Haunting and beautiful. A spectacular end to Part II.
Excellent work, lovely prose.
A Sound of Thunder: The Rise of the Soviet Superbooster
- Thread starter nixonshead
- Start date
Excellent work, lovely prose.
You are always harsh with the Soviets in your stories, and lenient with the US or Europe.
I am very skeptical that a hypergolic, simple propulsion system that would fail. Those things are used usually as a backup because they will always work, it is even less likely for something meant for a space reactor to not have any duplicate systems or built oversized. If a normal hyperbolic engine has for example a safety factor of 5 them for something like a nuclear reactor you will double that. And I am not sure how severe the radiation of the reactor would be on the crew, I presume they shut it down for a few months before attempting to pick up, long enough for the high intensity radiation isotopes to decay and probably neutralize the nastier long loved iodine as it combines with the cesium from the coolant and forms CsI.
(I am waiting for more information on the reactor because gaseous cesium is an uncommon choice for a coolant)
I am very skeptical that a hypergolic, simple propulsion system that would fail. Those things are used usually as a backup because they will always work, it is even less likely for something meant for a space reactor to not have any duplicate systems or built oversized. If a normal hyperbolic engine has for example a safety factor of 5 them for something like a nuclear reactor you will double that. And I am not sure how severe the radiation of the reactor would be on the crew, I presume they shut it down for a few months before attempting to pick up, long enough for the high intensity radiation isotopes to decay and probably neutralize the nastier long loved iodine as it combines with the cesium from the coolant and forms CsI.
(I am waiting for more information on the reactor because gaseous cesium is an uncommon choice for a coolant)
Hopefully people remember the sacrifice the crew of this mission made. But knowing Soviet censorship, not many will know the truth.
Well, looks like the last page of dissusion on including Zarya into an ISS was for naught, for the best, personally nuclear reactors left open like Zarya's requiring specific locations of where to go and where not to go are dangerous as hell
Likely ITTL this incident kills nuclear power in space outside of probes
Likely ITTL this incident kills nuclear power in space outside of probes
"Oh great God, why have you sent this plague upon us, your people?"
"Ah... sorry, I forgot I'd set that up in Part 1 Post 3. Um, let's just say the symptoms weren't as bad as expected and move on, shall we..?"
US-A:
- Kosmos 954. The satellite failed to boost into a nuclear-safe storage orbit as planned. Nuclear materials re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 24 January 1978 and left a trail of radioactive pollution over an estimated 124,000 square kilometres of Canada's Northwest Territories.
- Kosmos 1402. Failed to boost into storage orbit in late 1982. The reactor core was separated from the remainder of the spacecraft and was the last piece of the satellite to return to Earth, landing in the South Atlantic Ocean on 7 February 1983.
- Kosmos 1900. The primary system failed to eject the reactor core into storage orbit, but the backup managed to push it into an orbit 80 km (50 mi) below its intended altitude.
Well... uhh... I have been defeated by real life.
Though to be fair, there's a big difference with Zarya's unit, where I would assume more consideration and redundancy went than for the unmanned satellites. (My annoyance is not that there were problems with Zarya but that this effectively creates a stigma against nuclear power for human rated spacecrafts)
The question is whether this replaces OTL Chernobyl. If so, it seems that the nuclear team in space projects will return even faster than nuclear projects in Europe.
If so, either NK-35 will be used in projects intended to replace R-7. Wulkan, after connecting the first three stages like Falcone Heavy, will complement the possibilities between N-1 and Wulkan.
Not to worry, I'm sure it will all just mean that ONE of the "Sharknado" series will involved radioactive sharks
Randy
Plushenko's sacrifice will at least be publicized- while nameless liquidators at OTL Chernobyl could be quietly covered up, a heroic cosmonaut sacrificing his life for his planet is not something a Glasnost-era Soviet Union could brush away very easily. The radiation poisoning the other crewmembers will suffer however, probably would be heavily censored, although astute observers could probably infer what happened.
Nevertheless, this is perhaps the biggest catastrophe the Soviet space program could've suffered short of a total crew loss. The Soviets will not be sending any more nuclear reactors in space anymore, and nuclear propulation will be even more far-fetched then OTL. The Moonbase is probably a done deal, with the Soviet Union in shambles and nuclear reactors now absolutely taboo, even the Americans probably don't want to touch it at this point. RTGs, despite being comparatively benign compared to the Soviet reactors, will also probably face the wrath of an anti-nuclear public- plans for Soviet outer planet missions now are even more far-away then OTL, and even American missions like Cassini and Galileo will probably find themselves at the short end of the funding stick.
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Oh why do you have to be so cruel... such a wonderful end to this part, and such a heartbreaking cliffhanger.
Kosmos 954+STS 41C/51A+Interstellar docking scene+Salyut "rescue"+N1+Buran+Gravity movie+Space Chernobyl all in one, almost everything that could go wrong went wrong.
I guess the 1975 Leningrad RBMK incident are slightlly worse ITTL and some of the safety improvements recommandations are implemented, butterflying chernobyl (to its IRL extent) away, but also resulting in a safety environment where sending 4 cosmonauts to a potential death is seen as acceptable.
The actual recovery attempt is a bit weird, but the entire story isn't told yet, wouldn't they at least wait for a few days to reasses options after failure of the net, even potentially getting new equipment from a timely R7 launch? The astronauts are already irradiated, they can stay in orbit a bit more...
I wonder what exactly happened that the maneuvering unit was not enough to save Plushenko.
But I'm not complaining.
What a wonderful part, can't wait for Part 3 whenever it's ready.
Kosmos 954+STS 41C/51A+Interstellar docking scene+Salyut "rescue"+N1+Buran+Gravity movie+Space Chernobyl all in one, almost everything that could go wrong went wrong.
I guess the 1975 Leningrad RBMK incident are slightlly worse ITTL and some of the safety improvements recommandations are implemented, butterflying chernobyl (to its IRL extent) away, but also resulting in a safety environment where sending 4 cosmonauts to a potential death is seen as acceptable.
The actual recovery attempt is a bit weird, but the entire story isn't told yet, wouldn't they at least wait for a few days to reasses options after failure of the net, even potentially getting new equipment from a timely R7 launch? The astronauts are already irradiated, they can stay in orbit a bit more...
I wonder what exactly happened that the maneuvering unit was not enough to save Plushenko.
But I'm not complaining.
With the tough competition of the Matured NK-33 and NK-35 I could see him aiming higher... such as directly going for the 850-940tf RD-172/179 that were planned for *our* Vulkan, or even the 1000tf engine of RLA...
What a wonderful part, can't wait for Part 3 whenever it's ready.
Ya, radiation exposure would have an effect, same with the crew, that cosmonaut is dead with exposure, depends on how much rads he got but i give him less then a month
As i thought, the reactor was mostly exposed with a lack of shielding except for the crew compartment of the station (Uragan not docking made me think this). The weight would be too high for a full biological shield.
Plushenko is exposed to the reactor at point blank range, the rotation of the reactor causes the shielded part to not cover him totally, as a result he gets lethal doses. His suit and MMU will not protect him. And depending on how much radiation his suit could get comprimised electronically
I watched the one where he goes to space and gets a lightsaber chainsawNot to worry, I'm sure it will all just mean that ONE of the "Sharknado" series will involved radioactive sharks
Randy
The thing that annoyed me though was he runs to a space shuttle, starting in the VAB and on a catwalk, and somehow takes said catwalk to the shuttle,
Chernobyl ruined nuclear power, the EU gave Russia, Belerus and Ukrain ultimatums for the use of RBMK's, so you could say the EU was against green energy
There is a stigma OTL for reactors in space, Cassini was protested by the "no nukes" crowd for its 6 kg of plutonium. Apollo 13 had to adjust to reenter over the mariana trench so the 4kg rtg could be disposed in the deepest water
Weight requiremnts in space make nuclear power more risker, safety is always a top priority but safer means more weight, Zarya was made to be light but safe for crew, which was why the biological shield covered the crew section, income and outgoing spaceships would approach from the oppisite end to be covered by Zarya's shield
Truthfully, this is about as valid a theory as any religion I've seen.
Wow, that's a chilling way to end things. Great that the Soviet Shuttle got to prove itself at least, this is definitely something that couldn't have been done had it not been built. Can't wait for Part 3!
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But Plushenko is still alive some time later in the story... it's clear that radiations were not the main problem, but rather one with the maneuvering unit.
Pretty sure what happened is he shut off his suit so he'd die right then rather then suffer what he knew was a painful death from radiation.
Yes... but he was drifting before that. Clearly something went wrong with the alt-SPK/21KS maneuvering unit
I got the impression he deliberately moved away from the orbiter, not that there was a malfunction but he knew he was going to die and decided to take his own way rather than even try and get back.
Randy