Konstantin Alekseevich Kalinin

14k b/w "History of aircraft construction in the USSR" by V.B.Shavrov, Vol.1 p.414

M ilitary pilot since 1916, K.A.Kalinin joined the Moscow Aviation Technicum (College) June 1, 1920. October 1920 - passed to the second 'course' ahead of schedule. Unlike now in the USA, educational institutions in Russia/USSR have solid schedule of classes. To jump from one 'course' to another is possible only for the most determined, strong and lucky students. March 1921 - head of scientific-technical section of the IVF;

In 1922 (first waves of purges, yet soft) was suspended for one year, as an intelligent (why not?) who participated in Ukrainian nationalistic Petlura movement (Petlurovschina) and did not prove himself as a Party (Communist one of course) activist.

June 1922 - S.V.Ilyushin submitted petition in his support. S.V.Ilyushin was a member of the IVF Party organization, so it was quite safe for him.

November 11 - expelled from the IVF for missing some tests;

Since 1925 - one of the most prominent Soviet aircraft designers. He worked mostly at Ukraina (Kharkiv), where he was able to pick the brightest graduates of the Kharkov Aviation Institute (KhAI), like I.G.Neman, Z.I.Itskovich, A.Ya.Scherbakov, V.Ya.Krylov and others.

Airplanes of his design shared several common features:

they were monoplanes;

wing and tail plane - elliptical;

fuselage - wielded steel tubes frame;

wing structure - mostly wood;

cover - fabric;

Taking into account historical period, those were materials of choice. Kalinin's passenger aircraft were cheap and very easy to maintain. Plus they were more economical than any other domestic and foreign civil aircraft. No wonder, that they were widely used.

Military aircraft built by K.A.Kalinin were all of unique design. He had courage to get involved with advanced project, but had no chance to bring them to mass production. And it was not necessarily his fall.

Russia to Launch Unmanned Lander on Martian Moon

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft will be sent to the surface of Phobos and return to the Earth with soil samples.

By Robotics Trends Staff - Filed Nov 22, 2010

The test launch of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was originally scheduled for 2009, but postponed due to technical reasons.

 

More Service and Healthcare stories

• Russia to Launch Unmanned Lander on Martian Moon - Nov 22, 2010
• NASA NIA to Sponsor Student Planetary Rover Challenge - Nov 12, 2010
• Sensor on Mars Rover to Measure Radiation Environment - Nov 09, 2010
• R4 Robotics Offering Opportunities for Commercial and Financial Partners to Take… - Nov 01, 2010
• MassTLC RoboHealth Summit: Improving the Quality of HealthCare with Robotics - Oct 04, 2010

[ view all ]

  Speaking in Moscow, the head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Anatoly Perminov, said the launch of an unmanned lander to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, is scheduled for October 2011.
The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft will be sent to the surface of Phobos, and then return to the Earth with soil samples.
A Chinese micro-satellite YH-1, the country’s first Mars probe, will also be carried by the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft to the Martian orbit, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The Chinese deep space research probe will start a Mars research program, including studying the mechanism of water evaporation on the planet.
Also, Phobos-Grunt will carry seeds and particular species of bacteria, fungi, maxillopoda, fish, and chironomids in the mission, which will help resolve the problem of planetary quarantine.
The test launch of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was originally scheduled for 2009, but postponed due to technical reasons.
The Mars mission is expected to last about 330 days.
Source: Xinhua

MOBILITY AND ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

copyright by nasa

Section 347

Richard Volpe, Manager Gabriel Udomkesmalee, Deputy Manager

	LEMUR Rovers: LEMUR IIa

Welcome to the JPL Robotics website! Here you'll find detailed descriptions of the activities of the Mobility and Robotic Systems Section, as well as related robotics efforts around the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We are approximately 100 engineers working on all aspects of robotics for space exploration and related terrestrial applications. We write autonomy software that drives rovers on Mars, and operations software to monitor and control them from Earth. We do the same for their instrument-placement and sampling arms, and are developing new systems with many limbs for walking and climbing. To achieve mobility off the surface, we are creating prototypes of airships to fly through the atmospheres of Titan and Venus, and drills and probes to go underground on Mars and Europa. To enable all of these robots to interact with their surroundings, we make them see with cameras and measure their environments with other sensors. Based on these measurements, the robots control themselves with algorithms also developed by our research teams. We capture the control-and-sensor-processing software in unifying frameworks, which enable reuse and transfer among our projects. In the course of developing this technology, we build real end-to-end systems as well as high-fidelity simulations of how the robots will work on worlds we are planning to visit.
Please use the menu at left to navigate to the view of our work that is most important to you. Our application domains are described in general terms, and then specifically in the context of flight projects and research tasks. Personnel are described in terms of the groups that constitute the section, as well as the people who constitute the groups. Most of our major robot systems are described, as are the laboratory facilities in which they are developed and exercised. For more detailed information, our publications may be accessed through a search engine, or more recent news may be browsed. Finally, to provide context to our current work, our charter is documented, the history of JPL robotics is described, and links to other related work are provided.