Really Rocket Science

You will go and plant Russian flag. Rename it “Mootin.”

With all the sanctions in place against major industries in Putin’s Russian Empire, it’s become increasingly difficult to sell $65 million Proton launches. Add that to illusion of “Russian quality” in manufacturing, and you’ve got a direct route to failure.

So what’s psycho dickhead’s master plan for his space industry? Plan a manned mission to the Moon! Via ITAR-TASS, the drunk derelicts who can’t get a decent translator for their site…

Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) plans to begin full-scale exploration of the Moon in late 2020s-early 2030s, Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko said on Tuesday.

“At the end of the next decade, we plan to complete tests of a super-heavy-class carries rocket and begin full-scale exploration of the Moon,” he said at a government meeting chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. “By that time, based on the results of lunar surface exploration by unmanned space probes, we will designate most promising places for lunar expeditions and lunar bases,” Ostapenko added.

Let’s hope it’s not another Foton-M 1 launch. That was “bloody hell.”

It’s probably a reaction to plug holes in the Russian brain bucket, which is leaking journalists and middle-class professionals. Pussy Riot confirmed this while visiting Harvard.

Ukraine Today launched on Sunday, 24 August 2014, and is available via Eutelsat’s Hotbird:

Eutelsat Hotbird @ 13 East
Frequency: 11623 MHz
Symbol Rate: 27,5 Mbaud
FEC: 3/4
Polarization: Vertical
Codec: MPEG2
Modulation: QPSK
Format: DVB-S

Presently focused on Europe, given the coverage…

Here’s the live feed via YouTube:

Plans for call for U.S. distribution, so I’m hoping they can work out a deal with both Dish Network and DirecTV for DTH — and perhaps get industrial distribution so they can get into cable/fiber households, too. Probably want to get into Canada, too, ey? New satellites will help very much.

Now, if only they could’ve come up with a more creative brand/name. How about “Ukrainian Kobzar” instead?

The remnants of totalitarian communism in Russia refuses to go away. Putin’s mafia-style government first tried to take down the satellite TV signal of Dozhd, one of the few remaining independent channels. The channel is available via Yamal 300K, Eutelsat 36B, Astra 4A, and Dish Network in the U.S. (via Anik F3).

Now the government wants to ban advertising on any channel beside FTA television, most of which is state-owned or controlled. Removing one of the main sources of revenue is their way of putting them out of business.

Dozens of small and independent Russian television stations could face closure after lawmakers approved a controversial bill banning advertising on cable and satellite channels.

The proposal would also consolidate state-controlled channels’ dominance of the advertisement market.

The surprise bill raced through Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, last week, sailing through its three compulsory readings in just two sessions.

Excluded from the ban are “national, compulsory, universally accessible” channels and those conveyed by terrestrial broadcasting — meaning all the state-controlled channels that currently dominate Russian television.

Advocates say the new law aims to end unfair competition on the television market, where pay channels supposedly benefit from mixed funding schemes — subscription fees and advertising — while free broadcast channels are limited to commercials.

But the heads of 15 pay channels, including Natalya Sindeyeva of opposition-leaning Dozhd TV, have written a letter to the government warning that the ban will sound the death knell for more than half of Russia’s cable and satellite channels.

“Excluding the advertising model could place about 150 thematic pay channels on the brink of survival,” the letter says. “Raising payments for television services may lead to understandable customer dissatisfaction.”

The signatories also warn that the new law will hurt small and medium-sized businesses currently advertising on pay channels since “only big-business representatives can afford advertising on federal channels.”

Read the letter in Russian here. Behold the quick translation into English…

From an article in the newspaper “Kommersant” from 26/06/14, we were surprised to learn that in the State Duma in an expedited manner planned to adopt a package of amendments to the “Law on Advertising.” Our keen interest aroused amendment prohibiting advertising on pay channels. We believe that consideration of this amendment, the State Duma of the Russian Federation should take into account the following circumstances:

1. Absolutely no obvious reason why television channels necessary in law to impose a particular model in the market. We believe that any TV channel can select or advertising model, or paid, or mixed. The choice of a model should be determined solely by market mechanisms rather than the provisions of the legislation. According to our information the absence of such legislative restrictions characteristic of the vast majority of countries around the world.

2. Most pay-TV channels now uses both models of monetization of their business – and advertising and paid. Exception advertising model will deliver about 150 paid thematic channels on the brink of survival. It is possible, the financial burden will be shifted to the subscribers. Services of the largest Russian operators used by tens of millions of Russian citizens. Increased pay for TV service can lead to understandable frustration consumers.

3. Please note that the central channels of essential federal campaigns can afford only representatives of big business. For medium and small business advertising on such channels is not available due to its high cost. But representatives of small and medium businesses can promote on the Russian market their products and services by means of pay-TV channels. They can appeal to the audience of thematic channels, which are most likely to consume their product or service at feasible prices for their business. Ban such advertising can lead to a significant delay in the development of small and medium-sized businesses in our country. We believe that this provision of the legislation is contrary to public policy to support small and medium-sized businesses.

Appeal with the proposal to postpone consideration of this amendment in the spring session of the State Duma. Propose to discuss the amendment with the business community, and nominate it for discussion by the State Duma in view of his opinions.

This is ridiculous, yet typical of Putin’s stupidity. Gutting the Russian economy is obviously not a consideration.

People will find want they want from other sources: the truth.

The original agreement for the International Space Station was to operate it until 2020.

So why is deputy prime minister Rogozin telling NASA to use a trampoline?

Thanks to Emily Gertz for pointing it out.

The U.S. is relying on Russia for transporting astronauts to and from the ISS for several years, and Russia’s space station modules currently provide propulsion for the structure. But on board the station itself, Oberg says, Russia’s sections and crew rely upon American-made and operated equipment for electricity and communications. Further, Russia’s effort to to complete and launch its own science section is “years behind schedule,” says Oberg, so it must rely upon the labs contributed by other nations.

No matter what happens with Russian space policy, Oberg is excited for the next decade of space science, which he believes will be shifting from a “CERN model” of multiple nations contributing to and collaborating at one research facility, to “the Antarctica model” of many smaller stations forming and ending cooperative efforts as the science requires.

If Russia does exit the ISS soon after 2020, he says, it will happen at about the same time that new “human-rated” spacecraft like SpaceX’s Dragon come into use, and end Russia’s current lock on crew transportation.

“The Ukraine crisis has not diverted the station’s evolution into a new path,” Oberg says. “It may have put into sharper focus the different paths the station could follow, but that was happening anyway.”

Good luck with those sanctions.

Elon Musk is standing up to Russian imperialism: “It’s very questionable in light of international events. It seems like the wrong time to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the Kremlin.”

Not only is he standing up for doing the right thing, he’s standing up to two 800-lb. gorillas in the military-industrial-complex: Boeing and Lockheed Martin. They’re co-owners of United Launch Alliance, launch service providers to the U.S. Air Force. ULA buys RD-180 engines from NPO Energomash in Russia. Like most important businesses in Russia, it’s controlled by Putin’s Mafia State.

So the pussy lawyers had this to say…

“ULA and the U.S. Department of Justice filed motions to dissolve the preliminary injunction supporting ULA’s earlier statements that the purchase of the RD-180 engines from our suppliers and partners, RD AMROSS and NPO Energomash, does not violate the Ukraine sanctions.

“Unfortunately, SpaceX has made many public but unfounded speculations to create negative perceptions of a competitor solely for purposes of its own self-interest. This frivolous lawsuit caused unnecessary distraction of our executive branch leaders during a sensitive national security crisis.

“The letters from U.S. Departments of State, Treasury and Commerce clearly state that NPO Energomash is not subject to any of the current sanctions and that ULA’s continued purchase of the RD-180 does not directly or indirectly contravene the Ukraine sanctions.

“As a result, both ULA and the Department of Justice have requested that the injunction be immediately lifted.”

As he’s been doing to honest business people in Russia, Putin is now fucking with international business.

Take this business away from entities controlled by Russian mafia and give it to an honest, smart, hard-working American company: SpaceX.

Who would you rather do business with: innovative leaders or murderous managers?

And which launch system is more reliable? The American one, naturally. Atlas launches cost 40-50% more than Russian launches (86% success rate since December, 2010). It’s worth it to keep the engineering talent and expertise here in the U.S.

Here’s another Proton failure, an anomaly at T+9:00 with the third stage. With a beast of a bird onboard (Express-4R/«Экспресс-АМ4Р» — a Eurostar 3000 bus built by Astrium), its payload had 30 C-band, 28 Ku-band, 2 Ka-band, and 3 L-band transponders — so this has to hurt.

When Russian contractors work for American or European customers, everything they do has to be diligently verified. With only Russian customers, nobody really cares that much. This is a remnant of the Soviet system and must be changed. You can’t complete as a world-class company with this attitude.

Here’s the video (warning: there’s no dramatic explosion)…

The detail given comes to us courtesy of SpaceFlightNow.com

The Express AM4R spacecraft, worth approximately $200 million, was supposed to begin a 15-year mission beaming radio, television, broadband Internet and telephone services across Russia and neighboring countries.

But a few minutes after the 12,720-pound (5,770-kilogram) Express AM4R satellite launched from Baikonur, Russia’s primary space base, its Proton rocket ran into a problem.

The failure occurred during the third stage of the Proton’s ascent into orbit, according to a statement by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, the Moscow-based manufacturer of the Proton launcher.

An announcer declared an emergency during a live webcast of the launch, and Khrunichev’s statement also described the incident as an “emergency situation.”

Khrunichev said experts were analyzing telemetry to determine the cause of the failure.

A report by Interfax said debris from the rocket may have fallen the Altai or Amur regions of Russia’s Far East.

Spewing a brilliant flame of blue exhaust, the 19-story Proton rocket lifted off at 2142 GMT (5:42 p.m. EDT) to start a nine-hour flight to deploy the powerful European-built Express AM4R telecommunications satellite for Russian government and commercial customers.

The launch was at 3:42 a.m. local time at Baikonur.

The hydrazine-fueled rocket disappeared from the view of a ground-based tracking camera a few minutes later, with no visible signs of any trouble.

But a problem occurred about 545 seconds, or about 9 minutes, after liftoff, according to a report by the semi-official Itar-Tass news agency.

Another report by the Interfax media service said the time of the failure was about 500 seconds after launch.

Both of the times reported for the anomaly occurred during the firing of the Proton rocket’s third stage, which is powered by an RD-0213 main engine generating 131,000 pounds of thrust. A four-nozzle vernier steering engine is also mounted on the third stage to keep the rocket pointed in the right direction.

The rocket’s guidance, navigation and control system is a triple-redundant digital avionics package on the third stage.

Thursday’s mishap marks the fifth launch failure of the Proton rocket or its Breeze M upper stage in 36 flights since December 2010. Another Proton/Breeze M mission put the Russian Yamal 402 communications satellite in the wrong orbit, but the spacecraft was able to boot itself to the correct location.

The string of mishaps has brought focus on the quality control procedures of Khrunichev and its suppliers, with the Russian space contrator announcing expanded inspections, video monitoring in its factories and other measures to bolster the Proton’s reliability.

I suspect commercial payload customer on the Proton manifest are scrambling: Express AM6, Inmarsat 5 F2, ASTRA 2G and Turksat 4B.

From an American living in Kyiv, Ukraine, on the morning of 25 January 2014…

Good morning USA. As of 14:30 Kyiv time, Saturday. First: There was no clearing of Maidan.
I wish I had better news but the situation in Ukraine continues to escalate and is extremely fragile. I’ll try to keep this update to the facts…mainly reported on Ch.5, and identify rumors as such. I’ll let the conclusions and speculation as to what happens next be up to you.

ANOTHER ACTIVIST DEAD
45 year old Roman Senyk, from western Ukraine died from injuries sustained in the 22.Jan Berkut attacks on Hrushevskoho Street. His ‘chest cavity’ was operated on twice and his arm was amputated.

THE COURTS HAVE BEEN BUSY
17 Automaidan Participants have been sentenced to 2 months in prison
2 to home arrest (including a 72 year old activist)

MAIDAN IS SPREADING ACROSS THE NATION
Regional Administration Buildings (Like state government/governor’s offices in the US) are being forcefully taken over by protestors. The situation is evolving rapidly.
7 out 26 Oblasts (Regions) are now controlled by the “Narod” (the People).
11 are besieged/blockaded by protesters.
5 have active protests at their doors
2 are quiet (Donetsk and Luhansk)

KYIV MAIDAN – FIRES AND PITCHFORKS
In Kyiv, the tire fires have been burning since last night. Activists that get covered with water from government firehouses are receiving changes of clothes brought to them right to the front lines by other activists. Channel 5 showed footage of tires and supplies of pitchforks, yes pitchforks, being unloaded from activist cargo transport vehicles. Retired Gen. Hrytsenko recommended that those who have registered firearms, wear them on their person if they go to Maidan as the govt is snatching people left and right. He poses the question: “Why should we not defend ourselves?”
Rumor: on Hrushevskoho, activists have spotted police entering the back entrance of “Dim Ukrainy” (Ukrainian House) on European square. It has long been rumored that this building is packed with Berkut. The protesters are completely exposed, from the rear, on that side of European Square. There are no barricades there to protect them or to slow an attack.

MILITIA UNITS RESIGNING
So far I can confirm entire militia units in Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, and Vynnytsia have flipped and apologized to the Narod. (Keep in mind there are officers from Yanukovych in all regions threatening defectors with Military Tribunals if they resign). Rumors: Founder of PoR resigned (?), many judges are resigning (?)

THE GOVERNMENT
Yanukovych spoke on TV last night with a tragic and sad disposition [no comment or i’d have to use expletives] about people suffering. How willing he is to talk to the opposition to reach a peaceful solution. How the opposition is rejecting his appeals. How he will be forced to take legal measures, etc…

The leader of Automaidan, Bulatov, has still not been found. The other Automaidan guys have offered 10,000 USD for information leading to finding him.

People keep disappearing from the streets and hospitals (Doctors are getting SBU phonecalls asking for reports about patients). Seven students (art/film students) were snatched off the street – not on Maidan. Status unknown. Three men were arrested during the night for having tires in their cars.

Zakharchenko (Interior Minister/top cop) released information (words) that one police officer has been killed by Maidan activists and two have been kidnapped and are being held in the Kyiv City Admin Bldg controlled by activists. Maidan is denying this information.

Zakharchenko stated that negotiations with Maidan activists have proved futile. That the activists are accumulating fire arms. He said he is being forced to take action by all methods at his disposal.

SIGNS OF RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT
A military analyst reviewed activist debriefs after torture and intimidation sessions and identified Russian FSB techniques used in Chenya and other countries. Those released activists reported strange regional Russian accents.

DID I MENTION IT’S COLD?
I know many of you in America have also been experiencing bitter cold. It’s REALLY cold here. -20, -21deg C (-5 degF). The kind of cold where the inside of your nostrils freeze with each inhale. Where the three layers you are wearing feel paper thin. Where the rubber soles of what you thought were badass, sh** kicking, boots freeze so solidly that it feels like you are ice-skating. Where your exposed face between your scarf and hat feels numb within minutes. NOTE: some of the automaidan guys were forced by Berkut to kneel in the snow two nights ago for 1.5 hours without their coats. The protesters have incredible RESOLVE and attitude.

The NAROD needs your prayers and support now more than ever.
SLAVA UKRAINI!!

From Ukraine, Russain FSB dressed as riot police in Kyiv.