RUSSIAN SPACE
Russian 'Smart' Mini-Satellites to Go Into Orbit in 2016
by Staff Writers
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Oct 16, 2014
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russian_Smart_Mini_Satellites_to_Go_Into_Orbit_in_2016_999.html
File image.
The first group of Russian "smart" mini-satellites should be launched into orbit in 2016, Mikhail Sonkin, the Deputy Governor of Russia's Tomsk Region, said Wednesday.
"The signing of an agreement on the creation of an association to carry out projects in the sphere of the development of groups of miniature satellites is in progress...The launch [of the satellites] is planned for 2016," Sonkin, who is responsible for the scientific and educational complex and innovation policy in the region, said at the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow.
A number of Russian universities and space industry companies are expected to join the association, which will work on creating software to control groups of mini-satellites and improve their interaction with each other.
According to Sonkin, members of the association, which will include Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) and Tomsk State University (TSU), will also be working on developing new materials for the space industry and on establishing communication networks in remote areas.
Last month, Chairman of the Presidium of the Tomsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Psakhie announced that Russian scientists were planning to create unique mini-satellites capable of group interaction.
The satellites, similar to CubeSat developed in the United States, would be able to self-educate and repair each other without leaving the Earth's orbit.
Source: RIA Novosti
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Air Force’s top-secret X-37B spacecraft lands after nearly two years in orbit
Published time: October 17, 2014 20:18
http://rt.com/usa/196988-air-force-space-plane-lands/
The Air Force’s top-secret space plane landed in California on Friday morning after nearly two years orbiting Earth on a classified mission. The robotic spacecraft’s purpose remains a mystery, though surveillance is a likely candidate.
The Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle ‒ an unpiloted aircraft that looks like a miniature space shuttle ‒ made its third landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California after spending more than 670 days in low-Earth orbit.
“I'm extremely proud of our team for coming together to execute this third safe and successful landing," Col. Keith Balts, commander of the 30th Space Wing that is headquartered at Vandenberg, said in a statement. "Everyone from our on-console space operators to our airfield managers and civil engineers take pride in this unique mission and exemplify excellence during its execution.”
The spacecraft was launched on December 11, 2012 by an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It has since been flying in low-Earth orbit, performing whatever mission the Pentagon had prepared for its third test run. In March, X-37B broke its own space longevity record for staying in orbit. Its two previous rounds in space in 2010 and 2011-2012 lasted 225 and 469 days, respectively. This mission lasted a total of 674 days.
A report by the IDG News Service earlier in 2014 suggested the trip’s mission was to test out the Air Force’s new space capabilities while also boosting the intelligence community’s surveillance capacity. However details about X-37B missions ‒ including the payloads carried to orbit ‒ are officially classified, Space.com reported.
Conventional theories from space and military enthusiasts believe the spacecraft will add additional reconnaissance capabilities to the US arsenal – either directly, or by deploying a small satellite from its cargo bay at a desired orbit.
More sinister theories suggest that the vehicle may be weaponized and serve as a space counterpart to the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. Some postulate that it could be used to attack and destroy adversaries’ satellites orbiting the Earth. Others suspect that the X-37B might be used to transport troops to global hotspots within mere hours.
The Air Force owns two of the solar-powered space planes built by Boeing’s Phantom Works. The spacecraft will call Florida’s Kennedy Space Center home, thanks to an agreement between the Air Force and NASA announced last Wednesday. The X-37B will use the center’s Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) Bays 1 and 2 to process the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for launch. The OPF bays have sat unused since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in August 2011.
“This agreement ensures the facilities will again be used for their originally-intended purpose ‒ processing spacecraft,” the space agency said in a statement. “In addition to vehicle preparation for launch, the X-37B Program conducted testing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility to demonstrate that landing the vehicle at the former shuttle runway is a technically feasible option.”
NASA expects to complete renovations on the two hangars by the end of the year, though painted blue doors on OPF-1 already tout it as "Home of the X-37B," marketing that is visible to passing tour buses, C4ISR & Networks reported.
The X-37B is about 29 feet long by 9.5 feet tall (8.8 by 2.9 meters), with a wingspan of 15 feet (4.6 m) and a payload bay the size of a pickup-truck bed. Two X-37Bs could fit inside the payload bay of the space shuttle, which was 184 feet (56 m) long from nose to tail.
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Purpose of this drone was to disseminate swarms of micro satellite bots (each of the size of Rubick's cube)
that each are controlled by artificial intelligence
of alien origin. And they communicate among themselves and deploy according to local needs. Such deployments are called "The Swarms".
It is superfluous to say that their size makes them invisible from Earth and from vehicles in orbit.
Rubick's cube is about less then 2x2x2 inches in size (that was the reason why in recent years everybody was encouraged to take part in NASA's launch of such small satellites).
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IZAKOVIC
Russians are to late to survive.
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