Autumn space Moscow

The main purpose of my trip to Moscow on September 22-24 was a visit to RSC Energia , but besides that I glanced at the solemn transfer of the Mayak satellite to Roscosmos, visited the Moscow Planetarium, glanced again at the space museum and gave a popular science lecture. Under the cut photo report with comments.

Solemn transfer of the Mayak satellite to Roscosmos

Coincidentally, on the first day of my visit, on September 22, a solemn transfer of the Mayak satellite to Roskosmos took place, which may briefly become the brightest star in the sky. The event was held at the Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI).


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In the lobby, an event agency entertains guests with virtual reality on HTC Vive. The system is interesting, the controllers in the hands allow you to manipulate objects, and the camera tracks the position in the enclosed area. But I didn’t really like the glasses - it seems that they use Fresnel lenses, and notching them leads to the fact that the light on the side of the three-dimensional scene creates a noticeable and interfering sector of illumination on the lenses.



The final composition of the team that created the satellite. According to the calculations of the project manager Alexander Shaenko, more than forty people worked at Mayak at various times.



Satellite close-up. The form factor of the nanosatellite 3U, it turns out, is not so small.



The project team with those who helped. In the center, YouTube blogger Jan Topless, with nearly a million subscribers, is grabbing his head for informational support.

The launch of "Mayak" is expected at the end of the year, but it will probably move even further - "Mayak" is passing cargo with the launch of "Canopus-V-IC", and its developers (like any others) will not object to a shift to the right.

Second day

The main event of the second day was a visit to the museums of RSC Energia .


After being edited, our paths finally diverged, and, since it was still the seventh hour, I decided to go to another space place where I was not - the planetarium. The metro accidentally caught a train in space design, which was launched in April of this year.



Moscow Planetarium

Tickets: around 600 rubles.
Photographing: Free.
Overall rating: Interesting, but expensive.

Before starting the program, you can go to the Urania Museum, which consists of two parts. In the first hall various astronomical instruments, projection devices of planetariums are shown and the history of the Moscow planetarium is told.

Theodolites - angle measurement tools:



The projection apparatus of the planetarium company Carl Zeiss. A lot of such devices were made, with the characteristic dumbbell-shaped form they decorate the halls of many planetariums, but often only as exhibits - modern digital projectors allow you to show full-domed films.



Details of another projector.



Installation "astronomer's office" in the center of the hall.



The second hall is devoted to geology and meteorites. Among the rocks are presented as related to the moon, and unique to the Earth.







Impactites and tektites - that is formed in the place of impact of a meteorite on the surface of the Earth.





Meteorites.





During the session, of course, shooting was prohibited, but after I photographed the new projector.



After the session, I accidentally wandered into the upper platform with astronomical instruments - sundials, sky maps and the layout of Stonehenge. In September, in good weather, pavement astronomy evenings are held there, and astronomy is told under an overcast sky.



In general, the planetarium makes a mixed impression. On the one hand, they do a lot for popularization, information about their actions and events constantly appears. On the other hand, they hold a dubious record of the most expensive tickets from all the space museums of Moscow, where I visited. The program that I looked at was good, interesting and high-quality, but, nevertheless, in my opinion, it did not cost so much.

Already on my way to the hostel, I accidentally walked past the “Circle of Light” festival. The rain did not dispose to long observation, but, as an idea, it was curious.

Third day

My lecture was scheduled for the afternoon, so I decided to once again look into the Museum of Cosmonautics at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements. As I said in the previous trip, you can go there once a quarter, they constantly arrange additional expositions, so there will always be something new in the museum.

It turns out that the museum has a children's design bureau, Vostok, in which for three years children can learn to program, draw up schematic diagrams and implement them on circuit boards, with a space bias. I was very impressed by the seriousness and thoughtfulness of the curriculum.



In the vaults prepare for the exposure gloves of the Orlan space suit, in which they work in open space.



The cosplay of the cat from the film “The Messengers” by Rina Zenyuk, who is in my jerpick, with an element of the Sophora farm for the Mir station and in Orlan gloves. In terrestrial conditions, they are comfortable, in space should be more difficult.



Passing through the permanent exhibition. Close-up of the damaged heat shield, which is clearly visible structure. There is more modern material here than on Gagarin's “East”, but the mechanism is the same — a multi-layered screen burns, slowly, like a closed book on fire, and heat is carried away along with the burned substance.



And this exhibit belongs to a very instructive story, showing that even very small probabilities can fall out. The Soviet interplanetary station, which was supposed to go to Venus, remained in orbit and, a day later, burned down in the atmosphere. Two years later, a boy bathing in the river Biryusa stumbled upon a piece of metal with his foot. He took it out, carried it home, together with his father, they opened it, and saw some drawings and the inscription "USSR". The discovery was carried “where necessary” - to the KGB. They did not find anything in their profile and sent it to the Academy of Sciences. And there already in the piece of iron recognized the pennant, which was supposed to be on Venus. He was in heat protection, so he experienced a descent in the atmosphere. But the probability of falling on the territory of the USSR was 3%, and the probability that it would be found, was tending to zero. But “critical luck” fell out, and the pennant was found.



From the first time exposition I caught sight of “Belka, Strelka and others”, dedicated to animals in space. Stuffed animals came from the Darwin Museum. Who just did not carry into space - mice, rats, turtles, newts, quails, guinea pigs, monkeys ...



Canine spacesuit.



Cab for a monkey. In the background is the Cosmos-110 dog cabin, where the dogs Breeze and Coal flew on a long flight



The head of the geophysical rocket, on which dogs made suborbital flights in the early 50s



Centrifuge for experiments with quails.



Transport container for mice satellite "Bion". Created conditions as similar as possible to flight ones, and made it possible to conveniently transport mice to the cosmodrome.



And this large centrifuge for insects was used on the Bion-5 in 1979.



In the first hall a mock-up of the connected satellite "Lightning" was added.



And next is the second temporary exhibition on films by Richard Viktorov - "Moscow - Cassiopeia", "Teenagers in the Universe", "Through Thorns to the Stars".



Storyboard



Assembly cuts.



Sketches.



Costume designs.



Props.



After that, I gave a lecture “Women and Space” in a cozy small hall of the Russian State Library of Youth. Video, alas, no, if desired, you can watch the first version of the lecture , read in Ufa.



Well, the last photo - just a beautiful sunset. Another great trip came to an end.