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Relic Russian ICBM To the Rescue for Science
helio writes "Japanese space agency, JAXA, has announced that the agency will use DNEPR space launch system to launch OICETS (Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite). Initially OICETS was to be launched with Japan's H-IIA rocket, however the delay in their development and a lack of time in the schedule force JAXA to utilize Russian's DNEPR system. For those who are too young to remember Cold War, DNEPR space launch system used to be Russian's inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM). As you may guess, the OICETS satellite will be launched from a silo."
Seriously however, I can't think of a better use for old Russian ICBMs.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
what
(minutes after launch)
This just in!
Rhode Island has been consumed in a fiery explosion!
Also just in, the word "oops" is heard around the world, supposedly originating from a team of scientists and launch coordinators..
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Seems a bit too much like a James Bond Villian plot.
"That's right Mr. Bond. The japanese science missile is actually carrying a nuclear payload, and there is no one here to stop me MWHAHAHAH! Now I'm going to put this "stop missile" remote control over here and leave the room secure in the fact that you can't possibly escape your restraints... MWHAHAHAHAH!"
Just a boy doing unproffesional IT work that's way above his head.
If it's a relic, then it's not Russian, it's Soviet. If you want to call it current then it could be Russia, but then there would be some irony, as the name DNEPR is the name of the most important river in Ukraine, which is (in case any of you were sleeping while recent news was transpiring), a completely different country (much to Russia's consternation). In fact, if the Russians haven't yet changed the name of the DNEPR system, it only goes to further evidence their thinly veiled ambitions on Ukraine.
The ICBM contains a beowulf-cluster of sharks with friggen lazer beams mounted on their heads. It be be piloted by giant alien ant overlords (which I welcome) led by Bruce Willis. There, does that cover it all?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
they launch the first warp-one capable space ship from a silo.
Thought all "non-active" silos had been de-commissioned and could no longer be used for any type of launch..... ?
"The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has announced that the agency will use the DNEPR space launch system to launch the OICETS (Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite). Initially the OICETS was to be launched with Japan's H-IIA rocket, however the delay in their development and a lack of time in the schedule force JAXA to utilize the Russian's DNEPR system. For those who are too young to remember the Cold War, the DNEPR space launch system used to be the Russian's inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM). As you may guess, the OICETS satellite will be launched from a silo."
You know, Engrish can be cute, or it can be a pain to read.
You can't take the sky from me...
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/dnepr.html
Developed originally for the R36M ICBM/FO program scheduled for decommissioning 2007, the Dnepr is now looked at for commercial uses. Mixed bag of success. Economic problems persist.
A bigger problem will be where Russia phases out Baikonur in favor of their own launch site at Svobodny 18, which isn't built for Dnepr.
There are also companies that partner with Russian airbases to take wealthy Westerners up in basically anything with wings. Having a Yankee in the back seat pays for the gas and maintenance, and helps the pilot get some flight hours.
Hey, if you're short on hard currency to pay your troops, why not take some Western cash and make someone happy (whether it be through launching a space probe or giving 'em the ride of a lifetime) while your troops are getting their training.
... I think we can be reasonably certain that our brand-new, fully-functioning ballistic missile defense system will not intercept it...
perl -e 'foreach(values %SIG){$_="IGNORE";}while(){}'
Apparently, the latest Japanese assessment that China is a hostile foreign power has pervaded the government of Japan, and Tokyo will not be cooperating with Beijing for the intermediate future.
For those who are not aware, the Japanese government recently issued a defense whitepaper identifying Beijing as a hostile military threat. Unlike the Taiwanese, the Japanese do not wish to hand critical space/aeronautical technologies over to the butchers in Beijing.
Well weren't Soviets mostly Russian and Russians mostly Soviets during the cold war? (Albeit Russians not living in the Soviet and non-Russians living in the USSR's domain like Latvians and other republics?)
I think it's a matter of perception really. In reality the names and governments have changed but not the people. Heck... They still have the same song they used in Stalin's time with the lyrics rewrote (once after Stalin died they wanted to remove his name from the song and next after the creation of the Russian federation to remove the mention of Soviet and Communism).
Or perhaps it was a Ukrainian scientist and factory that put the missile together? I'd wager money that it was a Russian that authorized everything with the production of the missile.
Either way... The Soviet government was Russian dominated and promoted Russian culture. Name me one non-Russian premiere! Err... Besides Stalin... (he was Georgian), but in general most Soviet government officials were Russian. Even the Russians of the Soviet era prided a bit of their Tsarist heritage such as Peter the Great (just don't mention the greatness of Tsar Nicholas II in public).
It's like saying that after California and Texas declared independence and we changed our government to Parliamentary monarchy that the people left on the East coast are not Americans because their government changed. Then again... If someone can define "American" I'll give them a cardboard cookie.
It is nice to finally see some old war technology used for beneficial purposes. While this is not the first time it has been done - it is always nice to hear. Especially when a group takes an obvious military weapon only device and transforms it into something useful (i.e. the military uses decomissioned tanks to make barrier reefs).
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
I think this is really a cover for the Super Milk Chan Punishment Missile
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Russians are wikked.
:) -anything- laying around old military installations that are converted for commericial endeavors. (or military grade anything else, for that matter)
I don't know whether to be afraid of, or be confident in Russia that they don't leave...ya know...weapons-grade nuculer
Svoboda dlya vsekh.
Inject.
There have been a number of rockets that were originally designed as ICBMs and then used for commercial and other purposes, it's not that uncommon. The original Redstone rockets used for Mercury came right from the USAF. Instead of being loaded with a nuclear payload they recieved a capsule. Same with Gemini and its Titan rockets.
Sealaunch uses Zenit for the first stage in their launcher. They wre originally designed as a quick launch ICBM by the Soviets. The launch facility was a truck and the whole system was designed to fit inside of a rail tunnel, to stay out of sight from american spy satellites.
From the second linked website: You will fly from the top-secret Zhukovsky Air Base, located just an hour from Moscow.
It isn't top secret if everyone knows where the damn thing is!
What is your penile percentile?
Thanks for the great link to the Incredible Adventures folks. You gotta love a company that thinks so highly of their services that one of the web pages says "Don't leave the money to your kids! Wouldn't you rather take a space flight?"
Cool. Way cool.
True enough.
The question is, does it have a warp drive and are the vulcans watching?
You do realize that India also can launch Geostationary satellites. The GSLV project of ISRO (Indian version of NASA) can launch such payloads into sky.
"The Japanese space agency JAXA has announced that the agency will use the DNEPR space launch system to launch OICETS (Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite). Initially OICETS was to be launched with Japan's H-IIA rocket, however the delay in its development and a lack of time in the schedule forced JAXA to utilize Russia's DNEPR system. For those who are too young to remember the Cold War, the DNEPR space launch system used to be Russia's inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). As you might guess, OICETS will be launched from a silo."
Unless there's a lone Russian mad scientist behind all of this, "the Russian's" is clearly wrong, as is "Russian's."
(What with all the "I got first post!" crap responses -- I hope nobody minds the occasional reminder that our world is a leetle beet beeger than the route to the nearest Appleby's/Best Buy/Wal-Mart Megaplex....
(*) Extra points for anyone who guessed the Volga and the Danube -- nice try if you thought Rhone or Seine -- remember that Europe goes a little farther EAST than the Eiffel Tower and Stonehenge, mes amis... ;-)
URL:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?x ml=/news/2004/02/18/wrus18.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/0 2/18/ixworld.html/>
I wonder what their backup plan is? SS-18 or sub launch?
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
Well, I'm sure it's kind of mutual. Chinese have a LOONG memory, and it's only been ~60 years since the occupation of China by the Japanese was ended. The Japanese conduct in China won them great emnity - I'm sure China considers Japan a Hostile Power even after all this time.
This ICBM was of Soviet, not of Russian making. Dnepr is the main river in Ukraine, actually.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I think it's a matter of perception really. In reality the names and governments have changed but not the people.
There's a lot of ignorance on slashdot, but what you wrote above is ignorant by slashdot ignorance standards.
Your post is so clueless, I don't know where to begin, but for one, Khruschev was a Ukrainian.
DNEPR-1 is a civilian name for a rocket named (by NATO) Satan.
Some people think it is way sexier than Delta-4 Heavy.
Here's more stuff about this relic Russian (actually, Ukrainian) ICBM
Both the US and the former-Soviets have programs to dispose of ICBMs through commercial-use conversions. The US turns Peacekeeper ICBMs into Taurus launch vehicles. Stanford University launched a bunch of picosats on the first Minotaur - a hybrid of the Minuteman ICBM and Pegasus upper stages. The DNEPR has launched a couple of small satellites already, and has a number of Cubesats on-deck. You can coordinate getting a Cubesat on a DNEPR launch through OSSS or TransOrbital.
And by "latest" you mean "last thousand years," right?
Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
Like any good (or even mediocre) super-power, China is only hostiel when they don't get when they want.
-------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.
Your post is so clueless, I don't know where to begin, but for one, Khruschev was a Ukrainian.
Tell him that Stalin was not Russian and watch his head explode.
Ah, it seems he knew it. Never mind, tell it to someone else.
With the buildup of the US Missile Defense Shield technology (Almost total failures in all tests BTW), Russia has stated its intentions of re-investing in its nuclear capabilities, to insure they don't get left behind. They are investing a fair chunk of money into extending the lifespan of missiles that were supposed to be decommissioned by now.
They've sent rockets into space for the space station, but those are newer. They haven't launched any of the old ICBM's in some number of years. A few weeks ago, they launched 2 as a test. (Those tests were also total failures)
I'm sure they are absolutely delighted to continue testing these missile systems under the guise of international cooperation.
I, for one, am glad that Tokyo chose to cooperate with Russia on the next satellite launch
The Russians have a history of technological development so that things get to be "good enough". On the other hand is the MiG 29.
It ain't often been pretty (their history and engineering), but it tends to get the job done. In an emergency, you want reliable, tank-like, brute force, not blinky things that go PING!
When the Chinese talk about "remembering World War II" and using that memory to condemn Japan, the Chinese are talking about bigotry. In China, teaching bigotry to children and passing bigotry from one generation to the next is popular and encouraged.
We in the West believe that teaching bigotry is wrong. Western culture is very different from Chinese culture.
By the way, Tokyo has pledged $30 million in relief aid to Southern Asia to assist the victims of the tsunami. Beijing pledged almost nothing. Washington pledged $35 million. Australia pledged $7 million. As always, Chinese culture is very different from Western culture.
I personally favor treating the Chinese in the same way that they treat non-Chinese. We Westerns should use our "memory" of the Korean War, in which millions of Chinese killed Americans defending freedom in South Korea, to condemn the Chinese and to deport the Chinese immigrants without American citizenship back to the Chinese motherland.
if you want to be *really* pedantic about it.
All the Kosmotras launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Star City, Kazakhstan.
One of my clients runs a consulting firm who was trying to help Kosmotras improve their income, one aspect of which was getting tourism income for launches (sort of the closing part of a tour of former soviet sites)... I was hired to do the US site (the Russian one obviously is lacking in tourism aesthetics), but the whole deal fell through after 9/11 and hasn't been picked up lately.
If I remember correctly, DNEPR was achieved in this manner.
The USSR created the SS-18 (NATO code-name "SATAN") ICBMs with nuclear warheads, to counter a perceived threat from NATO (arms race, ahoy)
Eventually, Glasnost
Oops... gotta lose the nukes.
Let's hire Thiokol (yes, they are rocket scientists)
Thiokol helps in the disassembly, suggests keeping the ICBMs that are in good shape and repurposing them to launch satellites.
Kosmotras corp is formed by some former sov military and government officials
Kosmotras is a private company. Nothing to do with cooperation between russia and ukraine, except that the corp had people from each. At least, it's as private as any russian corporation is
That was a WOPR of a quote!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I hear they let in edit your posts in slashdot.jp...
you have been; the photo is a fake. You can see the the polygon/texture edges on the planet.
... the ultra-secret American defense shield will power up it's systems and strike back at the sight of the ICBM launch that was monitored. If only they'd publish a launch-schedule, so I know when to hit the bombshelters.
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
The Picture of Cockran's Phoenix starting out of a Silo was the first thing that came to my mind too...
Sig? Where I go, I don't need
And I can tell you that aside from some of the information delivery, none of our threat detection system is automated. There are many humans in the loop and you can bet that when this happens we will know about it beforehand that it should be a space launch and not a missile threat.
"Trying is only the first step towards failure." - Homer
What a good way to disguise a 1st launch strike.
"Hey George it's your ole made Vlad 'ere, just letting you know we'll be releasing one of our ole ICBMs from a silo, but don't worry George it's only a Jap Satelite", strike one Waco obliterated.
Better yet the Russians should try 'n get the contract for the Euro GPS network, that way they could disgise a fair dinkum 1st strike launch, by having a good excuse to send up a couple of dozen ICBMs at once, 'Hey George the Euros were getting impatiant about everyone still using your GPS setup so long, so they want us to launch all their satallites ASAP, so don't panic about the couple of dozen ole ICBMs going sky bound next week'
It's a pity the US's preperations for invading Iraq wasn't used a method to take down the dysfunctional nutjob Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia without warning. Even better the US should've serripticiously armed & backed a Baathist invasion of Saudi Arabia by Syria & Iraq (once daddy Assad died they became good mates again). Then the world would'be been graced by the Baathists purging every Wahhabi Salafist from the penisula the same way Saud ethnically cleansed all christians, Jews & Sufis from the Hijaz some 80 odd years ago (when he also ethnically claensed all the mainstream Sunnis there too who refused to accept Wahhabi tenents)
Russian military technology is known to be very reliable. They might not have always had the latest technical and computer gizmos but they always had reliable equipment. The DNEPR was built during the golden era of Soviet Military. I don't know about this country but back in Soviet Union the profession of a rocket engineer or even any kind of engineer involved in military technology was highly prestigious. They funneled so much money into defence and they went to great lengths to instill this pride of the "Great Soviet" military in young boys that all you wanted to do is be drafted (even though it was mandatory for every young adult male ) and couldn't wait to go fly those planes or go to college to learn to build them. I am not sure
Sorry pressed submit too early
I was just wanted to conlude that it seem because the profession of an engineer involved in military techonolgy was so prestigious they had a lot of really good people working on building those rockets. I just don't think in US an aerospace engineer has the same status as they would have in ex-Soviet Union. I don't think they got paid nearly as much as the western designers and engineers, they were motivated by recognition and interest mostly.
Manual available in English a zipped PDF.
Khruschev was Russian.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
Modification of SS-18 used for military was renamed. It's "Voevoda" (not the same as "Satan") now.
On the one hand, you have the article submitter take a few extra seconds to type in the acronym/abbreviation expansions. On the other, you have thousands or tens of thousands of readers typing multiple acronyms/abbreviations into Google. Which do you think is more efficient in terms of time and bandwidth?
with the lyrics rewrote
"rewritten".
The ESA Cryosat satellite is also being launched by a Russian ICBM but with a German extra stage on top, called Eurokot.
Oh, look everyone: It's Richard Gere, the "phrusa.org" troll!
mod him to oblivion.
If it's any consolation, I just metamodded that Flamebait as Unfair.