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Science

Russia Loses Inflatable Spacecraft 180

Posted by timothy from the last-place-you-look dept.
Treeluvinhippy writes: "This article is a little light on details, but it looks like the Russians lost the Demonstrator-2 spacecraft. For those who don't know this craft was the inflatable launched from a submarine. Slashdot has the scoop of the launch right here"
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Russia Loses Inflatable Spacecraft More

Russia Loses Inflatable Spacecraft

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  • Uh-oh (Score:4, Funny)

    by e03179 ( 578506 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @02:49AM (#3880518) Homepage
    My car insurance company will never believe me when I tell them that I ran into a Russian space craft.

  • Where was it aimed? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Grip3n ( 470031 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @02:54AM (#3880537) Homepage
    "On Friday, Russia's Ryazan nuclear sub launched Demonstrator-2 on a converted Volna SS-N-18 intercontinental ballistic missile"

    Have they tried looking around the Pentagon to see if it landed there? How about the White House? NORAD perhaps? Sometimes those guys forget to take the target off the defaults you know...
    • This just goes to show that we may have overreacted at that whole "Cold War" thing... see, there was nothing to worry about since the ICBMs would have "mysteriously disappeared" long before they reached us.
  • I wonder how much they are spending on theses launches? I assume that using an ICBM rocket is probably far cheaper and (with nuclear arms cutbacks - especially in long range specs) far more expendable.

    Still this is probably costing several million in administration and R&D alone.

    Hopefully they are learning a lot and this will aid missions in the future.

    • I wonder how much they are spending on theses launches? I assume that using an ICBM rocket is probably far cheaper and (with nuclear arms cutbacks - especially in long range specs) far more expendable.

      Still this is probably costing several million in administration and R&D alone.

      Probably. Rather less than NASA spent on space shuttle tiles I suspect, although I don't know whether this system could handle a vehicle of the Space Shuttle's weight. Then again, it wouldn't need to weigh as much if it used this system.

    • seems like launching it from a submarine would take an aweful lot more money & effort then from land ? it's not like russia has a shortage of space ?
  • Earlier, Babakin Space Center spokeswoman Lidia Avdeyeva confirmed the landing, but efforts to locate the vehicle so far have failed to bear fruit.

    And now somebody is sporting the coolest inflatable mattress ever! Keep an eye out for it next time you go to the beach.
  • It took a little digging around, but I finally found a pic of one of the test pilots in training. Click here [nanogator.com]. I'm surprised at how athletic she appears for a Russian woman.
  • If you cannot find it it is useless. These things happen.
  • well, a perfectly good oportunity to poke a little fun at the russian space program ruined by a small html flub making this page, like so many movie and airline seats promise to be, extra wide
  • Sounds like the Russian space agencies and R&D teams were looking at making a really cheap mode of transport recovery... only thing is they forgot that when they take the plug out of the seal... it tends to release whatever air/gas it contains... ooops I guess they didn't read the instructions the designer gave them... well no matter yet another one down the tubes.
  • ..and the Russians have lost their raft.

    The kids are bored,
    at home
    on a computer they can't afford,

    A first post will not be had
    in these coming weeks.
    and it's sad.

    "I give you me, I give you nothing" - Bad Religion

    More catchy tunes [facethecrowd.com] (CARP-free music!!!)

  • "its ability to inflate two thermo-proof panels it carries to up to 13 feet provides for aerodynamic breaking"

    aerodynamic breaking... LOL.

    Pat

  • Undoubtably if some Russian engineer had remembered to put batteries in the GPS, the mission would have been a "success."

    Losing a spacecraft is bad [scifi.com]
  • They are just waiting on Taco Bell to determine the grand prize winner....

    *rimshot*
  • Inflatable Spacecraft? Lemme guess, the interior is black lights on a velvet poster of Hendrix. Oooohhh yeeeah.

    Combined with the inflatable furniture this thing is a portable bachelors pad! Can't wait till Thinkgeek starts to sell these!

  • They can track my stolen vehicle in under a minute but they can't locate a space vehicle!?!?

    "If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly"

  • Inflatable? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by kasperd ( 592156 )
    This makes me wonder, how would they have prevented it from blowing when it reached the vacuum in outer space?
    • This makes me wonder, how would they have prevented it from blowing when it reached the vacuum in outer space?

      The same way you keep an ordinary balloon from exploding. Make sure that the balloon's materials can take the pressure difference.

      There's nothing magical about vacuum.
      • Yup, the same you keep the astronauts suit from exploding, and the same way you keep the space shuttle from exploding and the same way planes can fly at 30,000 feet and the people inside can still breath but the plane doesn't explode.
  • The vehicle, developed jointly by the Babakin Center, the European Space Agency and the German-based Astrium space firm, aims to revolutionize cargo deliveries and transportation of astronauts.
    Demonstrator-2 is small in size -- the folded-up vehicle measures less than 3 feet in diameter making it the most compact space vehicle ever made
    Two previous attempts to launch Demonstrator-2 ended in failures
    Uh...yeah
    • I don't know of any 3 foot astronauts.
    • a 3 for 3 failure rate doesn't instill confidence.
    • There seems to be an awful lot of inflatable women posts tonight
    • I don't know of any 3 foot astronauts.

      Well, if you sit down and hug your knees, you might fit in. You'd feel a bit like inside a cannon ball, I guess. Anyway, that's just a prototype, they'd probably make a bigger one, once they got the system working.

      a 3 for 3 failure rate doesn't instill confidence.

      That's true, but such a rate is not unusal for new technologies in the field of space exploration.

      There seems to be an awful lot of inflatable women posts tonight

      Yeah, now that you mention it... :)

    • I don't know of any 3 foot astronauts.

      Demonstrator-2 as in not RealImplementation-1.

      This is obviously still in early development. The first plane wasn't a 747 either and if I recall correctly, NASA didn't start with manned missions either for their prototypes.
    • If you read the full article you would have found out that it is only 3 feet 'Un-Inflated' and inflates to 13 feet:

      " Demonstrator-2 is small in size -- the folded-up vehicle measures less than 3 feet in diameter making it the most compact space vehicle ever made. However, its ability to inflate two thermo-proof panels it carries to up to 13 feet provides for aerodynamic breaking, which can reduce the craft's speed by nearly a thousand times."

      Add to that the potentially rational conclusion that this may only be used for inorganic/non-sentient payloads and it starts to make more sense.

    • If the vehicle is used to bring down astronauts which are already in orbit, they don't have to fit in the three-foot packing box.

      There are decades-old designs for inflatable reentry craft, particularly for emergency use. They were considered for Skylab, if that had become a permanent station. They've also been considered for the ISS, but a solid lifeboat was approved -- until it was cancelled.

      The simplest design resembles a foil-covered cone, with one or two astronauts at the apex...and a small deceleration rocket someplace. The rocket is most easily used before inflating the reentry vehicle, but then you're committed to reentry whether your shield inflates properly or not.

  • Of course details are sketchy.... Nobody is buying the Weather Ballon theory this time.
  • Slashdot has the scoop of the launch right here

    and I was all excited that Slashdot might have actually done some real investigative journalism, oh well, another post
    • It would be nice if Slashdot would leverage it's community and reader base into an effective first-hand account news source. The potential is definitely there... motivation and/or purpose seems lacking though.

      Could be a result of being a subsidiary of VALinux/parent company instead of part of a larger media co.

      I think we's all love it if /. became something like the Routers service or even like the BBC.

      Vision:

      Politically neutral tech and tech related news/media/public forum. It is all of these things already but doesn't take itself seriously... and that very well could be a Good(TM) thing.

  • Odds are that it burned up in re-entry, IMHO. I would assume the Russians know how to aim, so if it's not there it's probably gone. Then again, maybe their aim is so off that we would have all survived a WW3?
    • According to the article:

      "Earlier, Babakin Space Center spokeswoman Lidia Avdeyeva confirmed the landing, but efforts to locate the vehicle so far have failed to bear fruit, TVS reported."

      They may be covering for their short-sightedness, etc though so who knows. I suppose it depends on how high the inflatable re-entry device was released and what sort of protection it had to re-entry forces/temp. I thought of this as a problem with the concept when I first heard about it.
    • Then again, maybe their aim is so off that we would have all survived a WW3

      This just in, Canada brutalized by Russian nuclear weapons... 10 dead. Film @ 11...

  • Knee jerk reaction (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theolein ( 316044 ) on Sunday July 14, 2002 @07:14AM (#3880950) Journal
    Why is it that every single post on some good idea that does not come from the USA ends up on /. getting trolled and flamebaited to all hell? One would think , or at least hope, that the kind of people who frequent /. would be a little bit more open minded than that.

    Apart from that, I like the idea of this experiment that the Russians are doing. Apart from turning ICBM's into space launchers and having a good way of protecting packages that must return to earth, it seems like it is providing the basic research for Astronaut emergency reentry technology.
    • "it seems like it is providing the basic research for Astronaut emergency reentry technology."

      I would agree with you if I didn't think that any sort of 'extra-vehicular' (even with these 'escape pods') would seriously be a 'fatally' flawed excercise in futility.

      On the other hand this tech could be used very successfully in future Moon/Mars/other 'in-atmosphere' landings (I'm not confident about the whole high-heat re-entry via invlatable device technique from out of atmosphere orbit).

      Also i don't think this is intended for astronauts or cosmonauts but is intended for robotic probes, etc. which require an unmanned and at least 5 of 9's landing success rate.

      • Also i don't think this is intended for astronauts or cosmonauts but is intended for robotic probes, etc. which require an unmanned and at least 5 of 9's landing success rate.

        I'm sure that that rate has never, ever been achieve for any reentry vehicle by any country. The landing of the Space Shuttle is one of the most dangerous parts of the mission. Even if it were a 5 9s procedure, we wouldn't know until we had done 100,000 landings.

    • Why is it that every single post on some good idea that does not come from the USA ends up on /. getting trolled and flamebaited to all hell?

      It's largely because 'America is the best country in the world'. And Americans know this because their government told them so and the gullible fools actually believe it(!) IMO space is not something that America excels at, although they mostly cover it up by spending obscene amounts of money. I mean, any dog can be made to fly if you throw enough money at it- check out the Space Shuttle! It's a reusable space vehicle that was designed to cost less than an expendable vehicle- but it turns out, it didn't, by a long, long, long way; but they continue to run it! OTOH the Russians built a similar vehicle, launched once, then immediately ditched it, because they found it cost too much. Fair enough, you might argue they should have figured that out before they built it, but you only really know that when you've done it. NASA seems to have entirely missed this point.

      One would think, or at least hope, that the kind of people who frequent /. would be a little bit more open minded than that.

      Yes. But I see little evidence.

      • Since it seems you have given the subject of American arrogance a bit of "thought", here's an honest, no-bullshit tidbit for you to munch on: much American pride stems from the fact that our system and our people produce the "obscene amounts of money" that you seem to consider cheating. We like to think that being rich mother-fuckers is not pure blind luck.

        Doubtless you disagree.

        • Nice political system too, how much does it cost to buy a presidency these days? You don't even need anything awkward like a majority either ;-)

          Oh yeah, and funny how it's the other countries with the higher standard of living and per capita income! I think that's not a coincidence either!

          We like to think that being rich mother-fuckers is not pure blind luck.

          No you've practiced that a lot I'd expect. Still, as long as you like to think that, it'll be ok.

          • Oh yeah, and funny how it's the other countries with the higher standard of living and per capita income! I think that's not a coincidence either!

            Damn. You've forced me to inject facts into a perfectly good flamewar. Here [worldbank.org] is a table that seems to indicate that, adjusted for purchasing power, the U.S. comes in third behind Luxembourg and Liechtenstein in gross national income. Which one of those do you live in?

            No you've practiced that a lot I'd expect. Still, as long as you like to think that, it'll be ok.

            Um, practiced which? Being rich, mother-fucking, or blind luck?

            • Damn. You've forced me to inject facts into a perfectly good flamewar. Here [worldbank.org] is a table that seems to indicate that, adjusted for purchasing power, the U.S. comes in third behind Luxembourg and Liechtenstein in gross national income.

              You see? There's plenty more to life than buying power though. Many of these countries have free medical benefits. Also some other countries have extra bonuses, Sweden has swedish women(!); and if the reports are true about iceland (all of the women look like Sharon Stone), then I'd quite like to live there, even with less spending power; heck that's my next holiday right there! ;-)

              Which one of those do you live in?

              It's not the country, it's the personal circumstances isn't it?

              • Allright, we can stop now; you seem to be pretty decent guy, and we don't even have to compete for the same women, 'cause I prefer brunettes ;) If I were travelling to meet women, I think I'd try Italy or Israel. (My wife prefers I not do this, however.)
    • ...it seems like it is providing the basic research for Astronaut emergency reentry technology.

      Define "basic research".

    • Don't lump everyong into the same bag. Check out *who* is doing the posting. Perhaps they are trolls, perhaps they are a few US chauvanists. Perhaps they are non-USians who happen to dislike Russia. Good God, they are plenty of possible explanations. Do not just jump on the easy anti-American one. Just because there are a few loud-mouths, does not mean everyone is a jerk.
  • How come when I read Russian inflatable spacecraft I think of something like this [airshow.com].
  • Our politicians may be full of hot air,
    NASA officials may be full of hot air,
    we might all be full of hot air,

    but at least our satellites aren't!!

    Unless, of course, you count things like the Mars Pathfinder which landed inside a coccoon of airbags and the upcoming Mars Rover missions which will do the same.
    But those don't count, right?
  • Who let the trolls out !!!! BLAH, BLAH !!! ..... and repeat until you throw up.

    This most be the most trolled post I have ever seen. I wonder if the russian want any candidates for the next probe they launch? They can test the effectiveness of trolls as air brakes and landing cushions....

    - HeXa
  • the F@lun G0ng might of mistaken the Soviet spacecraft for a Chinese one and taken control of it.....

    seriously though - at least Russia is making use of the old ICBMs they have. As long as they remember to remove the warheads and keep the "lost" spacecraft from falling back to earth... practice makes perfect.

    - HeXa

  • Oh come on (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by shed ( 68365 )
    Who'd get turned on by an inflatable spacecraft? Just cleaning the thing when you're done could take all day.

    Now an inflatable penguin...

  • I'd say it was probably struck by some of the space junk that's orbiting the earth at thousands of miles per hour. They should ask the folks on the ISS to keep an eye out for a deflated beach ball.

  • Bad geography (Score:2, Informative)

    by michalw ( 182661 )
    No wonder they can't find it, check the webpage of the GPS part makers GPS Tracking of the IRDT-2 Re-entry Capsule [weblab.dlr.de] quote: "...The IRDT-2 capsule will be launched by a Volna rocket from a Kalmar type submarine in the Baltic sea north of Murmansk..."

    Murmansk is nowhere near the Baltics...
  • .. the natives are worshipping their newly discovered floating God.

    Rogue members have tried unsucessfully to rid their new God, but the rocks and sticks they throw at it magically bounce off and repel back.
  • Slashdot says they have the "scoop" on this, when in fact they're just reposting a story from CNN.

    Here's a real scoop for you, /.

    Reposting != scooping

    scooping == being the first to get a story, something that /. is never going to be known for...
  • Isn't that supposed to be theoretically possible?
  • ... this means they might lose Lance Bass [space.com] too.

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