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发表于 2019-4-5 06:08:29
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Planetary exploration program in former Soviet Union
(前苏联的行星开发计划)
The former Soviet planetary exploration program was managed by the Soviet Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute (IKI) in Moscow. The director of IKI who managed the Venus exploration program was Roald Z. Sagdeev. [Venus is the closest planet to Earth.]
Roald Sagdeev is an expert in plasma physics. [Plasma physics studies the behavior of electrically charged gases.]
Roald Sagdeev was one of a few L. D. Landau's students. [Landau was the best theoretical physicist in former Soviet Union].
Roald Sagdeev moved to USA in Gorbachev years and became a professor of physics at the University of Maryland (and then),
Roald Sagdeev married Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of former USA president Dwight D. Eisenhower!
The followings are what Sagdeev said about why "Venus was also the primary planetary target of the Soviet planetary exploration program......"
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Every few years, as director of the Space Research Institute, I had to report, upon the completion of each important mission, to a very large audience in Moscow at the Polytechnic Museum, a kind of counterpart to the Smithsonian Art and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. A lot of space enthusiasts came to ask questions. Every time, while enjoying the new science or experiencing the new excitement of a deeper penetration into the mysteries of Venus, my audience would ask at the conclusion of the meeting "While we are sending spacecraft to Venus – Venera 8, -9, -10, and so on – the Americans fly their spacecraft to visit Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and so on. Why couldn't we send such missions?" This gave me an opportunity to dwell on the major difference between the two countries' resources.
Of course, by comparison the American program was rich with diversity and courage. The most we could do, with what might be given to us by our industry, was to reach Venus and to land there, and to survive for a while in an extremely hot and hostile environment. But to undertake trips to distant planets would require something different. The technology had to be able to work for a very long time, readapting to constantly varying conditions. Such a long survival time would require a different technological culture. It would require a special dedication, which on top of it all would also cost a lot.
However, I thought such an answer would be too boring, so I answered the question in the following way:
"You know, we have a silent, gentleman's agreement to share responsibilities in space. While the Americans are doing wide-range reconnaissance in the Solar System, we are carrying on an intensive study of Venus, just as if that planet were declared the planetary test range of our space science."
But the next time, reporting on the newer Venera landing, I had to confront the same questions. Once I was literally bewildered, and without much thinking, immediately answered the question of why Americans do such and such:
"Because they are sons of a bitch," I replied. [因为他们是一群王八蛋]
For several minutes, the audience applauded. It was very clear that they were applauding the Americans and their space program, which had captured the imagination of the Soviets despite the attempts of our official propaganda to undermine the achievements of these "sons of a bitch."
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(2003.06.06)
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