Russia To Save Its ISS Modules 280
jamax writes "According to the BBC, 'Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost. ... To facilitate the plan, RKK Energia, the country's main ISS contractor, has already started developing a special node module for the Russian segment, which will double as the cornerstone of the future station. ... Unlike many Nasa and European space officials, Russian engineers are confident that even after two decades in orbit, their modules would be in good enough shape to form the basis of a new space station. "We flew on Mir for 15 years and accumulated colossal experience in extending the service life (of such a vehicle)," said a senior Russian official at RKK Energia...' Is Russia the last country where engineers are not (yet) forced by corporations to intentionally produce designs that fail two days after warranty expires? There used to be a lot of equipment manufactured by various countries (Germany is the first one that comes to mind) that lasted virtually forever — old cars or weapons systems, but one rarely sees anything of the sort these days."
Before someone says it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Before someone says it (Score:5, Funny)
That's ok, we can still make jokes.
Jokes are only based loosely on reality, so it's alright to bend historical facts a bit.
Like saying that Napoleon didn't ride a horse, because he read too many comics... (he had hemorrhoids, rumour says.)
So here we go. In soviet russia, engineers saved old space station.. oh wait... no that doesn't work (too close to truth)
In soviet America products design you to fail!
Re:Before someone says it (Score:5, Funny)
I for one welcome our historically accurate but humourless overlord...
Re:Why burn them up? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Before someone says it (Score:5, Funny)
That is the best quote I've read in ages.
Re:Reuse minimizes mistakes and costs (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reuse minimizes mistakes and costs (Score:4, Funny)
Cool, bro! Fuck yeah, VB rocks.
*high five*
Re:Before someone says it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Value Engineering & Built-in obsolescense (Score:5, Funny)
While you can't box up a satellite you can return it to the manufacturer. Burning through the atmosphere will void the warrenty but it leaves such a mark on the company.
The really hard part is targeting.
Typical of the Russian mindset (Score:5, Funny)
Look at the Kalashnikov: crude, but timeless. Our tax dollars have bought hundreds of thousands of AK-knockoffs in the last few years alone, for our puppets... I mean allies.
Fictional but true... (Score:3, Funny)
"Russian components...American components...ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!" -Lev Andropov, from Armageddon [imdb.com]
Lev Andropov says: (Score:2, Funny)
[hits panel with tool]
Re:Before someone says it (Score:3, Funny)
You live in Canada [wikipedia.org] too?
Re:Before someone says it (Score:2, Funny)
In soviet America products design you to fail!
I think Microsoft has the rights to this quote. Best be careful..
Re:Before someone says it (Score:4, Funny)
Yep, I'd give that one mod points if I had any
But at least I can write it into my quickie file of "Clever quotes to plagiarize" for future use
Re:Reuse minimizes mistakes and costs (Score:2, Funny)
How on earth could your professor not catch that?
Just going to hazard a guess here... it probably had something to do with being a fucking idiot.