Russia Shipyards for Mistral-class warship construction..[ 2088 ]

Russian shipbuilders, military in conflict over Mistral deal

Topic: Russia's purchase of French Mistral-class warship

A Mistral-class ship is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 personnel.

Related News

• Russia to build new shipyards for Mistral construction
• Russia to pay over 700 million euros for first Mistral helicopter carrier - source
• Lithuanian defense minister says Russian-French warship deal 'mistake'
• Russia opts for French Mistral-class warships for its Navy (WRAPUP)

Multimedia

• France's Mistral amphibious assault ship
• French Navy demonstrates Mistral helicopter carrier
• France’s Mistral amphibious assault ship visits St. Petersburg
• Analyst: Russian defense ministry and military industry part ways

MOSCOW, Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has been taken out of the contractual talks with France on the purchase of Mistral class amphibious assault ships, a Russian business daily said Tuesday.

The Kommersant newspaper cited anonymous defense industry sources as saying state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport will represent Russia in direct talks with France's DCNS from now on.

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Kommersant speculates that the removal of the USC from the talks could be the result of the company's aspirations to acquire a status of an "independent dealer" on the lucrative arms exports market.

Rosoboronexport, backed by the Russian Defense Ministry, has almost monopolized Russia's arms exports and apparently does not want new players to bite into its share in enormous profits from growing arms sales, which totaled $10 billion in 2010.

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Moscow and Paris signed on January 25 an intergovernmental agreement to jointly build four Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy.

Russia's input to the construction of the first Mistral-class warship will be 20% and 40% in the second.

The third and fourth ships are to be built in Russia, whose share of labor input will subsequently rise to 80%.

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The talks on the actual contract to build Mistral ships are still underway. The Russian Defense Ministry earlier said the contract could be signed in April-march this year.

Under the Russian-French agreement the first Mistral-class ship, with a price tag of 720 million euros, is expected to be built in late 2013-early 2014 and the second in late 2014-early 2015.

A Mistral-class ship is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 personnel.

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A number of Russia's neighbors have expressed concern over the upcoming deal, in particular Georgia and Lithuania.

However, the first two Mistral class ships will most likely join Russia's Pacific Fleet with an obvious task to protect the disputed Kuril Islands.

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti)

Polar Stratospheric Clouds..[ 2086 ]

CALIPSO Spies Polar Stratospheric Clouds

 

 

Posted February 9, 2011

 

  acquired January 4, 2011

NASA’s Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite was in the right place at the right time earlier this month. On January 4, 2011, while flying over the east coast of Greenland, CALIPSO caught a top-down glimpse of an unusual atmospheric phenomenon—polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), also known as nacreous clouds.

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Clouds do not usually form in the stratosphere because of the dry conditions. But in the polar regions, often near mountain ranges, atmospheric gravity waves in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) can push just enough moisture into the high altitudes. The extremely low temperatures of the stratosphere condense ice and nitric acid into clouds that play an important role in depletion of stratospheric ozone. 

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The top image was assembled from data from CALIPSO’s Light Detection and Ranging instrument, or lidar, which sends pulses of laser light into Earth's atmosphere. The light bounces off particles in the air and reflects back to a receiver that can measure the distance to and thickness of the particle- and air masses below. The data was acquired between 4:30 and 4:44 Universal Time on January 4, 2011, as the satellite flew 1120 kilometers (695 miles) from north to south over the Greenland Sea and Denmark Strait, as depicted in the map above.

CALIPSO has observed stratospheric clouds before, but never one this high, says Mike Pitts, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center. This cloud reached an altitude of more than 30 kilometers (19 miles). 

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The cloud was the result of mountain waves in the atmosphere, which form when stable air masses pass over mountains or high ice sheets, providing vertical lift. Pitts said such stratospheric ice clouds are rare because they only form when the jet stream in the Arctic is properly aligned with the edge of the polar vortex, a large air pressure system over the poles.

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The circulating air in the vortex needs to align with the jet stream to create enough vertical motion and propagate the waves to the upper atmosphere. The January 4 cloud was formed when those winds aligned and sent an air mass up over the high ice sheet and mountains of Greenland. 

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NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using CALIPSO data provided by the Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center, with meteorological analyses by Andreas Dörnbrack, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Caption by Kristyn Ecochard and Michael Carlowicz.

Instrument: /CALIPSO - CALIOP

New rocket ....[2085 ]

New rocket could lift astronauts

BBC., 8 February 2011 Last updated at 13:08 GMT 

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Liberty would launch from the Kennedy Space Center using existing infrastructure

Two of the world's leading rocket companies are joining forces to develop a new vehicle to launch astronauts into orbit.

The bottom part of the proposed Liberty rocket would be based on the solid-fuelled boosters that help get the shuttle off the ground.

The top half would use the liquid-fuelled core-stage technology and engine that powers the Ariane 5.

The concept has been put forward by ATK from the US and Astrium from Europe.

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Their idea is being submitted to the US space agency (Nasa), which is seeking commercial solutions to take astronauts to and from the space station following the retirement of the shuttles later this year.

There has been deep concern in the US Congress about the length of time it might take to provide commercial alternatives, leaving America reliant on Russian Soyuz vehicles until perhaps the latter part of this decade.

But ATK and Astrium believe their experience means they could have the 90m-high (300ft) Liberty rocket ready to fly by 2013, and operational with astronauts on board by 2015. 

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ATK's boosters are already rated to carry humans into space, and the Ariane 5 was originally conceived as an astronaut launcher.

"This team represents the true sense of international partnership in that we looked across borders to find the best for our customers," said Blake Larson, the president of ATK Aerospace Systems Group.

 

ATK produced the first-stage of a test version of the proposed Ares-1 crew-launch rocket

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"Together we combine unique flight-proven systems and commercial experience that allows us to offer the market's most capable launch vehicle along with flexibility to meet a wide variety of emerging needs. Liberty provides greater performance at less cost than any other comparable launch vehicle."

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Silvio Sandrone, Astrium's vice-president of launcher sales and business development, told BBC News: "It's a very cool idea; it's got the potential to be a fast development, building on existing experience and existing teams. Certainly it would be cheaper and faster than starting from scratch.

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"For Astrium, also, it means accessing a market which has been barred to us up until now."

ATK and Astrium say Liberty's ability to put about 20 tonnes in low-Earth orbit, the altitude occupied by the International Space Station, means it could loft any of the astronaut capsules currently in development. Some of these craft are also chasing financial support from Nasa's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program.

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The space shuttle uses ATK's four-segment solid rocket boosters (SRBs) to do the major part of lifting the shuttle stack off the Earth. Liberty would use a first-stage that incorporated a larger, five-segment booster - a technology ATK has already been testing. 

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Nasa is assisting a number of companies in the development of commercial crew systems

A five-segment booster would have formed the first stage of Nasa's Ares-1 crew launcher before it was abandoned as a concept. Indeed, in shape the Ares and Liberty designs look very similar.

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Europe's Ariane 5 was initially conceived as the launcher that would put a mini-shuttle, called Hermes, in orbit. When European Space Agency (Esa) member states decided to cancel this shuttle project on the grounds of cost, the Ariane 5 was turned into a commercial satellite launcher.

Today, this 50m-high rocket puts just over half of all the large telecommunications satellites in orbit each year.

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The Ariane's core stage, which is prepared in northern France, uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as its propellants. With its Vulcain-2 engine, this core stage has now powered Ariane on more than 40 consecutive successful missions over the past eight years. It is considered highly reliable.

"Obviously, there are modifications we will need to make. The Vulcain engine as you know is ignited on the ground, but on Liberty it would need to ignite in the vacuum of space. This is something Europe can do. Ariane's upper-stage has a cryogenic engine that can ignite in a vacuum," Mr Sandrone told BBC News.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

The US nuclear weapons in Europe;;[ 2084 ]

Russia urges US to withdraw nuclear weapons from Europe

TREND///07.02.2011 20:13

Russia on Monday urged the United States to withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, as NATO's top official said he was optimistic talks on the issue could be held, dpa reported.

Such a move by the US would build confidence, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Moscow, Interfax news agency reported.
The call came two days after the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, came into force between Russia and the US.

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Earlier, Russia's State Duma parliament had asked the US to redeploy its nuclear weapons back home and dismantle the infrastructure for them on foreign soil.

The number of US battlefield nuclear weapons in Europe is a closely-guarded secret, but unofficial reports and leaks suggest that there are some 200 warheads stored in depots in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey.

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Over the past 18 months, NATO officials have repeatedly said that they would like to see New START followed by an agreement on reducing the tactical nuclear stockpiles in Europe. According to NATO, Russia currently has some 5,000 such warheads on its European territory.

In a separate briefing on Monday in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said new START made him "optimistic" that it would be possible to launch negotiations on the issue.

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Meanwhile, speaking in Moscow, Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov repeated his call for NATO to build a common missile defence programme with Russia in Europe.

NATO leaders in November agreed to set up a NATO anti-missile system in Europe, and invited Russia to start talks on how each side could share information from its planned system with the other. Russia accepted, but has since fiercely criticized the NATO plan.

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"At the moment, there are no weapons in the region that are a threat to NATO," Antonov was quoted as saying. "In this context, any defence system built solely by NATO would be directed at Russia."

In such a case Russia would react militarily, he said, hinting at the deployment of short-range missiles.

A number of top Russian politicians have said that NATO should scrap its plan and, instead, set up a joint NATO-Russia missile shield which would only be able to fire if both sides agreed to it.

Rasmussen dismissed that proposal on Monday.

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"NATO is responsible for the protection and defence of NATO allies ... This responsibility can't be outsourced. Honestly speaking, would you expect the Russian people to accept that defence of Russian territory should be taken care of by NATO?" he asked.

However, he said that he was "quite optimistic" that a deal could be reached, despite "slightly different ideas" on the concept.

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Antonov also said that Russia wanted "further nuclear disarmament," and that Moscow was prepared to talk with other nuclear powers in addition to the US.

NATO nations are set to review their nuclear and conventional forces at a summit in early 2012, with a number of nations, including Germany, pushing for the alliance to reduce its nuclear capability.

NASA Image of the Day, Feb 7th ..[ 2083 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

An Explosion of Infrared Color

This oddly colorful nebula is the supernova remnant IC 443 as seen by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Also known as the Jellyfish Nebula, IC 443 is particularly interesting because it provides a look into how stellar explosions interact with their environment. 

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Like other living creatures, stars have a life cycle -- they are born, mature and eventually die. The manner in which stars die depends on their mass. Stars with mass similar to the sun typically become planetary nebulae at the end of their lives, whereas stars with many times the sun's mass explode as supernovae. IC 443 is the remains of a star that went supernova between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. 

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The blast from the supernova sent out shock waves that traveled through space, sweeping up and heating the surrounding gas and dust in the interstellar medium, and creating the supernova remnant seen in this image. What is unusual about the IC 443 is that its shell-like form has two halves that have different radii, structures and emissions.

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The larger northeastern shell, seen here as the violet-colored semi-circle on the top left of the supernova remnant, is composed of sheet-like filaments that are emitting light from iron, neon, silicon and oxygen gas atoms, in addition to dust particles, all heated by the blast from the supernova. 

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The smaller southern shell, seen here in a bright cyan color on the bottom half of the image, is constructed of denser clumps and knots primarily emitting light from hydrogen gas and heated dust. 

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These clumps are part of a molecular cloud, which can be seen in this image as the greenish cloud cutting across IC 443 from the northwest to southeast. The color differences seen in this image represent different wavelengths of infrared emission. 

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The differences in color are also the result of differences in the energies of the shock waves hitting the interstellar medium. The northeastern shell was probably created by a fast shock wave (223,700 miles per hour), whereas the southern shell was probably created by a slow shock wave (67,100 miles per hour).

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Δευτέρα, 7 Φεβρουάριος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

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