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Russian Scientist to Talk on Russia's Space Program
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The Soviets surprised and shocked America when they launched Sputnik, the first satellite, but they never did put a man on the moon. A former scientist with the Russian Space Agency will shed light on the secrets and contradictions of the Russian space program on Tuesday, Jan. 14, on the Michigan Tech campus.
Sergey Tverdokhlebov (Sair-gay Tvair-doh-CLAY-bov) will give the seminar "Overview: Russia in Space Past, Present, and Future" from 4-5:30 p.m., in Room 112 of the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Building. His presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
Tverdokhlebov will reveal some of the untold lessons of Russian space history, including why he believes the Soviet Moon Program failed. He will also talk about the Moscow-based crew of the Lunokhod (Luno-cod), a lunar robot that was designed to last 90 days and instead spent 11 months touring the Moon.
Other topics include the Mir Space Station, which spent 15 years orbiting the Earth before being brought down into the Pacific Ocean in 2002, and how ballistic missiles are used for peaceful space projects.
Tverdokhlebov, a member of the Russian Academy of Science, was a senior staff scientist in the Russian space program specializing in electric propulsion and applied plasmadynamics. After nine years with the program, he was among the first wave of entrepreneurs to emerge after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He is now executive director of a Russian company that manufactures Hall thrusters, the high-tech, ion-propulsion engines used to keep satellites in orbit.
Tverdokhlebov is being hosted by the mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics department as part of the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar Series. His travel to MTU is funded through the U.S. Department of Defense under the Window on Science program. For more information, contact Brad King at 487-2683 or lbking@mtu.edu.
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