The International Space Station

Space exploration is of great importance for scientific and technological progress. Without it we wouldn’t have any telecommunication means or opportunities. It proved to be much more helpful for looking for new deposits, controlling weather changes, predicting possible disasters, controlling ecological situations, weather forecast and others. Satellites launched into space provide superlative opportunities for detecting new military objects or appearance of new zones of military threats.

 Not all the countries can afford space exploration because it is very expensive and demands billions dollars.

The International Space Station is the most complex and expensive structure that has ever been launched and built in space. The project of constructing the international space station involves only the most technologically advanced countries - Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil and 11 European nations. According to the project the ISS will consist of 36 modules and hundreds of individual elements that come from all over the world. The difficulties connected with the assembly process are as follows: all these elements should fit together properly and work exactly as planned. But even if all the parts fitted perfectly the assembly process itself in the orbit would be risky.

The project of constructing the ISS would be impossible without the previous experience in operating the Russian Mir space station. Mir was a great achievement. Russia learnt how to build and maintain such complex structure in space. It proved to be an ideal training ground for the ISS. That is why it was planned that Russia would supply and deliver 12 key modules out of 36 ones. They are: the basic power module, the control, the life support, the service modules and others. Constructing the ISS is not only scientific but also a political program. It promotes the international cooperation in science and technology and creates thousands of peaceful jobs for highly qualified workers and engineers.

Laser           

The text gives some information on laser. Laser is one of the most sophisticated inventions of man. It is a device which produces an intensive beam of light of a very pure single colour. The name laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The strength of a laser is so great that it can vaporize the hardest and most heat resistant materials. It can make lead run like water. Laser beam can be focused so precisely that it can destroy a single cell of living tissue.

Laser can be used in industry for cutting and piercing very hard materials such as metals, bricks, granite and even diamonds. It can also be used in surgery for making bloodless incisions, particularly on the retina. But the most important use of laser is in telecommunications. It is used for recording, processing and transmitting large amounts of information. Laser beam vibrates billons of times faster than ordinary radio waves, so it could carry radio, TV and telephone messages all over the world simultaneously. For example, a laser beam can transmit the whole text of Encyclopedia Britannica just in a few seconds.

There are different projects to use laser in science and industry. Nowadays scientists in different countries are working on a very interesting problem: combining laser and thermonuclear reaction for producing practically limitless source of energy. There is also an idea to use laser for solving the problem of controlled thermonuclear reaction. As far as I know there are projects to use laser for long distance communication and for transmitting energy to space stations and to other planets of solar system.

In conclusion I’d like to say that these projects have not been realized yet because of great technological difficulties and great cost involved, but I’m absolutely sure that in time these projects will be realized and laser beam will become one of the main technological tools.

A New Era for Aircraft

The text gives information on the new generation passenger liners of the 21^st century. The model of such a supersonic aircraft was demonstrated in Paris on the old La Bourget Airfield.

It’s interesting to note that the airliner looks like a rocket with its elongated fuselage and a sharp nose. The diameter of the fuselage is 4 metres and the overall length 100 metres. The cabin accommodates 300 passengers. The speed of a new liner is 5 or 6 times above the speed of sound. The plane flies so fast that its skin is heated to very high temperatures. That is why the only way out is to fly in the stratosphere.

According to the text to build a reliable supersonic liner we need highly economical combined engines and new heat insulating materials combined with better aerodynamics.

It’s also interesting to say that the aircraft will be lightened by new composite materials used instead of the conventional metal alloys. Because of the extreme temperatures generated by atmospheric friction the aircraft will also require complicated cooling measures. One possibility is to use cryogenic fuel, such as liquid hydrogen both as coolant and propellant. As far as I know specialists in many countries are working on new propeller engines which are much more economical and less noisy than jets.

In conclusion I want to say that new generation aircrafts will have the longer distance of flight and higher level of safety and comfort. If passenger liners of this type are built, the distance between Tokyo and Moscow will be covered in less than two hours.