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In a small town, lost in the desert region of California, an unknown lone amateur is trying to compete with world-famous billionaires and corporations for the right to build spaceships to send cargo to low Earth orbit. He does not have enough assistants and not enough resources. But, despite all the difficulties, he is going to bring his work to the end.

Dave Masten is staring at his computer screen. His finger hovered over the mouse button for a moment. Dave knows that he is about to open a letter from the DARPA agency, and this letter will change his life no matter what it says. He will either receive funding or be forced to give up his dream forever.

Two news

This is a real turning point, because at stake is participation in the DARPA-funded XS-1 program, which aims to build a reusable unmanned spaceplane that can withstand ten launches in ten days, accelerate to speeds in excess of 10 M and, with the help of an additional stage, deliver to low a payload weighing more than 1.5 tons. At the same time, the cost of each launch should not exceed $5 million. Dave Masten - the eternal outsider, a refugee from Silicon Valley, a hermit entrepreneur in the space industry - has never been so close to creating a full space system, like this time. If his company becomes one of the three participants in the XS-1 project, Dave will immediately receive a grant of $ 3 million and additional financial injections next year. And the cost of the future contract may exceed $140 million!

In case of refusal, Dave's company will remain an unknown small firm, eking out a miserable existence and cherishing the fragile dream of building orbital spacecraft. But, even worse, a rare opportunity to realize Masten's idea will be missed. State programs spaceflight has historically favored (in fact, it was a requirement) spacecraft that require an airfield or a huge parachute to land. Masten proposed to create a rocket with vertical takeoff and vertical fit- such that when returning to Earth, she will not need a landing strip or a parachute. The XS-1 program presented a good chance to implement this idea, but if luck suddenly turns its back and the chance to participate in it falls to another, then who knows if the government will open up new sources of funding in the future.

So one email, two completely different paths, one of which leads straight into space. Masten clicks the mouse and begins to read - slowly, delving into every word. When he's done, he turns to the engineers gathered behind him and with a straight face announces: “I have two news, good and bad. The good news is that we have been selected to participate in XS-1! The bad news is that we were selected for XS-1.”

Spaceport Cluster

The terrain in the north of the Mojave Desert is more reminiscent of scenes from a disaster movie: abandoned gas stations, painted with graffiti, and broken roads, on which carcasses of downed animals are found in some places, only reinforce this impression. Mountains flaunting on the horizon in the distance, unforgiving heat of the sun and seemingly endless cloudless blue sky.

However, this confusing emptiness is deceptive: in the western United States, Edwards Air Force Base (R-2508) is the main testing ground in the country. 50,000 square kilometers of closed airspace are constantly cut through combat aircraft. It was here 68 years ago that Chuck Yeager became the first aviator to exceed the speed of sound in controlled level flight.

The ban on passenger and private jet flights, however, does not apply to residents of the nearby Mojave Aerospace Port, which was designated the country's first commercial spaceport in 2004. Masten also moved here that same year, right after the startup he worked for as a software engineer was bought by communications giant Cisco Systems. Of several vacant buildings offered to Dave when he moved in, Dave chose an abandoned Marine barracks built in the 1940s. The building was in serious need of repair: the roof was leaking and the walls and corners were thickly adorned with cobwebs. For Dave, this was the ideal place: thanks to the high six-meter ceilings, all the aircraft that he and his three employees were constructing at that time could fit here. Another plus was the ability to stake out several launch sites and carry out test launches from them.

For several years, Masten Space Systems was known only to a few space technology experts and a few resident neighbors of the spaceport, including established industry giants such as Scaled Composites, which initiated private investment in space, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Vulcan Stratolaunch Systems Paul Allen. Their spacious hangars are literally crammed with sophisticated equipment, which costs more than the entire MSS put together. However, such competition did not prevent Masten's brainchild in 2009 from winning $ 1 million in a competition hosted by NASA to build a lunar lander. After that, they suddenly started talking about the company, and Dave began to receive orders - in addition to NASA, his rockets began to be popular with famous universities in the country and even in the Ministry of Defense - for high-altitude scientific experiments and research.

Computer mock-up of the XS-1 VTOL spacecraft designed by Masten Space Systems

After the official inclusion in the XS-1 program, the authority of MSS grew even stronger - in competition with the Boeing Corporation and the large military-industrial company Northrop Grumman, Masten looked very solid. In addition to these industry giants, Blue Origin, a private aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos, is involved in the project through a partnership with Boeing, as well as the already mentioned Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, collaborating with Northrop Grumman. MSS itself decided to join forces with another small company from Mojave - XCOR Aerospace. So, in the race to create a reusable space truck, Dave had to clash with the most venerable and well-endowed corporations. Only thirteen months remained until the next stage - the evaluation of intermediate results and the decision on further funding.

Better than Boeing

The MSS building is in the same condition as when it was occupied by Masten. The roof is still leaking, and you can accidentally stumble upon a poisonous spider. There are toolboxes around the perimeter. Apart from banners with the name of the company, a board covered with equations, and an American flag, there is nothing on the walls. The center of the hangar is occupied by the Xaero-B rocket, which rests on four metal legs, above which there are two volumetric spherical tanks. One of them is filled with isopropyl alcohol, the other is filled with liquid oxygen. Slightly higher in a circle are additional tanks with helium. They are necessary for the operation of the engines of the jet control system, designed to control the spatial position of the ship. The engine at the bottom of the rocket is mounted in a gimbal to keep this strange insect-like structure steerable.

Several employees are busy preparing Xaero-B for a joint experiment with the University of Colorado (Boulder, USA), in which it is planned to test whether the ship can communicate with ground-based telescopes and participate in the search for exoplanets.

Masten's company attracts a certain type of mechanical engineer who is a true fan of his craft. “I did an internship at Boeing in the engine department for the 777,” says 26-year-old engineer Kyle Nyberg. — Boeing — very good company. But to be honest, I don't like sitting in the office all day long. I imagined that the next 40 years of my life would go like this, and I got really scared. In a small private company like MSS, engineers can experience the full gamut of emotions when implementing their ideas - from euphoria to complete disappointment. You rarely see this anywhere."

Refueling at the Lagrange point

Masten's main focus has always been the creation of a rocket designed to carry cargo, not astronauts, a kind of "workhorse". Such ships will definitely be needed, for example, to transport oxygen and hydrogen from the lunar surface to filling station, which will one day be placed at one of the Lagrange points between the Earth and the Moon. That is why Masten lays in his developments the principle vertical takeoff and landings. “This is the only way I know of that will work on the surface of any solid body in the solar system,” he explains. “You can’t land a plane or a shuttle on the moon!”

In addition, VTOL makes it easier reuse space ship. Some of Masten's rockets have already made several hundred flights, preparing for a re-launch takes no more than one day. Under the terms of the XS-1 program, you need to make ten launches within ten days - for MSS this has long been commonplace. Here Dave is far ahead of his competitors, who have not yet managed to do this even once.

Humility and diligence

So, DARPA announced that all three participants in the XS-1 program were admitted to Phase 1B, for which each company will receive an additional $6 million. The main tasks of Phase 1 were to conduct design work and preparing the infrastructure—in other words, it was necessary to demonstrate that the company could operate in the XS-1. In phase 1B, participants must move on to trial runs, collect relevant data, and continue to refine the design to show how they plan to achieve the final goal. Phase 1B results are due next summer, with the first flight of the XS-1 into orbit scheduled for 2018.

No matter what the outcome of this competition is, the very fact that Dave has managed to get this far could turn the industry of private space projects upside down. “This is a game-changer,” said Hannah Kerner, executive director of the Space Frontier Foundation and a former NASA engineer. — The DARPA agency not only provided private companies with the opportunity to participate in the state space program, but also recognized in the recent small companies potentially serious players. Even if you forget about participation in XS-1 for a moment, MSS is still difficult to call an outsider company. In August, she opened new office at Cape Canaveral - in the space center in Florida, which has recently begun to function as a hub for commercial launches into space. In the same business center, located near the Kennedy Space Center, the office of SpaceX is located.

Despite this, MSS is still short on people and resources and is still a group of romantic engineers who drill, hammer and solder in their hangar next door to the wealthy. big companies. And involuntarily you start to root for them - you want them to succeed.

"I think we will definitely compete with our competitors," - that's all that Masten answered the question about the chances of success in the XS-1. He sees no reason to promise mountains of gold, although many of his colleagues in the shop have already become a habit. Many succeed because they can speak beautifully. Dave is not one of them - he is calm, hardworking, modest, but just like his rivals, he is passionately eager to realize his ideas.

World Space Week kicked off today. It is held annually from 4 to 10 October. Exactly 60 years ago, the first man-made object, the Soviet Sputnik-1, was launched into low Earth orbit. It orbited the Earth for 92 days until it burned up in the atmosphere. After that, the road to space and man was opened. It became clear that it cannot be sent with a one-way ticket. Vladimir Seroukhov, correspondent of the MIR 24 TV channel, learned how space technologies developed.

In 1961, Saratov anti-aircraft gunners spotted an unidentified flying object on the radar. They were warned in advance: if they see such a container falling from the sky, it is not worth interfering with its flight. After all, this is the first space descent vehicle in history with a man on board. But landing in this capsule was not safe, so at an altitude of 7 kilometers he ejected and descended to the surface already with a parachute.

The capsule of the ship "Vostok", in the slang of engineers - "Ball", also descended by parachute. So Gagarin, Tereshkova and other space pioneers returned to Earth. Due to the design features, passengers experienced incredible overloads of 8 g. The conditions in Soyuz capsules are much easier. They have been used for more than half a century, but they should soon be replaced by a new generation of ships -.

“This is the seat of the crew commander and co-pilot. Just those places from which the ship will be controlled, control of all systems. In addition to these chairs, there will be two more chairs on the sides. This is for researchers,” says Oleg Kukin, Deputy Head of the Flight Test Department of RSC Energia.

Compared to the Soyuz family of ships, which are still morally obsolete, and where only three astronauts could fit in close quarters, the Federation capsule is a real apartment, 4 meters in diameter. Now the main task- to understand how convenient and functional the device will be for the crew.

Management is now available to two crew members. The remote control keeps pace with the times - these are three touch displays where you can control information and be more autonomous in orbit.

“Here, in order to choose a landing site where we can sit down. We directly see the map, the flight route. They can also control weather conditions if this information is transmitted from Earth, - said Oleg Kukin, Deputy Head of the Flight Test Department of RSC Energia.

"Federation" is designed for flights to the moon, it's about four days of travel one way. All this time, the astronauts must be in the fetal position. In rescue chairs, or cradles, it is surprisingly comfortable. Each one is a piece of jewelry.

"The measurement of all anthropometric data begins with the measurement of mass," said Victor Sinigin, head of the medical department of NPP Zvezda.

Here it is - the space studio, the Zvezda enterprise. Here, individual spacesuits and lodgements are made for astronauts. For people lighter than 50 kilograms, the way on board is ordered, as well as for those who are heavier than 95. Height must also be average in order to fit in the cabin of the ship. Therefore, measurements are taken in the fetal position.

This is how the chair for the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata was cast. Got an imprint of the pelvis, back and head. In conditions of weightlessness, the growth of any astronaut can increase by a couple of centimeters, so the lodgement is made with a margin. It should be not only comfortable, but also safe in case of a hard landing.

“The very idea of ​​modeling is to save internal organs. Kidneys, liver, they are encapsulated. If they are allowed to expand, they can break like plastic bag with water that fell to the floor, ”Sinigin explained.

In total, 700 lodgements were made in this way not only for the Russians, but also for the Japanese, Italians and even colleagues from the States who worked at the Mir and ISS stations.

“The Americans on their Shuttle carried our lodgements and spacesuits that we made for them, and other rescue equipment. They left it all at the station, in case of an emergency leaving the station, but already on our ship, ”said Vladimir Maslennikov, lead engineer of the testing department at NPP Zvezda.

It will sail into space when a suitable launch vehicle is selected for it. This should happen within four years. The test will give a countdown to the new era of the space age.

Kostov Matvey

Participant of urban scientific readings for junior children school age section "Space World". The student talks about the device spaceships Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz.

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City scientific readings for children of primary school age

Section "Space World"

Topic: "Design of spaceships"

Class 3 B MBOU-gymnasium No. 2

Scientific adviser Mosolova G.V., primary school teacher

Tula 2013

Introduction

I am very interested in the design of spaceships. Firstly, because it is a large and complex apparatus, on the creation of which many scientists and engineers are working. Secondly, for several hours or even days, the ship becomes a home for an astronaut, where normal human conditions are necessary - the astronaut must breathe, drink, eat, sleep. During the flight, the astronaut is required to turn the ship around and change the orbit at his own discretion, that is, the ship must be easily controlled when moving in space. Thirdly, in the future I would like to design spaceships myself.

The spacecraft is designed to fly one or more people into outer space and safely return to Earth after completing the mission.

The technical requirements for a spacecraft are more stringent than for any other spacecraft. Flight conditions (overloads, temperature regime, pressure, etc.) must be maintained for them very accurately so that a threat to human life is not created.

An important feature of a manned spacecraft is the presence of an emergency rescue system.

Only in Russia, the USA and China manned spacecraft have been created, since this task high complexity and cost. And only Russia and the USA have reusable manned spacecraft systems.

In this work, I tried to talk about the design of the Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz spacecraft.

"East"

A series of Soviet spacecraft "Vostok" is designed for manned flights in near-Earth orbit. They were created under the leadership of General Designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev from 1958 to 1963.

The first manned flight of the Vostok spacecraft with Yu.A. Gagarin on board took place on April 12, 1961, it was the first spacecraft in the world that made it possible to carry out a manned flight into space.

Main scientific tasks, which stood for the Vostok spacecraft: studying the effects of orbital flight conditions on the astronaut's condition and performance, testing the design and systems, testing the basic principles of spacecraft construction.

The total mass of the spacecraft is 4.73 tons, the length is 4.4 m, and the maximum diameter is 2.43 m.

The spacecraft consisted of a spherical descent vehicle (2.46 tons in weight and 2.3 m in diameter), which also served as an orbital compartment and a conical instrument compartment. The compartments were mechanically connected to each other using metal bands and pyrotechnic locks. The ship was equipped with systems: automatic and manual control, automatic orientation to the Sun, manual orientation to the Earth, life support, command and logic control, power supply, thermal control and landing. To ensure the tasks of human work in outer space, the ship was equipped with autonomous and radio telemetry equipment for monitoring and recording parameters characterizing the state of the astronaut, structures and systems, ultra-shortwave and short-wave equipment for two-way radiotelephone communication of the astronaut with ground stations, a command radio link, a program-time device, a television system with two transmitting cameras for observing the astronaut from the Earth, a radio system for monitoring the parameters of the orbit and direction finding of the spacecraft, a TDU-1 braking propulsion system, and other systems. The weight of the spacecraft, together with the last stage of the launch vehicle, was 6.17 tons, and their length in conjunction was 7.35 m.

The descent vehicle had two windows, one of which was located on the entrance hatch, just above the cosmonaut's head, and the other, equipped with a special orientation system, in the floor at his feet. The astronaut, dressed in a spacesuit, was placed in a special ejection seat. At the last stage of landing, after braking the descent vehicle in the atmosphere, at an altitude of 7 km, the cosmonaut ejected from the cabin and made a parachute landing. In addition, the possibility of landing an astronaut inside the descent vehicle was provided. The descent vehicle had its own parachute, but was not equipped with the means to perform a soft landing, which threatened the person remaining in it with a serious bruise during a joint landing.

In case of refusal automatic systems astronaut could go to manual control. The Vostok ships were not adapted for manned flights to the moon, and also did not allow the possibility of flights of people who had not undergone special training.

"Sunrise"

Multi-seat Voskhod spacecraft carried out flights in near-Earth orbit. These ships actually repeated the ships of the Vostok series and consisted of a spherical descent vehicle with a diameter of 2.3 meters, in which the astronauts were accommodated, and a conical instrument compartment (weight 2.27 tons, length 2.25 m and width 2.43 m. ), which contained the fuel tanks and propulsion system. In the Voskhod-1 spacecraft, the cosmonauts settled down without space suits to save space. The first space crew included the designer of the descent vehicles Konstantin Feoktistov.

"Union"

"Soyuz" - a series of multi-seat spacecraft for flights in near-Earth orbit.

The Soyuz rocket and space complex began to be designed in 1962 as a ship of the Soviet program for flying around the moon.

The ships of this series consist of three modules: an instrument-aggregate compartment, a descent vehicle, and a utility compartment.

The power supply system consists of solar panels and batteries.

The descent vehicle contains places for astronauts, life support systems, control systems, and a parachute system. The length of the compartment is 2.24 m, the diameter is 2.2 m. The household compartment has a length of 3.4 m, a diameter of 2.25 m.

Conclusion

All the best and most modern developments of mankind, the latest advanced technologies and on-board equipment are used on spacecraft.

The Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz were replaced by more advanced orbital stations new generation and new possibilities.

They opened another page in the history of not only Russian but also world cosmonautics, they united cosmonauts from many countries.

Later, "Shuttles", "Burans" and other spacecraft appeared, but the basis for the development of modern aircraft It was these three described in my work that served.

I really hope that when I grow up I can also create or help create a new ultra-modern spacecraft that will fly to very distant galaxies.

Bibliography

1. Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Astronomer. Moscow. 2006 Compiled by Erpylev N.P.;
2. Encyclopedia for children. Cosmonautics. Moscow. 2010
3. Great feats. Series "Encyclopedia of discoveries and adventures". Moscow. 2008