What's good (and bad ) about Russia?

[Yenn]

Why do I amaze you Nev.?

 

 

[spacesailor]

"The best index of  how the ordinary person will fare  is how easy is it to know what's going on in the government"

 

SO, Tell me what happened to the two Australian children deported to Christmas island, with their Foreign parents.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Yenn]

Yesterday they were still at Christmas island and the government was saying they would not be allowed back. The UN is calling for them to be released back here. That means they will not be returned to Australian mainland, because the UN is a failure. Makes me feel sorry for them.

 

Our government is so inept at writing legislation that it cannot control its own borders. The laws are so slack that illegal immigrants can spend many years working the system, to the advantage of the legal profession. They cannot write a law that can only be interpreted one way.

 

 

[willedoo]

R.I.P. Alexei Leonov. First man to perform a space walk, passed away today.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

A great pioneer. We owe a great debt to soviet cosmonauts and the enormous industry behind them.

 

The simple technology they developed is still the only way anyone can get up to the ISS.

 

 

[Methusala]

Poor Alexei Leonov. From Wiki pedia the following quote. "At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock.[1] He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule."

 

Imagine the feelings of this bloke finding himself so on the outer.

 

 

[willedoo]

 

Poor Alexei Leonov. From Wiki pedia the following quote. "At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock.[1] He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule."

 

Imagine the feelings of this bloke finding himself so on the outer.

 

That's close to what happened except the Wikipedia article is not quite correct. The author is citing journalists who oversimplified it somewhat, and reports of it ballooning are not right. The suit didn't inflate anymore than normal. At it's operating pressure of 5.8psi, it stays the same dimensions whether in the vacuum of space or during testing on Earth. The original specs were for an operating pressure of 3.9psi, with an optional higher setting of 5.8 for use in case of decompression sickness. After ground testing, Zvezda decided to go the reverse, with a normal operating pressure of 5.8psi (400hPa), and a lower setting of 3.9psi (270hPa) for short periods to increase suit flexibility.

 

The problem was that the suit had unexpected extra stiffness due to a combination of pressure and zero gravity conditions, and he couldn't bend enough to get back to the lock. They didn't have hydro lab testing in those days and the suit was only tested for seconds at a time in zero gravity conditions on board the flying laboratory. It wasn't enough time to get an indication of the suit stiffness problem. Leonov reduced the pressure to 270hPa which gave enough flexibility to eventually get back in. They say he went head first into the air lock instead of feet first, then had a bit of trouble turning around inside the air lock. The heart rate sensors recorded a fairly high heartbeat with all this going on. It sounds like the pressure was too high in the first place.

 

A lot of those Soviet programmes were rushed time wise. Full credit to the pioneering cosmonauts and the American astronauts for their bravery.

 

 

[willedoo]

Alexei Leonov's suit was a previous pressure suit design adapted for space walk activities (EVA). It was the same suit they wore inside the Voskhod 2 capsule. It was a fairly simple suit of four layers with an inner ventilation layer, two rubber pressure bladders (one for backup) and an outer restraining layer. On top of all that was an external thermal covering suit. The O2 from the backpack cylinders entered the helmet for breathing then made it's way to the suit for pressurization, then vented to atmosphere (or lack of), purging the CO2 as it went. The umbilical cord had an emergency oxygen line connected to bottles in the external airlock. I guess the fact it was an adapted suit design, plus lack of adequate testing and lack of real time weightlessness, all had a bearing on Leonov's problems. He was quoted by some sources as saying his hands came out of the gloves and his feet out of the boots. Maybe due to lack of gravity, he was floating inside the suit.

 

The suit for the next space walk fixed a few of the issues. That was the Soyuz 4 & 5 docking and crew transfer. It was a purpose built EVA suit donned inside the Soyuz before the walk. A lot more complex suit, but also another rush job. It was a closed loop oxygen system with CO2 sinks to trap the CO2. As a comparison, Leonov's suit was like a continuous flow oxygen mask (as in emergency drop down in aircraft) to provide breathing and pressurization, and the Soyuz suit more like a pressure demand mask in function. The Soyuz suit also had to have a working cooling system with heat sinks in the backpack, to enable a longer walk time.  Alexei Leonov's walk was only 12 minutes, so he handled the heat buildup ok without cooling.

 

The Soyuz EVA suit was also tailored to the standing position (to don inside the capsule), so probably had better flexibility in the space walk position, compared to Leonov's Berkut suit. The Soyuz Yastreb suit also carried the life support backpack at the front of the knees to be able to get through the 600mm hatch. Another design issue was the world's first use of high pressure oxygen storage bottles, so a lot of work was done on reducers, the valve system etc.. A lot of detail quoted here is based on information in the book 'Russian Spacesuits' by Abramov & Scoog. It's co-authored by several NPP Zvezda design engineers and managers, so is the most qualified work on the subject. A good read and reference book if you're a life support nerd.

 

It seems like space walks and other activities at the ISS are routine now, but back in the earlier days of the Russian and American space programmes, a lot of missions were breaking new ground with all the associated risks. I guess the crews were prepared to run the risk to experience what few others get to do.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

On another topic, it looks like Russia is stepping in where the west has failed... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50058859 

 

There was a better article in the FT, but it is behind a paywal and for some reason, it won't allow me to share it...

 

Interesting that Russia sell Turkey the missile defence system and probably have the opportunity to sell more military hardware to them, but elect to protect their ally.. Unf the same can't be said for the west.. I know its complicated with Turkey being a NATO member, but you think the NATO club could exert some real pursuasion..

 

 

[willedoo]

Yes, it looks like the word is that Russian troops are patrolling front lines between Turkish and Syrian army positions at Manbij to keep them separated. Russia's envoy to Syria has said no one is interested in fighting between Syrian and Turkish troops and that Russia won't allow it. It looks like everyone will do ok out of it except the Kurds. I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the Kurds had expanded and occupied non Kurdish areas. If that's the case, it would be a correction of the balance.

 

I also get the feeling that Trump has wanted to leave the whole mess to the Russians for a long time now. He seems to finally be finally putting his own stamp on foreign policy, rather than appeasing the hawks. The big winner will be Russia as they get to exert more influence in the region. Being in Syria costs them money and some blood, but has long term benefits. It's been a good proving ground for a lot of new weaponry, which is also being showcased to potential buyers. Apart from arms sales, there's potential future oil and gas partnerships, markets for services and technology, nuclear power station construction and other lucrative interests. On the flip side, the Middle East is a big tourist destination for Russians, and Russia is sourcing a lot of food imports from the region since the Europeans sanctioned their own markets into oblivion.

 

The interesting thing from now on will be Turkey's NATO membership and how it pans out. After a couple of decades of trying, they've finally realized that the EU will never let them in and that the other NATO states will never accept them as an equal. They've begged the Americans for years to sell them Patriot systems and have been continually rejected. Turkey has quite rightfully said that they have a right to their own air defence systems and will no longer beg other NATO nations to station theirs on Turkish soil. So they buy Russian S-400's, and surprise, surprise, America now offers them Patriots that were previously denied Turkey. Now Turkey won't budge on the S-400's and the U.S. won't deliver the F-35's to them. So now the Turks are looking at buying the Sukhoi Su-57 and possibly the Su-35 from Russia. No wonder countries in the region are increasingly seeing the hypocrisy of the West and are starting to view Russia and China as reliable partners. The Yanks just don't get it.

 

America will be starting to think that Turkey might not be the best place to store those 50 nukes that they have there.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Interesting.

 

 

[Yenn]

The worlds greatest democracy? The USA seems to have become the worlds largest dictatorship.

 

With the USA as an ally who would need enemys?

 

 

[willedoo]

Looks like Russia is getting back into Africa. The first Russia-Africa summit has just started in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Co-hosted by Russia and Egypt, it brings together all the 54 countries of the African continent. Coinciding is a joint training exercise with South Africa. Two Tu-160 bombers plus Il-62 and An-124 transports touched down yesterday at Waterkloof air force base in Tshwane.

 

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

A G54 summit?

 

That beats 'our' little G summits......

 

An impressive effort, getting so many leaders together.

 

 

[willedoo]

Sochi seems to be a busy venue for conferences these days. I think he had a pow wow with Turkey's president the day before. It's the ideal spot for it, being a coastal resort, and a lot closer than Moscow for a lot of people. Plus Putin has his main holiday house there as well.

 

I'd guess it would be the first and last time they'd see the Tu-160 bombers in SA. More of a good will tour by the look of it. South Africa is a good foot back in the door for Russia in Africa. Fellow BRICS nation, plus a lot of strong links between the SAAF and Russia, going back to when pilots of the military wing of the ANC were trained in the Soviet Union. The current head of the SAAF  was one of those young pilots trained in Russia. They haven't forgotten Russian/Soviet support for their struggle against Apartheid.

 

Apart from political brownie points for Russia, there must be a big potential arms market in the African nations. A lot of old gear would be due for replacement. The U.S. has threatened sanctions on any nation that buys Russian military equipment, but if enough tell them to go jump, they might settle down a bit. Turkey and India have already told them to stick their Bullying America's Commercial Competitors Through Sanctions Act where the sun doesn't shine. At this stage, they don't seem to have done any more than threaten third party (customer) nations. Russian military gear looks fairly good to the Africans and some in the Middle East. Firstly, it's cheap and they'll sell to almost anyone. Also they are a lot more flexible on technology transfers. And their gear is a lot more reliable in hot, dusty, harsh environments. Iraq is getting rid of the Abrams tank mainly because of it's turbine engine requiring a lot of down time and maintenance expense in dusty conditions and replacing them with diesel powered Russian T-92's. Likewise with the Russian helicopters; the Mi-8/17 is the only one for harsh conditions. The only weak link is Russia's less that perfect post sale back up and support. They need to improve that.

 

 

[willedoo]

Not bad for business. Today's news quotes one of Putin's advisors saying 12 billion USD in agreements have been signed. A good result for one day.

 

 

[Bruce]

I'm surprise that Russian stuff is reliable these days. I knew a guy who bought a Lada and its reliability was really bad.

 

 

[willedoo]

I'm surprise that Russian stuff is reliable these days. I knew a guy who bought a Lada and its reliability was really bad.

 

Bruce, I think most of the military gear is fairly durable these days. I remember some of the Cold War exports were a bit rough and ready, like Ladas, Belarus tractors etc.. The Belarus was a bit fragile; ok for ploughing maybe, but I'm sure if you tried to haul out cane with one, it wouldn't make it to smoko time. But that was the 80's and 90's. They might have changed these days; I've got a recent Belarus catalogue and they look like a modern classy tractor now. I was surprised that they make the big ones as well.

 

 

[Bruce]

You can't assume anything these days.  The Massey-Ferguson used to be very reliable and certainly it had  the best support, as measured by the amount of parts readily available.

 

We had a terrible experience with a recent one,  which turned out to have been made in Mexico. Not that Mexico is in itself bad, but this tractor sure was and the support was worse than nothing.

 

So it could well be that Russian stuff is ok these days.  For any purchase, I can only suggest looking at their parts inventory before buying.

 

 

[willedoo]

That's interesting Bruce. I'm going back a long time since I had much tractor involvement, but I always remember the Massey Fergusons as having a good name. Speaking of Mexico making them, it's interesting where they make some of the well known brands and components. I remember driving a John Deere that was U.S. made with a French built motor. Also drove a Cat D8H that was made in Brazil. In the late 70's, early 80's, the Japanese Mitsubishi built D7G Caterpillar was at that time the best Cat ever made.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

The Cossack motorcycle circa 1972 was $1 per cc so the 600 cc twin was $600. I nearly bought one. But they were made in factories where the boss was taken out and shot if they didnt make monthly quota so they had things like mild steel con rods etc. in a bad month. but the same bikes today have had all the dodgy parts replaced and are reliable.

 

 

[Yenn]

A friend of mine had a motorbike agency and brought in Cossack motorbikes. I witnessed the very first time he started one up. Gave it a good kick, put t into gear and let out the clutch, then just about went over the handlebars as it shot off backwards. They would start and run backwards.

 

 

[willedoo]

I've been trying to find out what the modern day Urals are like, but getting different stories. Some people say they're not much chop, but a friend of mine who has one swears by it (not at it). He also has a BMW with sidecar but seems to ride the Ural outfit most of the time.

 

 

[Marty_d]

You can't assume anything these days.  The Massey-Ferguson used to be very reliable and certainly it had  the best support, as measured by the amount of parts readily available.

 

We had a terrible experience with a recent one,  which turned out to have been made in Mexico. Not that Mexico is in itself bad, but this tractor sure was and the support was worse than nothing.

 

So it could well be that Russian stuff is ok these days.  For any purchase, I can only suggest looking at their parts inventory before buying.

 

Mexico is where US companies make everything that they used to make in the US.

 

I have DeWalt tools, all made in Mexico.  The rattler/drill set has been going strong for 8 years now, on the original batteries.  And I use the hell out of them.

 

 

[Bruce]

I was once told by this hardware guy that he had temporarily stopped selling Dremel tools because they had moved to Mexico and the quality was not good enough. He thought that this would change in time. 

 

The shop itself is no longer there, Bunnings has undercut the other hardware shops. Yep, things do change with time.