Latest news on "Space"

Today, the All-Russian public organization "Union of Machine Builders of Russia" celebrates the 17th anniversary of its formation. Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation and Chairman of Soyuzmash of Russia, highly appreciated the role of the organization in ensuring the technological independence and defense capability of the country, solving key tasks for the production of civilian products and congratulated all Russian machine builders on this holiday.

Future colonists of the Moon will face a difficult task. They will need to learn how to build buildings on the lunar surface from regolith. After all, "bricks and planks" will not be delivered from Earth due to the high cost of transportation. Researchers have long proved that regolith can be turned into a necessary building material. Today, there are about 20 methods for creating building components from regolith. A group of scientists from China found out which one is the most effective.

The Chinese manned spacecraft Shenzhou-18, which was launched from the Jiuquan cosmodrome in Gansu Province in the northwestern part of China, successfully entered Earth orbit. Shenzhou-18 will deliver a crew of three taikonauts to the Chinese Tiangong orbital station, the assembly of the basic configuration of which was completed in 2022.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the progress of construction and modernization of infrastructure facilities at the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk Region), the military department reported on Wednesday.

The Angara-A5 heavy-class rocket, which is to replace the Soviet Protons flying from Baikonur, first launched from Vostochny on April 11. This launch was preceded by the tremendous work of the starters and rocket scientists, and the plans include the appearance of new versions of the Angara, including reusable stages.

A new era of energy or a pipe dream?

Japan has announced plans to send solar energy from space to Earth in 2025, two years after a similar achievement by American engineers. This development is a step towards a potential space-based solar power plant that could contribute to the abandonment of fossil fuels.

After years of delay due to COVID-19 and budget issues, the Dragonfly space project has finally been officially approved by NASA. The mission to send a research vehicle to Saturn's largest moon, Titan, will start in 2028. She will become the ideological heir to the Mars Ingenuity Mars project, a new milestone in the use of rotorcraft to explore other worlds.

The Economist: a drone with a flight range of up to three thousand km has been created in Ukraine

Kiev has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the development of UAVs that can detect and hit targets at a range of up to 3 thousand km. This is reported by the British magazine The Economist. How dangerous these drones are, what cities they can reach and how to protect themselves from them - in the material of the military observer of the Newspaper.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

Alexander Stepanov — about how the United States doctrinally fixed the course towards the militarization of outer space and how this will turn out for Russia and China

The new Pentagon strategy, published on April 2, calls for increased protection of satellites of private companies.

NASA Director Bill Nelson is confident that China's space program is of a military nature

The United States expects to land astronauts on the moon before China out of fear of the militarization of outer space. This statement was made on Wednesday at a hearing in the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress by the director of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Bill Nelson.

Ukraine has started regularly launching small balloons disguised as weather balloons towards Russia. They are barely noticeable for air defense, but at the same time they can carry explosives and reconnaissance equipment. Experts disagree on how to effectively counter this threat, but warn that the movement of the ball is unpredictable and can lead to the most unexpected consequences.

Space power plant projects face a range of engineering challenges. One of them is the transfer of energy collected by solar panels in geostationary orbit to Earth. The British company Space Solar not only offered a concise technical solution, but also successfully tested its reduced prototype.

Engineers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States have proposed a method that will help future colonizers of the Moon and their equipment to withstand dangerous lunar dust. We are talking about an electrodynamic dust shield, somewhat reminiscent of the work of a broom.

Mikhail Kotov — on the reasons for the three attempts and the significance of the new Russian heavy-class launch vehicle

On the eve of Cosmonautics Day, on April 11, the Russian Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle made its first launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome. However, it was possible to realize this only on the third attempt. But the Orion upper stage was put into a reference orbit, then it separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle and delivered the Gagarinets small satellite, developed by a private company, to low Earth orbit. After that, a mock-up of the payload was placed into geostationary orbit.

Products, materials and technologies created within the framework of space programs have become firmly embedded in modern life. Using communication, navigation applications in a smartphone, watching TV, we sometimes do not think that these and many other familiar things now have cosmic roots. TASS — about how space technologies help us every day.

The Pentagon is going to work out a scenario in space for the rapid deployment of a satellite orbital grouping in response to the threat posed by spacecraft of a potential enemy. During the exercises, the US military will use two satellites that private aerospace companies will develop specifically for this mission. Thus, the United States wants not only to "send a signal" to other countries that they will be able to quickly resist "aggression in orbit", but also to show exactly how they will do it.

Like any universal platform, the MZKT-490100 became the ancestor of a whole family of special purpose vehicles, such as reconnaissance, medical, communications and electronic warfare vehicles, and many others.

Russia is rolling out a new heavy launch vehicle "Angara-A5"

Russia has launched a new heavy launch vehicle Angara-A5 from the Vostochny cosmodrome into space. This is the most important event in the Russian space industry in several decades. How does the new carrier differ from the legendary Proton, what tasks will the new Angara perform and what significance does it have for the whole country?

The ExoMars project has been in limbo for the past two years. On the one hand, the European Space Agency promised to find resources to reformat the Rosalind Franklin rover mission, because without Russian participation, the rover lost its landing platform. On the other hand, it takes a lot of money and time. Finally, ESA has decided on all the nuances and signed a contract to perform the necessary work. The mission has become noticeably more expensive and will be delayed for several more years.

Chinese scientists have assessed their capabilities to implement the project of a promising space nuclear reactor with an electric capacity of one and a half megawatts. This is an installation with a liquid metal coolant and a gas turbine, which by weight and dimensions fits on a medium-class launch vehicle. Several prototypes of its critical components have already passed successful ground tests. But many of the necessary technologies require either international participation or intensive funding to refine.