Russia is developing a unique spacesuit for a Western project
The Russian scientific and production enterprise Zvezda takes an active part in the ambitious SolarStratos project. According to the developers, this electric plane should be the first in history to rise into the stratosphere, to the very border of space, only due to the energy of electric batteries. It is estimated that the rise will take 2 hours, at an altitude of 25.000 meters, SolarStratos will stay for about 15 minutes, after which it will return to the Earth's surface.
The electric plane is almost 9 meters long and 25 meters wide. A 32-kilowatt electric motor and a 20-kilowatt battery drive it. SolarStratos can receive energy from electric panels with a total area of 72 meters, which allows it to provide up to 24 hours of continuous flight. The developers suggest that during a three-hour flight back, the panels can receive a sufficient charge of energy so that it is more than at the start of the mission.
However, the project faced serious difficulties. The temperature overboard will be less than minus 70 degrees Celsius, and the pressure - only 5% of the earth. The problem is that the SolarStratos is made leaky to ease the design. Outboard conditions will be enough to kill the pilot with a painful death. To protect it, a suit of special design is required, on which NPP Zvezda works.
In the pressure chamber of the Russian enterprise, the first tests of the spacesuit prototype with the participation of the pilot of an electric aircraft - Rafael Domzhan, passed. At this stage, not all indicators were ideal, therefore, joint work on a unique scientific and technical experiment will continue.
The electric plane is almost 9 meters long and 25 meters wide. A 32-kilowatt electric motor and a 20-kilowatt battery drive it. SolarStratos can receive energy from electric panels with a total area of 72 meters, which allows it to provide up to 24 hours of continuous flight. The developers suggest that during a three-hour flight back, the panels can receive a sufficient charge of energy so that it is more than at the start of the mission.
However, the project faced serious difficulties. The temperature overboard will be less than minus 70 degrees Celsius, and the pressure - only 5% of the earth. The problem is that the SolarStratos is made leaky to ease the design. Outboard conditions will be enough to kill the pilot with a painful death. To protect it, a suit of special design is required, on which NPP Zvezda works.
In the pressure chamber of the Russian enterprise, the first tests of the spacesuit prototype with the participation of the pilot of an electric aircraft - Rafael Domzhan, passed. At this stage, not all indicators were ideal, therefore, joint work on a unique scientific and technical experiment will continue.
Information