The Kliper: A New Age of Russian Space Exploration

The US will soon be retiring their space shuttles to replace them with a new vehicle, scheduled for 2013. Until then, the Americans will be riding on Russian Soyuz capsules. But the Soyuz itself, a 40 year old technology with many modernizations, is on its way out, to be replaced with bigger better platforms.

The replacement for the will be the Kliper, a ship carrying 6 crew and a half ton of cargo. It is scheduled to fly its maiden voyage some time in 2010. The ship is about twice the size of the Soyuz and will require much larger rockets, most likely the Zenit class of booster rockets, in order to make orbit. It will return to earth by extending wings and gliding down, for a soft landing.

Interestingly enough, if things go according to plant, the new, larger Kliper, will actually save money. The present Soyuz missions run between $20 to $30 million each (compared to the American space shuttles at around $300 million each). Kliper flights are supposed to move more equipment and people for less money, but even it the costs stay the same, with more room on the ship, there will be room for more space tourists and at $20 million per pop, the ships will earn a profit, with just one added passenger.

Development of the Kliper is also priced at the low cost of $1 billion, compare that to the $10 billion for the American Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which is still on the drawing board.

But the Kliper is only the first modern step in a new plan by the Russian space agency to conquer the inner sphere of our solar system. Next on the development board is a manned spacecraft powered by a nuclear electric engine. For decades, Russia and the Soviet Union have developed nuclear powered satellites, which did not have to rely upon easily damaged solar arrays, for power. Of course those put out only kilowatts of power, while this ships engines will have to run on the megawatt range.

The ship’s design is scheduled to be complete by 2012 and a finished by 2021, at an estimated cost of 17 billion rubles, or $580 million. More realistic estimates put the price tag at $1 to $1.5 billion, over the next decade.

Another Perspective on Iran

Some have claimed that the revelation of the existence of a second Iranian nuclear facility diverted the focus of the recent G20 meeting from the global economic situation to nuclear proliferation.

The United States, Great Britain, and France were quite quick to condemn Iran and call for additional sanctions.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did not participate. It would appear that he is the voice of reason. Former US President George Bush referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil” in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Even though the US government claimed otherwise, no evidence of the existence of weapons of mass destruction was found in Iraq.

Russia, since Tsarist times, has had an interesting relationship with Iran that goes much deeper than some of the current political rhetoric. Russia may know something other nations do not, and Russia has played a key role in the construction of Iran’s nuclear facility at Bushehr.

Russia is clearly not advocating unchecked proliferation of nuclear weapons, but rather a measured approach to policy and relations with an important nation.

2009 Moscow Air Show

Over 400 Russian companies will participate in the MAKS-2009 air show outside Moscow on August 18-23, according to the Federal Service on Military and Technical Cooperation.

A total of 436 Russian organizations have filed applications for the air show, including 120 enterprises that will feature military products. Overall, 1,449 exhibits will be on display, including 470 full-scale models.

MAKS bills itself as a demonstration of the advantages and development trends of Russian science and industry in such high-tech areas as aviation, space, missile engineering.

More than 500,000 people are expected to visit the MAKS-2009 air show.

South Ossetia: One Year Anniversary

04.August.2009

Russian troops in South Ossetia have been put on increased combat readiness amid rising tensions on the de facto border with Georgia, officials said today.

Andrey Nesterenko, the spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said the move was meant to prevent more violence.

The situation near South Ossetia has become increasingly tense as the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war approaches Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the “lessons of last year’s Georgian crisis” in a telephone conversation late Tuesday, the Kremlin said in a statement. There was no elaboration.

After the war, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist region in Georgia, as independent nations and permanently deployed thousands of troops there.

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla!

Nikola Tesla (10.07.1856 – 07.01.1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. Tesla was an ethnic Serb born in the village of Smiljan, Vojna Krajina, in the territory of today’s Croatia. He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen.

Tesla is often described as an important scientist and inventor of the modern age, a man who “shed light over the face of Earth”.

He is best known for many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla’s patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

After his demonstration of wireless communication (radio) in 1894 and after being the victor in the “War of Currents”, he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla’s fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture.

The SI unit measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field “B”), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale (lightbulbs) as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial energy levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.

Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio.

Tesla was awarded the highest order of the White Lion by Czechoslovakia.

Somali Pirates Release Belgian Vessel And Crew

A Belgian ship and its crew captured by Somali pirates in April of 2009 have been released, according to an annou

The Pompei was hijacked north of the Seychelles on April 18. The crew of 10 was made up of two Belgians, one Dutch, four Croatians and three Filipinos.

Piracy has been soaring off the coast of eastern Africa, particularly Somalia, which has not had an effective government since 1991.

Somali pirates have defied foreign navies patrolling the waters and have collected large ransoms from shipping companies. The Russian Navy, however, has had success in thwarting the pirates’ plans. Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky!

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was born on 17.06.1882 in Russia and died on 06.04.1971 in America.

He was a composer, conductor, and pianist; he is recognized as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.

There was a riot at the premiere of one of Stravinsky’s early works, The Rite of Spring (1913). This work transformed the way many subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure, and, in many ways, established Stravinsky’s reputation as a musical revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of musical design.

Russia’s Arctic Treasures

The seabed of the arctic, especially the continental shelf north of Russia, is believed to be a fresh treasure trove of oil, natural gas and precious minerals. They were all inaccessible throughout history because the severe cold weather and the great ice cap made geological prospecting, let alone extraction, virtually impossible. But thanks to global warming, that is changing fast.

The Russian government takes the prospect of an energy and mineral bonanza beneath the melting arctic ice extremely seriously.

Former Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the resumption of long-range strategic bomber patrols over the Arctic Ocean after a long hiatus.

The slow-flying but long-endurance Tupolev Tu-95 Bear turboprop-powered bombers have exceptional range, and their relatively low fuel consumption allows them to stay aloft for unusually extended periods of time.

The Russian air force also has sent its most formidable, prestigious and expensive aircraft, the incomparable Tupolev Tu-160 White Swan (NATO designation Blackjack) on these arctic patrols as a further demonstration of how serious it is about enforcing its rights in the region.

Max Petroleum to Continue Work in Kazakhstan

Oil and gas explorer Max Petroleum Plc announced that Kazakhstan’s energy ministry had extended the exploration period of the company’s Astrakhanskiy block license by two years until Jan. 12, 2012.

The Kazakhstan-focused company said the amendment to the licence also established a three-year project, including a commitment to start drilling the first exploration well on the block by Dec. 31, 2009.

May 9th: Victory Day

May 9th is Victory Day (Den Pobedy). RADA sends its very best wishes to all who have served.