Νew Technologies and Innovation Development in Russia

miketheterrible wrote:Flying cars won't ever take off (pun intended).  Can't regulate the traffic, deadly if fuel runs out, lack of infrastructure to land the system, etc etc.  

They are sci-fi anti-gravity device transport.   Trying to make them as primitive imitations with regular engines in the real world is idiotic.

kvs wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:Flying cars won't ever take off (pun intended).  Can't regulate the traffic, deadly if fuel runs out, lack of infrastructure to land the system, etc etc.  

They are sci-fi anti-gravity device transport.   Trying to make them as primitive imitations with regular engines in the real world is idiotic.

Engines and what not alone isn't even the whole issue.  Issue is as I mentioned, regulations, traffic control, landings and take off, etc.

What if you need to land? How will you know you won't crush someone? Or the engines requires (which would generate so much heat due to power required to even fly) wouldn't cook someone or whatever else? What if there is a traffic jam all around on the ground? What if there is an air collision?

This is just Hollywood nonsense mixed with companies looking to hype up stocks and generate more investment money to quickly pocket.

miketheterrible wrote:

kvs wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:Flying cars won't ever take off (pun intended).  Can't regulate the traffic, deadly if fuel runs out, lack of infrastructure to land the system, etc etc.  

They are sci-fi anti-gravity device transport.   Trying to make them as primitive imitations with regular engines in the real world is idiotic.

Engines and what not alone isn't even the whole issue.  Issue is as I mentioned, regulations, traffic control, landings and take off, etc.

What if you need to land? How will you know you won't crush someone? Or the engines requires (which would generate so much heat due to power required to even fly) wouldn't cook someone or whatever else? What if there is a traffic jam all around on the ground?  What if there is an air collision?

This is just Hollywood nonsense mixed with companies looking to hype up stocks and generate more investment money to quickly pocket.

I'm sure that all the same issues were around when the automobile was introduced as an alternative to the horse & carriage

And for a decade or two it was just a novelty for the rich and adventurous, and were very primitive at that. Pretty soon though omnibus operators started to use them, the steam-powered versions, then motor-powered. Then taxi operators got on board, the military too. And by the 20s it started to penetrate into the middle class as a means of personal transport.

I really wouldn't write the tech off. Already a company in Russia has sold flying motorbikes to the police in the UAE. And there are companies around the world working on such vehicles. It will take a while certainly for the tech to mature though and for investment into infrastructure to be worthwhile.

miketheterrible wrote:

kvs wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:Flying cars won't ever take off (pun intended).  Can't regulate the traffic, deadly if fuel runs out, lack of infrastructure to land the system, etc etc.  

They are sci-fi anti-gravity device transport.   Trying to make them as primitive imitations with regular engines in the real world is idiotic.

Engines and what not alone isn't even the whole issue.  Issue is as I mentioned, regulations, traffic control, landings and take off, etc.

What if you need to land? How will you know you won't crush someone? Or the engines requires (which would generate so much heat due to power required to even fly) wouldn't cook someone or whatever else? What if there is a traffic jam all around on the ground?  What if there is an air collision?

This is just Hollywood nonsense mixed with companies looking to hype up stocks and generate more investment money to quickly pocket.

But if they were anti-gravity sci-fi devices they would be able to hover forever and would have enough resources to counteract
strong wind gusts. They would also have AI and sensors that would control for any collision with other objects including people
when landing. So it does go back to the way these things are kept in the air. Rinky dink engines necessitated by weight
reduction defeats the concept before it is even out of the gate.

Specialists from the Yaroslavl Research Institute of Space and Aviation Materials (NIICAM) presented their innovative polymer material aristide. According to the creators, its weight is 10 times less than aviation aluminum, and it is also able to withstand temperatures up to 1300 degrees.

The innovative development is positioned not only as a potential replacement for aviation aluminum and epoxy polymers used in the space industry, but also can have a wide military application. So, according to the Yaroslavl authorities, the new material is able to withstand a hit from a small-caliber combat weapon and "gradually regenerate".

Source: https://runews24.ru/science/20/10/2020/c3716c2fe3ba1e27645845d4d3fd4de8

SuperOx's all electric engine is 99.7% efficient!

A flying laboratory with an electric power plant is being created in Russia


ZAO SuperOx has developed the world's first engine with an efficiency of 99,7 percent, the principle of which is based on superconductivity. Now in Russia they are creating a flying laboratory with an electric power plant, where such an engine will be used.

It is reported by the news agency. Interfax.

Andrei Dutov, Director General of the Zhukovsky Institute, told reporters today that, in his opinion, the serial production of aircraft with fully electric power plants will be launched by 2030.

Now the Siberian Research Institute, which is part of the Zhukovsky Research Center, has created the first flying laboratory on an electric drive, which will make its first flight this year. It is built on the basis of the Yak-40 aircraft, in the nose of which, where the propeller is located, an auxiliary 500 kW electric motor is installed. The standard engine in the tail section was replaced by a turboshaft gas turbine engine with an electric generator.

Today the laboratory in Novosibirsk has successfully passed ground tests. The aircraft was rolled out of the hangar, after checking the compatibility and stability of its systems.

In two years, a similar flying laboratory is planned to be created on the basis of the Il-114. An electric motor with a capacity of 1 MW will be installed there.

https://en.topwar.ru/179720-v-rossii-sozdajut-letajuschuju-laboratoriju-s-jelektricheskoj-silovoj-ustanovkoj.html

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/zavodfoto/proizvodstvo-pervoi-v-rossii-tihohodnoi-parovoi-turbiny-nabiraet-oboroty-601af0df571f7906b2beef31

Production of Russia's first low-speed steam turbine is gaining momentum

New electric rocket engines, new materials (including Aristide), a nuclear space tug. A program about the Keldysh Center.

There are some rumors that the demonstration of nuclear technologies was so successful that state programs in the field of space and new-generation nuclear technologies worth trillions of rubles are being prepared. We are waiting for new announcements.

Article about the development of a new electric rocket engine based on superconducting magnets:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1686/1/012023/pdf

Link to the news on the developer's website: https://www.superox.ru/news/fevral-2021/3569/

I'll post some news to give example:

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/139499/

ZiO-Podolsk develops high-speed hole drilling technology for VVER-1200 nuclear power plants

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/139510/

Rospatent named top 10 Russian inventions of 2020

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/139511/

Scientists from Russia have updated the world record in the field of quantum cryptography

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/139384/

Russian it solution helps universities switch to remote management

https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/10716557/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Twitter
@Russ_Warrior
THREAD.
#Russia's top 10 Technological Achievements of 2020.

https://twitter.com/Russ_Warrior/status/1358469571972333572?s=20

The developer of the Russian "Bulava" created an unmanned Maglev



The Moscow Institute of heat engineering Corporation (MIT), which created the Bulava-30 ballistic missile R-30, has developed a Maglev train that can, in particular, operate in unmanned mode. This was announced to TASS by the General designer of the enterprise Yuri Solomonov.

The academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) noted that the goal of the project is to create a full-size technology demonstrator that would allow us to confirm the correctness of the mit approach to Maglev. The hero of Russia added that the ongoing work is based on the project of a monorail transport system.

"Currently, the production of components and electrical equipment of the EPS layout is underway (electric rolling stock-approx. "Feeds.<url>"). The estimated start date for sea trials is the third quarter of this year, " the General designer said.

The Agency writes that "based on the test results, a decision will be made to deploy full-scale work on mass production of a new type of monorail transport system and their replication for the country's regions."

In December 2020, the K-551 Vladimir Monomakh strategic missile cruiser of project 955 Borey launched four R-30 Bulava-30 ballistic missiles at once for the first time. At the same time, the American magazine Popular Mechanics wrotethat the salvo launch of four Bulava-30 P-30s at once, produced by the K-551 Vladimir Monomakh of the Russian Navy, looks like a " preview of the end of civilization."


Ivan Potapov

https://z5h64q92x9.net/proxy_u/ru-en.en.4481c89f-602ff69f-54b4587b-74722d776562/https/vpk.name/news/486371_razrabotchik_rossiiskoi_bulavy_sozdal_bespilotnyi_maglev.html

Bye, bye Bill! Russia’s nuclear officials abandon America's Microsoft Office software & switch to home-designed tech — reports
19 Feb, 2021

Moscow officials are set to pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar deal with US computing giant Microsoft, and instead buy the rights to a Russian-made suite of programs for employees of the country’s nuclear safety regulator.

On Wednesday, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that a source from the state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, confirmed it had completed a tender process to keep its computers ticking over. Management is said to have handed the contract to provide software for 87 of its separate subsidiaries to Russian developer MyOffice. The deal, commentators say, is worth 200 million rubles ($2.7 million), although the maximum value of the contract could be far higher.

The state agency had reportedly previously explored the prospect of acquiring Microsoft’s programs at a total cost of two billion rubles (nearly $30 million). However, the requirement to secure a license from the US Department of Commerce for the sale of technology to some specific foreign entities was said to have held up the deal.

Russia is one of a few nations in the world with widely-used domestic equivalents to rival Western tech giants. Social media sites like VKontakte are popular among young users, while Mail.ru remains one of the most widespread email hosting services. The Yandex group, which came to prominence with its search engine, operates everything from food deliveries to chauffeured cars.

In recent months, a wave of privacy concerns over the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messenger service led to an exodus of users to other chat platforms, including Telegram, founded in Russia in 2013 by St. Petersburg entrepreneur Pavel Durov.

Moscow has also moved to limit its reliance on internet networks and infrastructure based outside the country, having introduced a bill ordering the development of a ‘sovereign internet’ that could function autonomously in emergencies. While officials say it is a necessary step to protect essential services, some activists have said it paves the way to censorship of online content.

Russian authorities have repeatedly denied that the system would be anything other than a contingency. Speaking at his annual press conference in December, President Vladimir Putin said that “free internet and sovereign internet are not mutually exclusive concepts.”

“The law is aimed only to prevent negative consequences of being potentially cut off from the global web, which controls are located primarily abroad,” he added.

https://www.rt.com/russia/515976-nuclear-officials-home-designed-tech/

As usual RT is twisting the truth about Russia. The "sovereign" internet is not the Great Firewall of China. It is Russian based name
servers and Russian based domain registration. Right now we have the absurd situation where countries around the globe have
to register domain names in the USA as if the USA owns the internet. All the name servers enabling access to those sites without
using actual IP addresses are also based in countries dominated by the USA. In fact, even if you knew the IP address, it could
still be cut off with the flick of a switch in the USA.

So Russia is only doing what every country on the planet should be doing and that is to decentralize the internet. This makes
it free and it makes it robust against regional failures and political meddling. The "sovereign" internet does not isolate the
country's internet from the global internet. RT should go through the effort of clarifying these aspects instead of making twistable
comments that have little value.

Development of a new type of reactors started in Russia
15 February

Just a few days ago, Rostekhnadzor issued a license permit for the construction in Russia of an experimental demonstration power unit, which will be implemented at a fast neutron reactor, such as BREST-OD-300. This step suggests that it is in the Russian Federation that the world's only civilian nuclear reactor with a heavy metal coolant will be created.

This was announced personally by the senior editor of the authoritative resource AtomInfo.ru A. Uvarov.

Thus, in Russia, the production of a "ground" version of reactors with a heavy metal coolant starts, which were previously used exclusively in submarines, which were successfully created by Soviet engineers.

I would like to emphasize that the Russian Federation is the only country in the world that has not only created but also used reactors of this type in real conditions.

Thus, the BREST-OD-300 unit under development will be the main unit of the ODEK (experimental demonstration energy complex), which is being built on the SKhK platform within the framework of the special project "Breakthrough".

So, in addition to the power block, the ODEC also includes capacities to create a combined uranium-plutonium nitride nuclear fuel and a special complex for reprocessing spent fuel. The launch of the reactor under construction is scheduled for mid-2026.

Why is such a reactor created?

The purpose of the BREST installation is to test in practice the main technological solutions that were laid down by the developers in the installation, where a lead coolant is used. As well as testing in practice the main postulates of passive safety of such reactors.

After all, a coolant in the form of lead has a number of obvious advantages. Thus, lead practically does not "slow down" neutrons, which is extremely important for the functioning of just such "fast" reactors.

In addition, lead has a fairly high melting point, which is approximately 1800 degrees Celsius. It is also chemically inactive both when interacting with the atmosphere and with water. In addition, for the operation of the reactor, it is not necessary to create excess pressure in the heat-transfer loop.

And it turns out that the unique combination of lead coolant and nitride fuel forms almost ideal conditions for the creation of nuclear fuel and almost completely excludes the most severe accidents, which, unfortunately, were in our history. Suffice it to recall Chernobyl and Fukushima.

So in this regard, the BREST reactor has a natural safety in many respects. Well, it remains to wait for the commissioning of an experimental reactor, and in the future, the construction of new reactors at nuclear power plants.

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/energofiksik/v-rossii-dan-start-na-osvoenie-novogo-tipa-reaktorov-60269d45b498705a8147676b

Big_Gazza wrote:

Kiko wrote:In addition, lead has a fairly high melting point, which is approximately 1800 degrees Celsius.

Lead melts at 327 deg C, and Bismuth (the other main component of the liquid metal reactor coolant) melts at only 272 deg C.  

I think you might be referring to Leads boiling point (~1750 deg C)?  A metallic coolants for reactor service needs both a low melting point and a high boiling point - eg the Lead-Bismuth eutectic used in reactors melts/boils at 225/1,670 deg C.

Journalism is mentally deficient. There is almost no content in that article. The BREST reactors based on lead instead of sodium
coolant are peculiar because lead is not an absorber for neutrons. Sodium is a weak absorber thanks to formation of sodium-24
which decays into magnesium-24. Lead does not form isotopes so is not a moderator but can act as a reflector for neutrons.
So lead-cooled fast neutron reactors can trap the neutron flux and make better use of it. Lead also shields from gamma ray
emissions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-cooled_fast_reactor

Lead cooled reactors cannot develop a positive void coefficient when large sodium cooled reactors can.

Fast neutron reactors are not a new thing. France led the way with the Superphenix program which was later murdered by
the phony greens (including the actual Green Party). Unpressurized molten metal vat type reactors using sodium are already
vastly safer than any water or heavy water design. Think lava or magma and water. They do not go well together. The
common yap about sodium being combustible in air leading to fires is just that yap. The sodium burns rather slowly at the contact
interface and does not explode. Water catastrophically boils off. All molten metal vat reactors have enough passive cooling
by design that they do not require even the pumps circulating the molten metal to operate. Sodium has the viscosity of water
at 100 C so it just passively convects and circulates from hot to cold zones.

With lead instead of sodium, any chance of boil off is removed. I have not seen analysis that demonstrates a regime where
sodium would boil off. I supposed if left unattended in a fire situation it would burn off enough to allow heat build up in
the core and thus boiling to occur. Then we have a crisis.

Fast neutron reactors allow roughly 50 times more energy to be extracted from uranium than any of the older designs which
are not breeders. That is nothing to sneeze at. And as Garry pointed out, breeder reactors eat so-called nuclear waste.
They do produce waste which is much shorter lived (gone in 300 years) and in much smaller volumes than non-breeder
reactors. There is no need to make impossible storage for "waste" that is going to be active for thousands of years.

Russian projects in the field of thermonuclear energy lead to new technologies in other areas.

LMFS wrote:I partially agree, renewables like wind and sun have a big advantage (essentially zero marginal costs of generation) and a big disadvantage, their variability. It would be premature though to dismiss them because of that, in fact as we speak new investments are already including directly coupled battery capacity to shift generation to the more profitable hours of the day, to provide reserve generation capacity and other functions. This is already becoming economically profitable. Another important tool is the improved transmission lines that can shift power from West to East with losses that are not so extreme as one may think, in fact generating H2 and compressing it is way worse. So there are already a set of solutions for those issues and they are being worked out. As it happens so often,  optimizing what already exists is worth more than many revolutionary approaches.

Russia is particularly suited to Solar as its vastness provides much longer exposure to sun during the day as the sun goes from east to west. Of course snow needs to be deal with but I think it can be quite easily. With energy storage becoming cheaper wind and solar are the way to go IMHO.

I have always found it kinda amusing that the same people that worry about global warming hail nuclear fusion as a positive thing. Imagine if they do perfect it. What will super cheap, unlimited energy do to global warming lol. Even if it is carbon free, when everyone has a heated outdoor pool in the winter....

mnztr wrote:I have always found it kinda amusing that the same people that worry about global warming hail nuclear fusion as a positive thing. Imagine if they do perfect it. What will super cheap, unlimited energy do to global warming lol. Even if it is carbon free, when everyone has a heated outdoor pool in the winter....

That's not how warming works.   Direct thermal energy emissions from any conceivable human activity are a drop in the bucket that
is lost to space in under a month.   This less than a month timescale does not imply it would accumulate for a few weeks without
going anywhere, it means that the last emitted IR photon has left the atmosphere.   Adding more and more power stations means
more photons are leaving over the same time frame.  We need the Sun shining every day not to freeze solid.  The critical detail with
global warming is greenhouse gases which include the dry primary ones like CO2 and CH4 and the resulting water vapour increase
they induce by changing the temperature.   Greenhouse gases function to delay the loss of thermal energy to space.   No reactor can
achieve the same effect since IR emission has no impact on its residence time in the atmosphere.   Without CO2 the Earth would
be an ice hell.   Pretending that adding more of it, to the tune of 30 billion tons per year, has no impact is beyond retarded.

Also, the thermal energy that greenhouse gases enable to accumulate in the atmosphere (and oceans) is vastly greater than
human energy consumption:

https://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/2012/01/how-much-extra-energy-are-we-adding-to-the-earth-system/

The accumulation due to greenhouse gas increase per year is around 20 times larger than the total energy consumed by humans
in a year.   The human energy consumption is not accumulating thermal energy in the atmosphere through direct IR emissions.
It is accumulating thermal energy via change in the radiative transfer properties of the atmosphere.