Back in the ussr

[mixedgas]

One big test chamber for satellites and other platforms. Perhaps some of the finest engineering pics I've ever seen come out of Russia.

This must have been a unlimited budget facility at one time.

Now its a scrap heap. But if they have one, they have more then one, usually.

http://saoirse-2010.livejournal.com/12792.html


Steve

[kitatit]

Hi Steve,
I love this sort of stuff! Thanks for posting

I'm always fascinated when I look at no compromise one off type assemblies of tech like this.

You can feel the presence of all the technicians, engineerees and people envolved in building it as you can see the hand made one off techniques used to build them and the time it takes. It's kind of like there is some sort of energy left behind that you don't feel as strongly from mass produced devices.

I really enjoyed visiting the British science museum in London and the Kenedy space centre in Florida. Both have great examples of this.

Does anyone have any suggestions for "must visit" tech tourist destination they have been to around the world?

It would be awsome to see some of the Russian facilities if they are open to the public.

[Picasso]

I think these pics are from Russia's version of the national ignition facility. Note the water cooling on the mirrors! Also is a 2nd set of pics of the same place. http://saoirse-2010.livejournal.com/12886.html

This is a great place to see, Everything is as it was during the cold war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Missile_Museum

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=Picasso;218177]I think these pics are from Russia's version of the national ignition facility. Note the water cooling on the mirrors! Also is a 2nd set of pics of the same place. http://saoirse-2010.livejournal.com/12886.html

Its not a NIF...

A short lesson in laboratory photo intelligence gathering :

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=Picasso;218177]I think these pics are from Russia's version of the national ignition facility. Note the water cooling on the mirrors! Also is a 2nd set of pics of the same place. http://saoirse-2010.livejournal.com/12886.html

Lets test that theory, shall we?

[mixedgas]

Lets test that theory, some more.
I wonder what the gaps in the rail are for?

[mixedgas]

That was theirs, this one is one of the USA's versions. Its housed in a former reactor shell and is a hour from my home, on the way to the place I ride Roller Coasters! You can see it from the highway. I got curious when a unlisted reactor seemed to be in my state. Then I got a tour as a high school student.

Proof of what it really is, tomorrow.

Still think its a laser?

I have to admit, the Russian one makes the local facility look crude.

On the other hand, our engineers built one out of concrete in a former reactor shell that needed cleanup. Note the size of the doorway.

Steve

[Picasso]

Ok so its a giant vac chamber and those xeons are just to simulate the sun? What are all the tubes inside chill tube? I guess I should tell the board now that I have a GED from the state of Alabama.

[mixedgas]

Sorry, didnt mean to imply you have a GED.

The tubes are to control temperature, when you do not have convection from air in the vacuum, you need need to do it via radiation which is slow and not very efficient, so some of the tubes are for water and some are for liquid nitrogen.

The whole chamber has to be isothermal, or the heat will go to the wrong place. Nasa uses a 5 MEGAWATT heater in theirs, so everything needs to be cooled. I imagine the Russians have similar heaters, in fact what appears to be a huge induction heater driver is in the basement.

That thing can simulate freezing space, solar heating, electron beam bombardment, RF, and sunlight, so it needs a lot of cooling/heating. It can hold a vacuum of about 1x10-6 Torr accross the chamber from the fittings I'm seeing, and that is not easy.

I'm guessing about 100 Million to build that place in 1970s Dollars, and I have no idea what that was in Rubles.

One massive array of Xenons.

The US version uses one massive Xenon, at 400 Kilowatts

The Russian one is huge, it can hold the most of the WHOLE rocket, vs the US one which just holds pieces/parts. That is why the platforms are in one picture. They can work on each stage of the rocket with it one piece, and I'm guessing with it fueled as well.

Since the holes in the gates are narrow, I'm guessing that was a ICBM test facility.

This is a combined VAB and test chamber, and that is wicked.


The local one is NASA Plumbrook, which solved the problem by cutting a door in a used reactor dome, and mounting the whole CONCRETE door on rails. It is however, no where as impressive as holding the whole rocket, or at least several stages at once.

Google Kennedy Space Center and VAB.

Sorry, I did not mean to be persnickety.
I intended this to be a learning exercise, and it backfired.

Steve.

[Picasso]

It did not back fire at all Im here to learn and look at naked pics of lasers. Much respect for your posts mixedgas. And I do have a GED, but I love it. I hang it on the wall.