Another Tsar bomba?
...as a Rod of God penetrated the structure they were working in.
Ironic?
Sure it wasn’t a Russian gender reveal party?
As I reach back into my sci-fi memory, hmmmmm...
Nuclear pumped X-ray laser comes up.
Could be a narrow-beam neutron ray that kills but leaves equipment intact.
Or, my favorite, a 40 watt plasma rifle directly powered by polonium.
Ping.
Russia’s Nuclear Monitors ‘Went Silent’ Following Rocket Explosion
Moscow Times ^ | Aug 2019
Posted on 8/19/2019, 8:23:04 PM by CondoleezzaProtege
Two of Russia’s nuclear radiation monitoring stations went silent two days after a mysterious explosion that led to a radiation spike in northern Russia earlier this month.
Russian officials say at least five nuclear engineers were killed during a rocket test involving “isotope power sources” on a platform in the White Sea, leading to outside speculation that the accident involved a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Four international stations designed to monitor nuclear activity had detected “an event coinciding with the [Aug. 8] explosion in Nyonoksa, Russia,” the world’s main nuclear test-ban body said on Aug. 10.
The Dubna and Kirov stations told the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) they were experiencing “communication and network issues” shortly after the explosion, its chief Lassina Zerbo told The Wall Street Journal.
The two stations are part of an international network of more than 300 stations set up to verify compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). They are the closest Russian stations to the Arkhangelsk region where the blast took place.
“We are pending further reports on when the stations or the communication system will be restored to full functionality,” Zerbo was quoted as saying Sunday.
Daryl Kimball, the head of the Arms Control Association NGO, called the data disruption “a very odd coincidence.”
.
Putin Reveals Zircon Mach 9 Missile Specification
AIN online ^ | February 22, 2019 | Vladimir Karnozov
Posted on 2/22/2019, 9:38:48 PM by sukhoi-30mki
Could this be a forerunner of Zircon? This model of an experimental hypersonic missile was displayed in 2016 by TsIAM. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov)
While addressing the Russian Federal Assembly on February 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin touched on the Zircon, describing it as “a hypersonic missile able to accelerate to about Mach 9.” The Russian president said this is “yet another innovation, work on which proceeds successfully and shall be completed on schedule.” It has a firing range of “over one thousand kilometers” (540 nm) and “is able to destroy both sea-going and land targets,” he added.
Notably, Putin’s figures are considerably above those previously suggested by local and overseas experts, who believed that Zircon’s firing range would fall somewhere between 400 and 500 km [215-270 nm], and top speed limited to between Mach 5 and 6. According to Putin, the Zircon is primarily intended to arm seagoing platforms such as “serially made surface warships and submarines, including those that are already operational and being built—those that come with the Caliber cruise missile launchers. Because of this, this is not going to be [too] expensive for us.”
At the same time, reports surfacing in the Russian media insist that the baseline version will be followed by a lighter one for deployment on strategic bombers. The most likely candidate is the Tupolev Tu-160/M/M2 (NATO: “Blackjack”) whose performance permits the removal of the solid-fuel booster in the baseline naval version. In the Russian arsenals of advanced air-launched anti-shipping weapons, it would complement the lighter Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile intended for the MiG-31BM/K (“Foxhound”) heavyweight multirole fighters that Putin unveiled during Federal Assembly Address 2018. In between those two, there is a Kh-32 aero-ballistic weapon (improved AS-4 “Kitchen”) intended for the Tu-22M3M (”Backfire”) bomber.
Russia appears to have three programs for heavyweight high-speed cruise missiles for applications on aviation platforms. Technically, they employ different propulsion systems: rocket engines running on powder or two-component liquid fuel, and an air-breathing scramjet. Possibly a simultaneous development of all three has been attempted by the Tactical Missile Corporation (TRV) to ensure that at least one technology produces the desired effect: to attain a top speed of more than 9,000 km/h.
Labeled as the 3M22 Zircon, this more traditional missile design surfaced in a presentation by TRV or NPO Mash around 2016. (photo: via Vladimir Karnozov)
Information on Zircon remains scarce. Reportedly, its GRAU index is 3M22 and NATO codename is SS-N-33. It is being developed by the Scientific Production Organization for Machinery-building, or NPO Mash. The body length is estimated at 10 to 11 meters (32-36 feet), warhead weight at 300 to 400 kg (660-880 pounds), and peak altitude along the trajectory at 30 to 40 km (100,000-130,000 feet). The baseline naval version has a two- or even three-stage configuration with acceleration at launch and climb achieved through solid-fuel boosters. An air-breathing scramjet takes over in cruise and terminal stages of flight. Reportedly, the first firing trials took place in March 2016, followed by a launch from a naval platform 11 months later, in which development prototypes accelerated to Mach 8.
General Victor Bondarev, former Russian air force commander and now head of the defense and security committee of the Russian Parliament (Duma), said that the Zircon is already “in the arsenal of the Russian armed forces” and that its deployment will be undertaken within the framework of the State Armament Program 2018-2027. More recently, Rear Admiral Vsevolod Khmyrov said that in the case of being launched from a coastal location, the Zircon can hit a warship 500 km off the coastline in less than five minutes. This would give air defenses insufficient time to detect the incoming threat and react to it, he explained.
Or is this Zircon? The Brahmos II depicted here could be an export derivative of the 3M22 weapon. (photo: Vladimir Karnozov)
Since there are no official images available, the Zircon is often depicted in the international media bearing an outward resemblance to the Mach 5 Boeing X-51 Waverider, but the BrahMos II (or IIK), exhibited in a scaled form at AeroIndia’2013, may bear a closer resemblance to the Zircon, since the former is likely be an exportable version of the latter. It is believed that the key technologies for the new missile have been tested on a number of experimental vehicles from TsIAM, (Central Institute of Aviation Motors named after Baranov), and TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Zhukovsky). Apparently, the Zircon development benefited from earlier testing of the MKB Raduga’s GELA Hypersonic Experimental Flight Vehicle, NATO AS-X-21). Demonstrated at MAKS’1995, this 15-tonne winged missile reached between Mach 4 and Mach 5.
How’s their floating nuclear reactor doing?
“a weapon that ‘has no equal in the world’”
—
Swalwell’s explosive gas issue.
I wonder if it was a repeat of a “demon core”-type incident?
Basically, scientists mishandling the core of a nuclear weapon.
Video at the source shows what appears to be the equivalent of Russian Hell’s Angels carrying some of the coffins. What does this tell us? Russia’s top nuclear scientists and engineers have friends and relatives who are H.A.s? Suddenly I’m less concerned about whatever the heck it is they’re supposed to be doing.
The widows received their husbands’ remains in lead thimbles.
There’s five dead scientists that won’t be creating anything anymore. Might want to keep them out of the blast zone next time.
And one of them was the president of that Ukrainian gas company.
For over 70 years, Russia has been claiming to have created doomsday weapons to destroy the whole world. I guess it’s a cultural thing.
They proved the new weapon is lethal.
This is what they’re trying to develop.
Project Pluto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
There’s a photo of the engine that was fired successfully. Have fun. Enjoy the slide.