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If a Soyuz capsule lands in front of you, follow these instructions [pdf]
- Ao7bei3s 11y agoInteresting. > There is a low level radiation hazard area clearly marked on the bottom of the capsule Whats this?
- trothamel 11y agoIIRC, it's a sensor that uses reflected gamma rays to measure the distance to the ground. When the ground is close enough, braking rockets are fired to reduce the touchdown velocity, making a land-landing more pleasant.
- kevan 11y ago>making a land-landing more pleasant. Or at least a bit less unpleasant http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/06/08/back_to_earth_how_astronauts_get_back_from_the_space_station.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/06/08/back_to_...
- flashman 11y agoCobalt-60. Here is some more information on the Kaktus gamma-ray altimeter in Soyuz landers: http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/spaceflight/reentry-descent-landing/soft-landing-on-kaktus/ http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/spaceflight/reentry-desce...
- s0rce 11y agoThis book seems to say its 137Cs. Anyways TIL.
- blueintegral 11y agoWow, a radar that uses ionizing radiation is a crazy idea.
- db48x 11y agoIt's slightly dumb, but on the other hand it doesn't need much power.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- atroyn 11y agoSeems ingenious - it's an active system that uses entirely passive components. No power draw, and will always work.
- avian 11y agoI'm pretty sure the receiver can't be passive. If the receiver doesn't work due to power failure or malfunction, what good is a functioning transmitter? It would be interesting to know why they decided to go this way instead of a more conventional radar. Soyuz is already full of RF equipment for communications and docking procedures. Adding a landing radar probably wouldn't add that much to overall complexity. It might be that gamma backscatter is more consistent over expected landing surfaces than microwave reflectivity. Also, I wonder how they shield their detector from direct gamma rays from source so that they don't overwhelm the weak backscatter signal. They can't have much in the way of heavy shielding.
- VLM 11y agoIt could theoretically land anywhere on the planet in an accident situation, some freaked out country could fire up the radar jammers, would be terrible bad luck to land next to a weather radar, even if nothing bad happens it'll have Russian military aircraft loitering around the LZ and now you have the technical problem of proving every Russian aircraft radar ever made won't interfere with the landing system. I would guess if the rockets fire early the astronauts will be severely hurt (killed?) on landing so not firing early would be a priority. They didn't make it triple redundant for fun... Also without any information its very hard to tell if this is just good old fashioned ALARA at work, or if its a real threat. On one hand a powerful source would require a smaller detector and size and mass are expensive in spacecraft. Then again the crew needs shielding from the source and they're using gammas so source intensity is also not cheap. My guess is its a combination of ALARA principle at work combined with some first responders might have radiological monitoring and that will detect it, causing a freak out unless previously warned.
- ringshall 11y agoReminds me of a charming story from Yuri Gagarin's flight: "Both he and the spacecraft landed via parachute 26 km (16 mi) south west of Engels, in the Saratov region at 51.270682°N 45.99727°E. It was 280 km to the west of the planned landing site (near Baikonur). A farmer and her daughter observed the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute. Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet citizen like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1#Reentry_and_landing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1#Reentry_and_landing
- IgorPartola 11y agoDidn't the early cosmonauts also carry handguns in case they landed I Siberia and had to defend themselves against a bear or wolves?
- Turing_Machine 11y agoIt was actually a triple-barreled weapon. Two shotgun/flare barrels, one rifled barrel. It could be configured in either pistol or carbine mode. http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2007/10/13/tp-82-russian-space-pistol-shotgun-carbine-flare-gun-no-longer-being-carried-into-space/ http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2007/10/13/tp-82-russian-...
- rangibaby 11y agoAnd a stock that turned into a machete!
- sandworm101 11y agoNot early cosmonauts. They remain up there today, in soyus pods attached to the ISS. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23131359/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russia-has-corner-guns-space/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23131359/ns/technology_and_science...
- laserSpaceJets 11y agoDo not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
- nothis 11y agoThose deploying antennas sound absolutely terrifying and deadly.
- Keyframe 11y agoYeah, what's up with that?
- userbinator 11y agoThings that need to stay very secure, but also quickly detach when needed, are usually attached with explosive bolts. Much simpler and far more reliable than other means.
- 4ad 11y agoBut why do they need to detach at all?
- userbinator 11y agoThey protect the antennae during re-entry, otherwise they'd probably melt in the heat. If you read carefully you'll see that it's the antenna covers that explode, not necessarily the antennae themselves.
- CWuestefeld 11y agoYes, but why? Why not just leave them attached there?
- Keyframe 11y agoThey probably don't function as well (at all) with covers on.
- fluxquanta 11y agoA basic quarter wave VHF antenna is about a foot and a half long (assuming this is the type of antenna used). A foot and a half long piece of wire can't be hanging off of a capsule coming through the atmosphere without burning off, as others have stated. It would need to be protected for re-entry. When it comes time to use it after the capsule lands, it can't be enclosed within a metal capsule which would undoubtedly act as a Faraday shield preventing the RF from getting outside. So the protection has to come off.
- erickhill 11y agoIf any capsule lands in front of me, and I survive the impact zone, I'm looking to see if Sandra Bullock needs any help.
- nobleach 11y agoInformation that would have been more useful YESTERDAY!!
- GeorgeRichard 11y agoI was in the Soviet Union for a couple of weeks at the end of the 60's. Our Intourist guide took us to see an exhibition having to do with the Soviet space effort. One of the exhibits was a spherical module which, given the date, I imagine was part of a Soyuz-A. The thing that struck me, and that I would be interested in having confirmed (or not) by someone knowledgeable, was that part of the thing (a porthole surround?) was made of/trimmed with wood. Could this be the case or is my memory playing tricks on me?
- cromulent 11y agoA Google search turned up that the Chinese have used a heat shield made of impregnated oak, and perhaps the Russians used a cork one. Some speculation: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=11075.25;wap2 http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=11075.25;wa...
- bliti 11y agoMay you share more about the experience?
- jeffwass 11y agoWas it the Vostok? (it's spherical at least, not sure of the wood) : http://i.imgur.com/XBcLxta.jpg http://i.imgur.com/XBcLxta.jpg
- gman99 11y agoPerhaps you're thinking of Vostok? I thought much the same when I saw it in the Science Museum in London (just last weekend). Some kind of heat resistant cork or something? http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ImageHandler.ashx?image={4D8D3C65-0821-4FF3-A31B-07FB36C27418}&height=392&width=800&crop=true http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ImageHandler.ashx?image={4D8... I can heartily recommend the Cosmonaughts exhibition if you're at all interested in the birth of the Space Age. It's open till the 12th of March: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/cosmonauts http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/...
- KineticLensman 11y agoNot a spacecraft, but the Germans in WW2 developed an air-to-air missile [0] that had wooden fins. It wasn't going fast enough to create significant atmospheric heating and wood wasn't a strategically limited resource. I've seen one at a museum in the US, and the wood looks really incongruous. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrstahl_X-4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrstahl_X-4
- cshimmin 11y agoWhat is a "150_____ mile radius"? What goes in the blank? "Nautical" vs. "imperial roman"?
- sandworm101 11y agoIt was probably a blank "____ mile" in the original electronic doc and someone added the 150 without deleting the underscore, shifting everything right.
- altitudinous 11y agoI saw this too. Maybe it allows 150 - 350 mile radius or something similar.
- gaur 11y agoNote also the strange spacing and boxing of "side", apparently for no reason. Also: "there is no hazard-if both risers are still attached". What's a "hazard-if"? Or do they mean to use a dash here instead of a hyphen? This document looks like it was typeset by an incompetent temp in 1995. Really goes to show that the cutting edge of space research is in many aspects at the mercy of the lowest bidder (literally and figuratively).
- userbinator 11y agoPerhaps it was translated from a Russian version and hastily redacted.
- CWuestefeld 11y agoHeck, what's a riser? I mean, I am familiar with the term, but I have no way to identify what a Soyuz capsule's risers are, so ho do I know if they're attached or not?
- kraftman 11y agoits to add more 0's later.
- bonniemuffin 11y agoI enjoyed the knocking code: One knock or silence (.) = “We are bad.” I'm not sure you need a translation to know that no knocks = we might not be doing so great in this capsule here.
- steve-howard 11y agoDoes allow them to indicate that they're not dead or unconscious, though. The radio has already failed at this point.
- V-2 11y agoWell, clearly it should be split: One knock (.) = “We are bad.” Silence ( ) = “We are unconscious or dead.”
- sandworm101 11y agoReminds me of a first responder briefing I heard at an air show. The first job if a fighter was on the ground with a pilot aboard, after opening the canopy, the first two guys on the scene were to hold the pilots arms down. Nothing else mattered. Should he wake up and reach for those ejection handles ... bad things.
- LeifCarrotson 11y agoI suppose that it would be theoretically easy to disable the ejection handles when the plane had the canopy open, was not moving, and/or was on the ground. But if the plane was damaged and the sensors or circuits that managed that decision were destroyed, the pilot couldn't eject. They decided to err on the side of allowing the pilot to eject, possibily in a state of panic or confusion, under conditions that could be fatal. They did this instead of preventing this death caused by human error but opening the remote possibility that the best redundant system they could devise would fail and leave the pilot unable to eject. That says something interesting about their safety philosophy.
- sandworm101 11y agoThere are times when a pilot may want to eject from a stationary plane on the ground, fire being the big one. Of course this is only true of modern "zero-zero" ejection powerful enough to get the pilot under parachute without any altitude/speed. But if the plane has already crashed, the pilot probably has a damaged neck/spine already and ejecting might be lethal.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- eps 11y agoHas any of the Soyuz capsules ever landed outside of Russian/Soviet controlled territory? Does anyone know?
- iSnow 11y agoNone, ever. Unless you count the Chinese capsules that are heavily influenced by the Soyuz design and of course land in China.
- zamalek 11y agoFor non-rescue personnel (the rest of us), it looks like the best thing you can do is simply make sure that nobody gets closer than 150 feet. If you're certain that aerials are deployed, you can approach (from the FRONT/pointy-end) and knock five or more times. One or no knocks means that you need to phone the authorities after retreating to a safe distance - there is nothing that you can do for them (special tools are needed to crack it open).
- lukashed 11y agoThough, > There are three tools safety-wired to the outside edge of the bottom of the capsule. They can be easily removed in both upright and side landing scenarios
- mikewilliams 11y ago> 911 what's your emergency? There are some visitors from space in my back yard.
- jrockway 11y ago> NOT FOR RELEASE TO MEDIA Oh well.