocket (fuel - gasoline, oxidizer - liquid oxygen). The launch weight is 4.2 kg, the achieved height is 12.5 m, the flight range is 56 m. Goddard holds the championship in launching a liquid fuel rocket.
Robert Goddard was a man of difficult, complex character. He preferred to work secretly, in a narrow circle of trusted people who blindly obeyed him. According to one of his American colleagues, " Goddard considered rockets his private reserve, and those who also worked on this issue were considered as poachers... This attitude led him to abandon the scientific tradition of reporting his results through scientific journals..." 35. One can add: and not only through scientific journals. Goddard’s answer on August 16, 1924 to Soviet enthusiasts of research into the problem of interplanetary flights, who sincerely wanted to establish scientific connections with American colleagues, is very characteristic. The answer is very short, but it contains all of Goddard’s character :
"Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts, Department of Physics. To Mr. Leutheisen, Secretary of the Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications. Moscow, Russia.
Dear sir! I am glad to know that a society for the study of interplanetary connections has been created in Russia, and I will be glad to collaborate in this work. within the limits of the possible. However, there is no printed material relating to work currently underway or experimental flights. Thank you for introducing me to the materials. Sincerely yours, Director of the Physical Laboratory R.Kh. Goddard " 36 .
Tsiolkovsky’s attitude towards cooperation with foreign scientists looks interesting. Here is an excerpt from his letter to Soviet youth, published in Komsomolskaya Pravda in 1934:
"In 1932, the largest capitalist Metal Airship Society sent me a letter. They asked for detailed information about my metal airships. I didn't answer the questions asked. I consider my knowledge to be the property of the USSR " 37 .
Thus, we can conclude that there was no desire to cooperate on either side. Scientists were very zealous about their work.
Priority disputes
Theorists and practitioners of rocketry at that time were completely disunited. These were the same “... unrelated studies and experiments of many individual scientists attacking an unknown area at random, like a horde of nomadic horsemen,” about which, however, in relation to electricity, F. Engels wrote in “Dialectics of Nature” . Robert Goddard knew nothing about Tsiolkovsky’s work for a very long time, as did Hermann Oberth, who worked with liquid rocket engines and rockets in Germany. Equally lonely in France was one of the pioneers of astronautics, engineer and pilot Robert Esnault-Peltry, the future author of the two-volume work “Astronautics”.
Separated by spaces and borders, they will not soon learn about each other. On October 24, 1929, Oberth would probably get the only typewriter in the entire town of Mediasha with Russian font and send a letter to Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga. " I am, of course, the very last person who would challenge your primacy and your merits in the rocket business, and I only regret that I did not hear about you until 1925. I would probably be much further ahead in my own works today and would do without those many wasted efforts, knowing your excellent works"Obert wrote openly and honestly. But it’s not easy to write like that when you’re 35 years old and you’ve always considered yourself first. 38
In his fundamental report on cosmonautics, the Frenchman Esnault-Peltry never mentioned Tsiolkovsky. Popularizer of science writer Ya.I. Perelman, having read Esnault-Peltry's work, wrote to Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga: " There is a reference to Lorenz, Goddard, Oberth, Hohmann, Vallier, but I did not notice any references to you. It seems that the author is not familiar with your works. It's a shame!"After some time, the newspaper L'Humanité will write quite categorically: " Tsiolkovsky should rightly be recognized as the father of scientific astronautics". It turns out somehow awkward. Esnault-Peltry tries to explain everything: " ...I made every effort to obtain them (works by Tsiolkovsky - Ya.G.). It turned out to be impossible for me to obtain even a small document before my reports in 1912". Some irritation is detected when he writes that in 1928 he received " from Professor S.I. Chizhevsky a statement demanding confirmation of Tsiolkovsky's priority." "I think I have fully satisfied him", writes Esnault-Peltry. 39
Throughout his life, the American Goddard never named Tsiolkovsky in any of his books or articles, although he received his Kaluga books. However, this difficult man rarely referred to other people's works.
Nazi genius
On March 23, 1912, Wernher von Braun, the future creator of the V-2 rocket, was born in Germany. His rocket career began with reading non-fiction books and observing the sky. He later recalled: " This was a goal that could be dedicated to for the rest of my life! Not only observe the planets through a telescope, but also break into the Universe yourself, explore mysterious worlds“40. A serious boy beyond his years, he read Oberth’s book about space flights, watched Fritz Lang’s film “The Girl on the Moon” several times, and at the age of 15 he joined the space travel society, where he met real rocket scientists.
The Brown family was obsessed with war. Among the men of the von Braun house, there was only talk about weapons and war. This family, apparently, was not devoid of the complex that was inherent in many Germans after defeat in the First World War. In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany. Baron and true Aryan Wernher von Braun with his ideas for jet missiles came to the court of the country's new leadership. He joined the SS and began to quickly climb the career ladder. The authorities allocated huge amounts of money for his research. The country was preparing for war, and the Fuhrer really needed new weapons. Wernher von Braun had to forget about space flights for many years. 41
At the end of 1934, von Braun and Riedel launched two A-2 rockets, nicknamed "Max and Moritz" after the popular comedians, from the island of Borkum. The rockets went up a mile and a half - it was a success! In 1936, on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, not far from the von Braun family estates, construction began on the ultra-modern Peenemünde military base. At the end of 1937, in Peenemünde, rocket scientists managed to create a 15-meter A-4 rocket, which could carry a ton of explosives 200 kilometers. It was the first modern combat missile in history. She was nicknamed "Fau" - from the first letter of the German word Vergeltungswaffee (which translates as "weapon of retribution"). In the summer of 1943, concrete bunkers were built on the French coast to launch missiles. Hitler demanded that London be filled with them by the end of the year. The cards were confused by the work of British intelligence. Von Braun was a master of camouflage, and for a long time Allied planes simply did not fly into the Baltic dunes. However, in July 1943, Polish partisans managed to obtain and transport drawings of the V-V and a plan for the missile base to London. A week later, 600 English “flying fortresses” arrived in Peenemünde. The firestorm killed 735 people and all the completed missiles. Rocket production was moved to the limestone Harz Mountains, where thousands of prisoners worked in the underground Dora camp. A year later in 1944, the Allies landed in France and captured the Vau launch sites. The time had come for von Braun, because his rockets flew further and could well have been launched from the territory of Holland or even Germany itself. Back in November 1943, the V-2 was tested in Polish villages, from which residents were not evicted for the sake of conspiracy. The missiles did not hit the target, but the Germans consoled themselves with the fact that such a large target as London was easier to hit. And they hit - from September 1944 to March 1945, 4,300 V-2 missiles were fired at London and Antwerp, which killed 13,029 people. 42
But it was already too late. This was the death throes of Nazi rule. In January 1945, Soviet troops approached Peenemünde. On April 4, the guards left the Douro, having previously shot 30 thousand prisoners. Von Braun took refuge in an Alpine ski resort, where the Americans appeared on May 10, 1945. He, an SS Sturmbannführer, could easily have been shot or taken into custody. Even his future boss, General Medaris, who stormed Berlin in the ranks of the Allies, later admitted that if he had come across Brown in 1945, he would have hanged him without hesitation. But Brown fell into the hands of completely different people - special agents of the American mission "Paper-Clip" ("paper clip"), which was searching for German rocket scientists. The "Rocket Baron" was transported overseas with all honors as a particularly valuable cargo. 43
Under the leadership of Baron von Baun, American engineers worked their magic on the V-2s exported from Germany. Already in 1945, the Conveyor company manufactured the MX-774 rocket, where instead of one Vau engine, four were installed. In 1951, von Braun's laboratory developed the Redstone and Atlas ballistic missiles, which could carry nuclear warheads. In 1955, Wernher von Braun became a US citizen, and it was allowed to write about him in the press.
On October 4, 1957, the first Soviet satellite took off into the sky, which greatly undermined the prestige of the Americans. The American Explorer was launched only 119 days later, and Soviet leaders were already hinting at the imminent human flight into space. Thus began the space race. Rocket launches in the United States have moved from the sole responsibility of the Pentagon to the hands of the government agency NASA. Under him, the John Marshall Space Center was created in Huntsville under the scientific leadership of Wernher von Braun. Now Brown had even more money and people than in Peenemünde, and he was finally able to realize his old dream of space flight.
The first Atlas launch vehicle was later replaced by the more powerful Titan, and then by the Saturn. It was the latter that delivered Apollo 11 to the Moon on July 16, 1969, and the whole world watched with bated breath the first steps of Neil Armstrong and the American flag on the Moon. The Apollo program, like previous space flights, was developed by Wernher von Braun. Brown reached the pinnacle of his career in 1972 - he became deputy director of NASA and head of the Cape Canaveral spaceport. The Nazi genius Wernher von Braun lived 65 years of a full, rich, happy life, both in terms of money and impressions. He was happy both in work and in his personal life.
Soviet genius
Let's go back to the past again, to the USSR. On January 12, 1907 in Zhitomir, in the family of a teacher of Russian literature P.Ya. The Queen gives birth to a son - Sergei Pavlovich Korolev 44. Since childhood, Korolev became interested in airplanes and airplanes. However, he was especially fascinated by flights in the stratosphere and the principles of jet propulsion. In September 1931 S.P. Korolev, at the age of 24, and the talented enthusiast in the field of rocket engines F.A. Tsander, who was already 44 years old, sought to create in Moscow, with the help of Osoaviakhim, the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD): In April 1932, it became essentially a state research and design laboratory for the development of rocket aircraft, in which the first domestic liquid-propellant ballistic missiles (BR) GIRD-09 and GIRD-10 are created and launched.
In 1933, on the basis of the Moscow GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL), the Jet Research Institute (RNII) was founded under the leadership of I.T. Kleimenov. S.P. Korolev is appointed as his deputy. Work at the institute was carried out in two directions. The missiles were developed by the department headed by G. Langemak. This department included I. Grave and Tikhomirov’s employees. It is these people and this department that the Red Army should be grateful for the creation of the famous "Katyusha" 45. The second department of the RNII developed long-range missiles using liquid fuel. Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko worked there. However, differences in views with the leaders of the GDL on the prospects for the development of rocket technology force S.P. Korolev switched to creative engineering work, and as the head of the department of rocket aircraft in 1936, he managed to bring cruise missiles to testing: anti-aircraft - 217 with a powder rocket engine and long-range - 212 with a liquid rocket engine. 46
At the end of the thirties, the state repressive machine did not bypass the young designer. On false charges, S.P. Korolev was arrested, and on September 27, 1938, he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in strict regime forced labor camps and sent to Kolyma
In 1939, the new leadership of the NKVD decided to organize design bureaus in which imprisoned specialists were to work. In one of these bureaus, headed by A.N. Tupolev, also a prisoner, was sent by Korolev. This team was involved in the design and creation of the Tu-2 dive bomber. Soon after the start of the war, Tupolev's Special Technical Bureau was evacuated to Omsk. In Omsk, Korolev learned that in Kazan a similar bureau was working on rocket boosters for the Pe-2 bomber under the leadership of former NII-3 employee Glushko. Korolev achieved a transfer to Kazan, where he became Glushko’s deputy. During these same years, he began to independently develop a project for a new device - a rocket for flights into the stratosphere. On July 27, 1944, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Korolev and a number of other employees of the regime design bureau were released early with their criminal records expunged.
After the end of the war in the second half of 1945, Korolev, along with other specialists, was sent to Germany to study German technology. Of particular interest to him was the German V-2 (V-2) rocket, which had a flight range of about 300 km with a launch weight of about 13 tons.
On May 13, 1946, a decision was made to create an industry in the USSR for the development and production of rocket weapons with liquid rocket engines. In accordance with the same decree, it was provided for the unification of all groups of Soviet engineers for the study of the German V-2 missile weapons, who had been working in Germany since 1945, into a single research institute "Nordhausen", the director of which was appointed General Major L.M. Gaidukov, and the chief engineer-technical manager - S.P. Korolev. 47
In parallel with the study and testing of the V-2 rocket, Korolev, appointed chief designer of ballistic missiles, and a group of employees developed the R-1 liquid fuel rocket; in May 1949, several launches of geophysical rockets of this type took place. In those same years, the R-2, R-5 and R-11 missiles were developed. All of them were adopted and had scientific modifications. In the mid-1950s, the Korolev Design Bureau created the famous R-7, a two-stage rocket that ensured the achievement of the first escape velocity and the ability to launch aircraft weighing several tons into low-Earth orbit. This rocket (with its help the first three satellites were launched into orbit) was then modified and turned into a three-stage one (for launching “lunars” and flights with a person). The first satellite was launched on October 4, 1957, a month later - the second, with the dog Laika on board, and on May 15, 1958 - the third, with a large amount of scientific equipment. Since 1959, Korolev led the lunar exploration program. As part of this program, several spacecraft were sent to the Moon, including soft-landing ones, and on April 12, 1961, the first manned flight into space was carried out. During Korolev’s lifetime, ten more Soviet cosmonauts visited space on his spaceships, and a manned spacewalk was carried out (A.A. Leonov on March 18, 1965 on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft). Korolev and a group of organizations coordinated by him created spacecraft of the Venus, Mars, Zond series, artificial Earth satellites of the Electron, Molniya-1, and Cosmos series, and developed the Soyuz spacecraft.
So, we can note the following main historical milestones in the development of rocket and space technology and their main figures. The ancestors of liquid-fuel rockets were solid-fuel rockets using gunpowder. The idea of creating such rockets goes back to ancient times, so all researchers from different countries began these developments independently of each other at the end of the 19th century. But the first idea to move from a solid-fuel rocket to a liquid-fuel one belongs to Tsiolkovsky. Later than Tsiolkovsky, the American Goddard, independently of anyone else, came up with this idea himself and was the first to bring it to life. In the 30s of the XX century. Almost simultaneously, the USSR and Germany are developing liquid-fueled ballistic missiles. The German genius of Baron Wernher von Braun turns out to be more successful, or rather luckier, than the Soviet Sergei Korolev, whom the Soviet authorities interfered with, and von Braun was completely helped by the German authorities. 30s of XX century. - This is a breakthrough in the rocket and space industry. After World War II, Wernher von Braun's V-2 missiles became the basis for the creation of Soviet and American ballistic missiles. From these developments grow multi-stage space launch vehicles. These post-war successes become the second major breakthrough in astronautics.
Bibliography
1. "Encyclopedia COSMONAUtics", M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1985, p. 398
2. M. Steinberg “A beautiful name that instills fear”, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 06/17/2005
3. I.N. Bubnov "Robert Goddard", M.: "Science", 1978
4. Y.K. Golovanov "Korolev and Tsiolkovsky". RGANTD. F.211 op.4 d.150, p. 4-5
5. “We are Tsiolkovsky’s heirs,” Komsomolskaya Pravda, 09/17/1947
6. Y.K. Golovanov “The Road to the Cosmodrome”, M.: Det. lit., 1982
7. V. Erlikhman, "Doctor Werner. The Silence of the Lambs", Profile N.10, 1998
8. "Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. On the 90th anniversary of his birth." Editorial Board of the magazine "Rocket Science and Cosmonautics", TsNIIMash
9. M. Steinberg “A beautiful name that instills fear”, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 06/17/2005
10. "Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. On the 90th anniversary of his birth." Editorial Board of the magazine "Rocket Science and Cosmonautics", TsNIIMash
Space is alive! Space cannot be dead. There are many innovative projects being developed around the world that are set to expand our understanding of the universe. They are using incredible technology, but many of them still need a lot of time to come to fruition. Although on an astronomical scale this is not much at all.
When significant budget cuts began at NASA, when the space race ended, when the USSR collapsed, people's hopes for space exploration around the world burst at the seams. But through the efforts of private companies and innovative breakthroughs from space agencies around the world, space will still be explored. There are a lot of projects that drive progress in the field of planetary science, deep space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life forms.
WorldView-3 offers extremely detailed images of the Earth. It was created by DigitalGlobe, whose satellites were used by Google Earth. The company currently has five satellites orbiting the Earth. WorldView-3 weighs 2 tons, is 6 meters tall and scans 120,000 square kilometers every day. The level of detail varies from 40 to 20 centimeters, allowing people to see individual plants or distinguish the make of a car. The satellite also collects data on crops and helps determine which plants lack water and which are already ripe. Researchers compare images and possible development scenarios. WorldView-3 has been called “the supercomputer of satellites.”
2. Solar Probe Plus
This NASA spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will launch in 2018. Among its tasks will be the study of the atmosphere of the Sun, and almost closely - up to 2 million kilometers from the star. The device will circle the Sun 24 times. The first revolution will take place 2 months after launch at a distance of 7 million kilometers from the Sun, and after that the approach will begin. Ultimately, the device will come closer to the Sun than Mercury. The mission will last three years. The probe is equipped with a special thermal shield made of carbon composite, which will protect it from temperatures up to 2550 degrees Celsius.
3. Deep space battery
No space agency would turn down a fuel cell that could be used on missions. The new energy storage device is essential to advance NASA's research, which is why the organization recently awarded four contracts to develop it. Energy storage is critical for missions to asteroids, Mars, or beyond. Proposals for this project are being made by a variety of NASA development centers, government research centers and academic institutions.
EmDrive is an experimental propulsion technology that is in its early stages of development. It was created by Robert Scheuer in 2006, but this year NASA became interested in the installation. An experiment conducted by Harold White showed that, although no one knows how. Researchers around the world began making their own versions of the engine.
EmDrive is a microwave propulsion engine powered by solar electricity that can be launched into deep space without liquid fuel and accelerate a spacecraft to speeds far exceeding those available today. No one actually knows how this engine works - essentially, it violates the law of conservation of momentum. There is an opinion that the engine will not work because an error crept into the experiment.
5. Hello Kitty messages
Japan is trying to get children and students interested in learning astrophysics by sending Hello Kitty into space on a satellite and receiving messages from the toy on Earth. One of the goals of the project is to attract investment from private companies in satellites. Since Hello Kitty is one of the most popular characters in Japan, her cultural popularity will help raise awareness of space technology. Sanrio, Hello Kitty's parent company, is also running a contest that will allow people to send messages to their loved ones from space.
6. "Rosetta"
Comet hunter Rosetta orbits a comet heading toward the Sun at 40,000 kilometers per hour. The spacecraft traveled to the comet for 10 years to land a small probe on its surface in November and sample material from the comet. The ship's goal is to understand how planets could be formed from comets.
7. Japanese space elevator
Tokyo-based Obayashi Corporation plans to build a space station 36,000 kilometers above Earth by 2050. The company plans to send tourists up in a carbon nanotube elevator at speeds of about 200 kilometers per hour (the journey will take about a week) and power the entire device with solar panels on a space station floating as a counterweight just above. Obayashi says he has no idea how much such a project would cost, but is working on it.
Tethers Unlimited has been awarded a $500,000 contract to develop a tool called SpiderFab, which will use 3D printers to create structures to help us search for extraterrestrial life. SpiderFab's main goal will be to free us from the need to send anything from Earth - everything will be assembled directly in space.
3D printing offers many beneficial benefits for space exploration: reduced travel time, cost, waste, increased customizability and sizing of parts. The only thing missing was materials. NASA has developed a 3D printer that can choose between different types of alloys to print spacecraft parts. SpaceX recently printed the main oxidizer valve for one of its rockets using such a printer. The company said it will use the technology for three years and will soon try to print a propulsion chamber.
The Skylon spaceplane, designed by a British engineer, can be used for a variety of purposes, from emergency response to space missions. The Skylon's landing and takeoff principle is similar to that of a conventional plane - except it needs a larger runway - but the engines run on liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The team of inventors claims that Skylon will be ready to fly in 2018.
10. 3D printed space telescopes
One NASA aerospace engineer is working on building a space telescope entirely from 3D printed parts. Using rapid prototyping for metal 3D printing, NASA says it can complete one project in just three months. difficult to manufacture, so 3D printing everything from mirrors to cameras will help overcome material and operational challenges.
