By Academician Vladimir UTKIN, Director of the Federal State Unitarian Enterprise "Central R&D Institute of Mechanical Engineering", Russian Aerospace Agency; Alexander OSADCHENKO, Cand. Sc. (Technol.), deputy department head at the same enterprise; and Pavel BRASLAVSKY, department head at the same enterprise For decades our country had to tackle an all-important task-to develop new kinds and types of weaponry. But today we have to cope with a quite different problem - how to get rid of the enormous war arsenals, missiles in particular. Scrapping several hundred missiles (ground- and sea-based) is a very costly undertaking that involves ecological hazards to boot. Yet putting them to peaceful uses is a good way out: say, by employing them as spacecraft booster rockets. Thereupon these rockets will burn up in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak... page 27 One of the initiators of the idea to convert missile complexes to peaceful uses was the Central R&D Institute of Mechanical Engineering based in the town of Korolyov just on Moscow's doorstep(*). Today it is involved with feasibility studies of corresponding conversion projects and drawing up proposals toward their realization in Russia's federal aerospace programs. This is only a part of the Institute's work which includes research and experiments in setting up appropriate complexes for peaceful uses only as well as marketing-that is, exploring a potential space hardware market in this country and abroad. The Korolyov Institute draws upon a wealth of experience in designing booster rockets modified from military intercontinental * See: A. Morozenko, V. Shutov, "Korolyov, Capital of Russian Cosmonautics", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2000.-Ed. page 28 ballistic missiles (like Cyclone, Cosmos). The large pool of the latter and their good technical condition will make it possible to implement this idea within a short time, in just two or three years. Bac ... Читать далее