Her name is Lana Sator and she snuck into one of NPO Energomash factories outside of Moscow. Her photos are amazing, like sets straight out of Star Wars or Alien. Now the Russian government is harassing her. Posted on 01/06/2012 6:46:38 PM PST by LibWhacker
Her name is Lana Sator and she snuck into one of NPO Energomash factories outside of Moscow. Her photos are amazing, like sets straight out of Star Wars or Alien. Now the Russian government is harassing her.
It was easy to get in. She just went there, jumped over the fence and got right into the heart of the complex through a series of tunnels and pipes, which was very surprising. After all, this is an active industrial installation that belongs to one of the top manufacturers of liquid-fuel rockets in the world. Their engines power the modern Soyuz, the Zenit 3SL, and the Angara and Baikal launch vehicles. Heck, their RD-180 engine powers the first stage of the Atlas V, an American rocket. More importantly, they have specially strong ties to the Russian military.
And yet, she found nobody. No guards, no security. Nothing. Just a few CCTV cameras here and there in rooms packed with huge machinery.
While some of these zones look decrepit and abandoned, the factory is active. In fact, the government is really pi**ed off about Lana's adventure. The authorities have sent her letters saying that her situation will get "much worse" if she keeps posting photos from the factory.
But Lana doesn't seem to give a da** about it. She posted the letters on her site, which makes me want to go to Moscow, become her friend and party hard for a whole week. This girl is cooler and more bad*** than I will ever be.
That or she's crazy.
I don't care. Whatever it is, I love her.
This shot is absolutely spectacular. It looks like an abandoned core in the Death Star.
The factory from outside. 
Lana. Not only she's bad***, but mighty cute. 
The view from one of the massive towers. 
Anyone knows what this may be? Apart from a massive structure made of pure awesome, I mean. 
They keep the baby Sarlaccs here. 
Massive pipes in perfect state. 
One of the active rooms in the site. 
The factory working, spewing smoke as seen from Moscow. Or worse. Polonium Vlad likes to make some his victims suffer ...
This is very cool! I haven’t played the Stalker games yet, but I have all three waiting on my steam account. Now I’m getting excited to jump in.
I heard that. Seems like I’ve been on the longest cold streak in history!
thx
Two things: Give Clear Sky a pass, and look for the Stalker Complete mods. They’re free and well worth your time.
I really have to restrain myself, though - if I played Call of Pripyat as much as I’d like to, I’d never finish my book.
I can’t believe that place isn’t guarded. Some of that stuff *must* be worth stealing.
NPO Energomash “V. P. Glushko” is a Russian manufacturer originated from design bureau, which focuses primarily on the development and production of liquid propellant rocket engines. NPO Energomash is based in Moscow, with satellite facilities in Samara, Perm, and St. Petersburg, and employs close to 5500 workers.
Originally founded in 1946 as OKB-456, the company is noted for its long history of large scale LOX/Kerosene engine development, notably the RD-107, RD-170, and RD-180 engines. These engines have functioned as prime movers for such vehicles as R-7, Proton, Soyuz, Energia and Atlas V. NPO Energomash acquired its current name on May 15, 1991, in honor of its chief designer...
Variants of the RD-170 are still in use today on such vehicles as the Zenit 3SL used by Sea Launch. The modern Soyuz rocket uses updated versions of the RD-107 and RD-108 engines.
The RD-180 engine, developed with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne through the RD AMROSS partnership, is a direct descendant of the RD-170 line, and is used as the propulsion system for the first stage of Atlas V.
The most current engine listed on the NPO Energomash website is the single-chamber RD-191, developed for the Angara and Baikal launch vehicles...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPO_Energomash
NPO Energomash (Websie in English)
http://www.npoenergomash.ru/eng/
 Valentin Petrovich Glushko 1908-1989 |
In fact this story is true. This pics made a lot of noise in Russia. Heads are rolling on technologic security. An idea is if these students made throught security why couldn’t Chicoms or CIA.
I don’t think it may help much. In Siberia they have abandoned SAC airbases with fully equipped Backfife M3 bombers and infrastrusture left to rot. You can find videos of these on youtube. It is all for Chicoms to harvest.
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Looks like a lot of high tech gear.
From the 1970s...
I was thinking the same thing.
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Actually it doesn’t seems like rocket science has moved too much further since 1970s.
Thanks, I’ll look for the mod. I modded the heck out of Fallout 3. As for Clear Sky, good thing I got it during a steam sale for maybe $2.
Good luck with your book!
The picture shows the ends of the two engine test stand "exhaust" pipes. The pipes are visible in the picture just above your mystery picture. When a rocket engine is test fired the exhaust is routed down a pipe which ends in a circular chamber about 250 feet in diameter. The chamber contains a pool of water and has a large vertical stack extending upward which is visible in the exterior shots of the complex. The mystery picture shows the ends of the two large exhaust pipes which were terminated in a cluster of smaller diameter pipes some of which have rectangular baffles plates fixed to the ends of the circular sections. This approach is similar to the "mufflers" used on the turbojet engines in the 707 era (the mufflers were no longer required once fan-jet engines were developed.) The center column is the bottom of the vertical stack.
The entire structure is intended to function as a muffler to slow down and cool the rocket exhaust before discharging it to the open air. The facility appears to be in a suburb of Moscow and even if the state run enterprise didn't much care if the average citizen was deafened by the roar of the engine test, the commissars living and working within earshot probably did and were in a position to make an issue of the noise.
Saturn 5 launches generated over 200dB sound pressure level at the pad and would modulate your voice if you tried to talk some five miles away. The Russian engines tested at this facility were (are?) in the same class as the Saturn first stage engines and would be very bad for the neighborhood.
Regards,
GtG
PS Our launch pads also use large quantities of water injected right onto the flame diverters. This cools the flame and protects the ground support equipment (it also gives a terrific cloud of steam before the rocket starts to move).
Just Google "Atlas V rocket motor" and make your own evaluation.
You're welcome.
I would guess that the "square: plates (actually pyramid shaped) with holes drilled through them are intended to introduce more turbulence into the flow of exhaust gasses, thereby reducing the kinetic energy of the gasses and dampening the overall noise level.
G
Is she still alive? lol
Haha, I love that first shot. Perfect!
Great ping - thanks for sharing.
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