Июнь 2009 г.

Российская наука и мир (по материалам зарубежной электронной прессы)

CONTENTS / ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ


• Atom Pinhole Camera Acts as a Shrinking Copy Machine
• Scientists Return from Expedition to Drill Beneath Frozen Russian Lake
• C.En Ltd. Appoints World-Renowned Russian Scientist Prof. E.P.Velikhov Honorary President
• RUSNANO and RENOVA Group sign investment agreement to set up a Russia's largest solar modules manufacturing facility
• Du carburant liquide fait à partir de sciure de bois
• La science et les technologies russes au jour le jour:
  • Une optique en diamant pour un laser superpuissant
  • Le navigateur remplacera le réveil
• Le russe Sukhoï s'attaque au marché des avions civils
• La France s'associe au programme russe sur Phobos
• Scientists find a way to hike X-ray power
• Submarine hunts for Tsarist gold "worth billions" in Lake Baikal
• Russians, Germans Ready to Prepare Common Textbook on 20th Century
• NASA uses Russian equipment to search for Moon water

Группа ученых из Института спектроскопии РАН и Московского физико-технического института представила технологию создания уменьшенных изображений микрометровых объектов на подложке из полупроводникового материала. Минимальный размер полученных элементов составляет 30 нм, что соответствует уменьшению габаритов оригинала в 10 тысяч раз. В основе предложенного метода лежит принцип простейшего устройства для получения оптического изображения объектов - камеры-обскуры, с той разницей, что световые лучи заменяются пучком атомов индия или серебра, а изображение формируется на кремниевой подложке.
По словам ученых, новая технология может применяться для создания наноструктур из разнообразных "строительных материалов" (атомов, молекул, кластеров) на подложках разного состава.

(PhysOrg.com) - In 1983, Richard Feynman proposed the idea of a machine that could create smaller scale replicas of itself. Today, such a system is still a challenge, but a machine that can produce nanometer-sized copies of micrometer-sized objects could prove to be extremely useful in modern nanotechnologies.
In pursuit of this goal, scientists from the Institute of Spectroscopy, Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a method of nanofabrication using an atom pinhole camera. For the first time, the researchers, along with coauthors from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have experimentally demonstrated how to use the camera to manufacture an array of identical atomic nanostructures of controlled shapes and sizes. The technique could produce individual nanostructures down to 30 nm, a size reduction of 10,000 times compared with the original object.
"Our present experimental results show the resolution about 30 nm, but our calculations (the theoretical prediction) tell us that the resolution can be down to about 6 nm," Victor Balykin of the Russian Academy of Sciences told PhysOrg.com.
As the scientists explain, the atom pinhole camera they designed is based on the idea of an optical pinhole camera, which is often used in optics when creation of a focusing lens is difficult. Instead of light traveling through a lens, light travels through a pinhole on a mask, and creates an inverted image on a substrate on the other side. Optical pinhole cameras can produce high-quality images with high resolution that depends on the diameter of the pinhole.
In an atom pinhole camera, atoms act like photons in an optical pinhole camera, and so the main principles are the same in both versions. In their experimental setup, the scientists used ion beam milling to poke a pinhole in a mask. After the atoms passed through the pinhole, they created an atomic nanostructure on a silicon substrate. As the atom pinhole camera provides a way to replicate micro-sized objects as nano-sized ones, the camera is an example of Feynman's scalable manufacturing system.
The scientists also created another mask with a large array of pinholes. In this "atom multiple pinhole camera," each pinhole could generate its own image, which does not intersect with neighboring images. As the scientists noted, a camera with up to 10 million pinholes could open up opportunities for simultaneous generation of large numbers of identical (or diverse) nanostructures.
Using an atom pinhole camera to fabricate nanostructures offers several advantages compared to other nanofabrication techniques, which include optical photolithography (in which a photosensitive material is molded by light), nanolithography (in which focused particle beams mold objects), and atom optics methods that use lenses, which are limited by diffraction.
"Presently there are many different methods to build the nanostructures on a surface but usually they are very complicated, limited in choice of materials, and costly," Balykin said. "Our machine can be built in any lab (with reasonable efforts and by a PhD student) and it will produce a necessary nanostructure."
The atom pinhole camera is a novel type of lens-less atom optics technique, which uses diffraction to its advantage. While it might seem that resolution in atom pinhole camera would be limited to the diameter of the pinhole, the researchers show in an upcoming study that the image spot diameter can be three times smaller than the pinhole diameter, which is due to diffraction effects.
The new method can be used with a variety of materials for nanostructures (e.g. atoms, molecules, and clusters) and a variety of substrates, which could make it useful for diverse applications such as electronics and biological uses. The scientists predict that the method could have applications in metamaterials, plasmonics, spintronics, MEMS/NEMS, and more.
More information: P.N.Melentiev, A.V.Ablotskiy, D.A.Lapshin, E.P.Sheshin, A.S.Baturin, and V.I.Balykin. "Nanolithography based on an atom pinhole camera." Nanotechnology 20 (2009) 235301 (7pp).

Экспедиция ученых из США, Германии, России и Австрии завершила бурение на дне чукотского озера Эльгыгытгын, которое образовалось в результате падения метеорита примерно 3,6 млн. лет назад. Вместе с подготовкой исследование заняло восемь лет. В сентябре или октябре 2009 года ученые приступят к исследовательской части проекта. В частности, геологов будут интересовать отложения на дне озера, которые хранят информацию о климатическом прошлом Арктики.

A team of scientists from the United States, Germany, Russia and Austria has just returned from a six-month drilling expedition to a frozen lake in Siberia: Lake El'gygytgyn, "Lake E" for short.
Lake E was created 3.6 million years ago when a meteor more than a half-mile wide hit Earth and formed an 11-mile wide crater.
There, the researchers collected the longest sediment core samples retrieved in the Arctic region. Information contained in the cores, say the scientists, is of unprecedented significance for understanding climate change in the Arctic.
With respect to time in Earth's history, the cores collected from three holes drilled under the frozen Lake E are more than 30 times longer than cores from the Greenland Ice Sheet, according to geoscientist Julie Brigham-Grette of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the lead U.S. scientist on the project.
The research team will compare this Arctic record with oceanic and land-based records from lower latitudes to better understand global climate change.
Nearly 3.5 tons of temperature-controlled sediment cores are being flown by special cargo plane from Siberia to St. Petersburg in early June, then on to a lab in Germany to begin analysis by paleoclimatologists.
Archived core halves will arrive later at the University of Minnesota's LacCore facility, where they will be preserved in cold storage. Brigham-Grette says the team recovered a total of 1,165 feet of sediments; the sediment record collected extends back roughly 3.5 million years.
"Studying high-latitude systems is of great importance to an understanding of Earth's climate at all latitudes," says Paul Filmer, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Earth Sciences, which co-funded the expedition to Lake E with NSF's Office of Polar Programs. "Of primary interest is determining why and how the Arctic evolved from a warm forested ecosystem to a cold permafrost ecosystem between two and three million years ago."
The continuous record collected in this unique lake "offers us a way to look at the glacial/interglacial climate change of the past," Brigham-Grette says.
"Earth's warm and cold cycles over the past one million years varied every 100,000 years at times. Before that, however, climate change, especially in high latitudes, varied over 41,000- and 23,000-year cycles. The record from Lake E will show the ramp up to that type of change in the Earth's climate."
Below the lake's sediments, cores drilled into bedrock will offer geologists a rare opportunity to study meteor impact melt rocks from one of the best preserved large meteor impact craters on Earth, and the only one formed in silicon-rich volcanic rock.
The team recovered roughly 40 meters (131 feet) of the earliest history of the lake in the warm middle Pliocene. This geologic time interval is fascinating, says Brigham-Grette, as a possible analog for future climate.
Initial results from the drilling are still limited.
The sediment cores could not opened in the field because of the remoteness of the drilling site, and rough transportation overland.
During pilot coring in November, the scientists recovered 141 meters (462 feet) of sediments showing alluvial fan and lake deposits in permafrost at the western edge of the lake outside the talik (unfrozen ground in an area of permafrost).
After drilling, the borehole was permanently instrumented for future ground temperature monitoring as part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost.
The Lake El'gygytgyn Drilling Project is an international effort funded by the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP), the U.S. National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Division and Office of Polar Programs, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), GeoForschungsZentrum-Potsdam (GFZ), the Russian Academy of Sciences Far East Branch (RAS/FEB), Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), and the Austrian Ministry for Science and Research.
The leading Russian institutions include the Northeastern Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute (NEISRI), the Far East Geological Institute (FEGI), and Roshydromet's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).
The deep drilling system for Arctic operations was developed by DOSECC Inc.; core curation was handled by Lac-Core at the University of Minnesota.
The project was developed and organized by principal investigators from four collaborating countries--Julie Brigham-Grette (U.S. chief scientist, University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Martin Melles (German chief scientist, University of Cologne), Pavel Minyuk (Russian chief scientist, NEISRI Magadan) and Christian Koeberl (Austrian chief scientist, University of Vienna).

Академик РАН Е.П.Велихов стал почетным президентом российско-израильско-немецкой компании C.En Ltd., занимающейся разработками в сфере водородных топливных элементов.

ZURICH, Switzerland - (BUSINESS WIRE) - C.En Ltd. (www.cenh2go.com), pioneer developer of a hydrogen storage technology, today announced the nomination of the acclaimed Russian Academician Prof. E.P. Velikhov as its honorary president. Prof. Velikhov, stated in his letter of acceptance: "I believe that the fulfillment of the potential of this technology will resolve one of the central issues facing society today." He believes C.En's inventive storage technology will enable the optimal usage of hydrogen as the "green energy" source, greatly reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
Prof. Dan Eliezer, D.Sc, FASM, C.En's V.P. and Chief Scientist summarizes the current state of the technology development: "The principles of hydrogen storage in capillary arrays have been firmly established. The development of a final storage system is only a question of engineering." C.En has developed its novel method for safe storage of highly pressurized hydrogen, using capillaries made of glass materials, for a range of industrial and commercial applications. Prof. Eliezer notes: "Testing and evaluation of C.En's technology by the Berlin based BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, confirms the trendsetting nature of the company's innovative approach." Storage tests conducted by BAM demonstrated a gravimetric storage capacity of 33 wt% and a volumetric capacity of 28 g/L. Results were determined at a comparatively low pressure of 400 bar. Results are significantly higher than other published storage system capacities and have surpassed the US Department of Energy's (DOE) 2010 hydrogen storage gravimetric targets, and are expected to meet the DOE's 2015 storage targets in the near future.
Prof. Velikhov is President of the Kurchatov Institute - Russian Scientific Centre, and the First Secretary (head) of the Public Chamber of Russia. He has achieved international acclaim for his inventions, discoveries and over 1500 publications. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Notre Dame and William Howard Taft University (USA) and the University of London, (UK). Amongst others he has received the American Physical Society and Science and Peace Prizes, as well as the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2003). Since its earliest days Prof. Velikhov has persistently given C.En his scientific support and encouragement. Moshe Stern, President and CEO of C.En said: "I greatly value Prof. Velikhov's acceptance of the title of Honorary President of C.En Ltd. I believe that his support is and will be a great factor in the advancement of C.En technology."
C.En Ltd. is a privately-held company based in Switzerland. The company has developed a technology for the safe storage of hydrogen in Multi-Capillary Arrays. Its technology is lighter, cheaper and safer than competing approaches. The company seeks relationships with global players who can incorporate and adapt C.En's unique technology to their innovative applications.

Госкорпорация "Роснано" и компания "Ренова" подписали инвестиционное соглашение о создании в России производства солнечных модулей. В качестве базовой технологии будет использована технология производства тонкопленочных фотоэлементов на основе микроморфного кремния, разработанная мировым лидером рынка солнечной энергетики - швейцарской компанией Oerlikon Solar.

As was announced in May, RUSNANO Supervisory Council approved participation of the Corporation in thin film solar modules manufacturing project.
In the Investment Agreement, the Parties have agreed to establish a joint venture to manufacture solar modules based on thin film technology provided by Oerlikon Solar (Switzerland). Total investment in the project is 20.1 bln rubles. RUSNANO will contribute 3.7 bln rubles to the equity of the new company. In addition, the corporation will make available to the project company a loan of 9.8 bln rubles. RUSNANO will hold a 49 percent share in the equity of the project company. RENOVA will hold a 51 percent interest in its equity and be responsible for development of the business.
The solar module manufacturing facility will be located in an industrial site of Khimprom OJSC in Novocheboksarsk town of Chuvash republic and have design capacity of one million solar modules per year, which corresponds to 120 MW per year.
The Project is scheduled to begin in Q3 2009 and reach full operational capacity in Q4 2011. Revenue of the project company in 2015 is forecasted at 10.3 bln rubles.
The manufacturing facility will be collocated with a large research center, which adds particular significance to the project. The research center will work on boosting the efficiency of solar modules in close cooperation with Ioffe Physical Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.
The project will employ the most recent global developments in thin film manufacturing. The base technology to be used in the project is micromorph silicon-based thin film photocells.
Solar modules manufacturing is consistent with RUSNANO strategy to deliver cluster projects resulting in creation of full-fledged nanotechnology products interrelated in manufacturing technology or process flow. Such projects will serve as a backbone for establishing the new innovative fields of Russian economy.
Earlier RUSNANO Supervisory Council approved participation in another solar energy project - construction of Russia's first large scale facility for producing polycrystalline silicon and monosilane to be used as raw materials for solar batteries.
In addition, the thin film manufacturing project will give rise to auxiliary manufacturing facilities in Russia, in particular, manufacturing of high-purity process gases and specialized glass.
The market for solar energy has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years. According to data from U.S.-based research company Lux Research, in 2008 the market reached $33.3 bln, or around 5 GW. In monetary terms the market has increased more than 11-fold since 2001. The market for silicon thin-film solar modules in 2008 was valued at 0.6 GW, but by 2012 it is expected to grow to 2.4 GW, which, in monetary terms, is growth from $3.8 bln to $8.6 bln.
Markets in countries in Southern Europe - Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany are primary targets for the sale of products. Avelar Energy Group (part of the RENOVA Group), which installs and adjusts solar modules in Europe, will handle product sales. In the long term, up to 15 percent of the solar modules are to be directed toward the Russian market.
Renova Group (http://www.renova.ru/osnova-eng/index.html) is a leading privately owned Russian business group, possessing and managing assets in metallurgical, oil, ore mining, chemical, construction industries, energy, telecommunications, hi-tech engineering, utility services and financial sector in Russia and abroad (CIS countries, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa and USA). Largest Renova Group assets are participation interests in TNK-BP, UC RUSAL, IES, as well as in Swiss OC Oerlikon and Sulzer technology groups, where Renova Group is a major shareholder.
Oerlikon Solar (http://www.oerlikon.com/solar/) is a leading company in the dynamically growing market of equipment for manufacturing of large area thin film solar modules. Technologies of Oerlikon are recognized as decreasing operational expenses by more than 30 percent compared to conventional crystalline solar elements. The company operates in regions of the world showing the most advanced development of technology: Europe, North America and South-East Asia.

Специалисты Института физической химии и электрохимии им. А.Н.Фрумкина РАН получили жидкое топливо из опилок методом высокотемпературного радиолиза. Сырьем послужили лигнин и целлюлоза, основные компоненты древесины. Метод универсален - с его помощью можно получать топливо практически из любого сырья, богатого непредельными органическими соединениями.

Les spécialistes de l'A.N.Frumkin l'Institut de Chimie Physique et l'Electrochimie (de l'Académie russe des Sciences) ont pour la première fois prouvé que la radiolyse à haute température permet d'obtenir un carburant liquide de qualité à partir de la sciure de bois. Les chercheurs annoncent que le liquide obtenu à partir de la sciure de bouleau correspond aux exigences de la composition fractionnaire du carburant de moteur et son niveau d'octane n'est pas inférieur à 90.
La lignine et la cellulose, les composants principaux du bois de construction, ont servi de matières de support pour obtenir le carburant liquide. En réalité, le processus pour obtenir le carburant liquide comporte deux étapes. D'abord, la distillation du bois est accomplie en milieu anaérobie. Le faisceau électronique chauffe la sciure de bois séchée jusqu'à la température de 400-450°C dans le méthane ou dans un mélange de butane et de propane. La lignine et la cellulose se décomposent sous l'influence de l'énergie de radiation ionisante. Les vapeurs issues de cette radiolyse sont refroidies et condensées dans un réfrigérateur à eau à 15°C.
Des produits secs de distillation, selon l'espèce de bois, contiennent de quelques pour cent jusqu'à un quart des composants aromatiques formés au cours de la décomposition de la lignine et des produits de la radiolyse de la cellulose : des furanes, des aldéhydes, et des acides carboxyliques. La composition du mélange obtenu dépend du type de bois, par exemple, quand la sciure de pin est utilisée, la fraction de masse de toluène peut atteindre 10 pour cent. Cependant, ce mélange est instable et il est nécessaire de le transformer en composés de carburant stables. Le méthane ou l'atmosphère de butane-propane sont exigés pour la stabilisation. Dans cette atmosphère, les produits de distillation se changent en alcanes cycliques et acycliques, des dérivées de tetrahydrofurane, alcools aliphatique et des oxydes d'alkyles. La production de composants liquides de carburant peut être régulée en changeant des conditions de distillation sèches ou en faisant varier la proportion de vapeur/mélange de gaz à l'étape de stabilisation. Les chercheurs annoncent que le carburant automobile, aéronautique et le fioul peuvent être obtenus ainsi.
La radiolyse réalisée dans les conditions atmosphériques permet d'obtenir jusqu'à 15 kg/kilowattheure de liquides organiques à partir du pin, du sapin, du bouleau et du tremble. Le rendement de produit utile atteint 55-65% de la masse en bois initiale. Le deuxième avantage significatif est qu'il n'y a pas formation d'eau sous radiolyse.
Les chercheurs soulignent que leur méthode est universelle. Elle permet d'obtenir du carburant à partir de pratiquement n'importe quelle matière première riche en composés organiques non saturés.

Сотрудники ФИАН разработали на базе алмазной оптики уникальный спектрометр для сверхмощного рентгеновского лазера XFEL, который планируется построить в Германии (всего в проекте участвуют 14 стран). Сооружение длиной более трех километров позволит исследователям в реальном времени изучать процессы образования и разрушения молекул и мгновенно регистрировать фазовые переходы в материале, происходящие под действием мощного импульсного излучения.

Dans le cadre d'un projet international, des chercheurs russes élaborent, sur la base d'une optique en diamant, un spectromètre exceptionnel, rapporte le site inauka.ru.
Le laser X superpuissant du projet international XFEL (*) sera équipé d'un spectromètre aux qualités exceptionnelles, mis au point par des scientifiques russes. XFEL permettra aux chercheurs de pénétrer plus profondément les secrets de la matière, d'étudier en temps réel les processus de formation et de destruction des molécules et d'enregistrer instantanément les transitions de phase dans la matière, qui se produisent sous l'influence d'un puissant rayonnement à impulsions.
XFEL est une construction d'environ trois kilomètres qui doit être réalisée en Allemagne. Le coût du projet est estimé à plus d'un milliard d'euros, et 14 pays doivent y participer. La Russie sera le deuxième contributeur, derrière l'Allemagne, pour les sommes octroyées à la réalisation de ce projet, de 2009 à 2016. Durant cette période, la société russe Rosnanotech (corporation d'Etat en charge des nanotechnologies) y investira, au nom de la Russie, quelque 250 millions d'euros.
"Le premier prisme expérimental est un élément important pour la décomposition dans le spectre du rayonnement incident. Il a été réalisé à partir d'un diamant naturel yakoute. Nous avons montré que dans la gamme X, on pouvait également obtenir un spectre à l'aide de prismes, comme on le fait dans la gamme optique", explique le directeur de ces travaux, le docteur ès sciences physiques et mathématiques Alexandre Tiourianski, chercheur de rang élevé au FIAN (Institut de Physique Lebedev de l'Académie des sciences russe).
La brillance du futur laser X sera supérieure d'une dizaine de milliers de fois aux sources existantes de rayonnement X. La durée de l'impulsion X y sera d'environ 100 femtosecondes (**), un laps de temps pendant lequel la lumière parcourra une trentaine de microns. La puissance record de ce laser nécessitera, cependant, que soient créés de nouveaux instruments scientifiques pour travailler avec. Par exemple, un monochromateur au germanium, placé sur le chemin du flux direct, s'évapore quasi instantanément. C'est ce qui risquera de se produire avec les échantillons étudiés.
C'est la raison pour laquelle on a besoin de nouvelles méthodes de mesure, garantissant que l'on obtiendra bien l'information sur l'impulsion unique, avant la disparition de l'objet. C'est pour résoudre ce problème que les chercheurs du FIAN ont élaboré un spectromètre X sur la base d'une optique en diamant à prismes, capable de supporter les énormes charges radiatives d'une impulsion X superpuissante.
Le diamant est apparu comme le matériau le plus prometteur pour réaliser ce prisme. Toutefois, pour fabriquer un spectromètre, il faut de gros diamants, d'un poids de plusieurs carats, car la surface de réfraction fait plus d'un centimètre. Pour diminuer le coût de l'équipement, les chercheurs du FIAN ont choisi d'élaborer un prisme en mosaïque, fait de plusieurs blocs, ce qui a permis d'utiliser des diamants de moindre taille et donc de réduire les coûts. Ce prisme en mosaïque est en cours de fabrication. Il sera ensuite testé en Allemagne, sur une source de rayonnement d'un synchrotron, afin de démontrer que les calculs sont justes et que ses concepteurs sont effectivement proches des paramètres attendus. Et pour réaliser ces mesures d'impulsions uniques, les chercheurs du FIAN sont en train de concevoir, avec leurs collègues de plusieurs organisations de Zelenograd (dans la région de Moscou), un détecteur sensible de coordonnées exceptionnel, reposant sur l'arséniure de gallium.
(*) XFEL (X-ray Free-Electron Laser) est un accélérateur linéaire d'électrons qui sera construit près de Hambourg à l'aide d'un financement pour l'essentiel européen. Ses performances seront nettement supérieures aux futures installations du même type américaine (LCLS) et japonaise (SCSS).
(**) Un femtoseconde est égal à 10 puissance moins 15 seconde, soit un millionième de milliardième de seconde.

Le navigateur remplacera le réveil

В Москве прошел III Международный Форум по спутниковой навигации. Основная цель Форума - информирование широкой российской и зарубежной аудитории об инновационных технологиях в области спутниковой навигации. Особое внимание уделяется российской Глобальной навигационной спутниковой системе ГЛОНАСС и разнообразным аспектам, связанным с её использованием.

Le Forum international 2009 de navigation satellitaire a permis à divers responsables, tant gouvernementaux que de l'industrie spatiale et de sociétés commerciales, de faire le point sur le développement du système de navigation russe GLONASS, rapporte le site nkj.ru.
Tous les moyens de transports russes dépendant de l'Etat seront équipés, en 2011, d'appareils de navigation satellitaire reposant sur le système GLONASS, a annoncé le vice-Premier ministre Sergueï Ivanov. Un opérateur fédéral du réseau chargé de dispenser les services de navigation sur la base du système satellitaire national verra le jour.
L'Etat apportera son soutien aux fabricants nationaux d'appareils de navigation. L'introduction de ce système dans l'économie russe permettra de résoudre toute une série de problèmes de transport, et notamment de faciliter l'accès de la population aux moyens de transport et la sécurité de ces derniers, d'économiser des ressources et d'améliorer la situation écologique.
Le développement des technologies de navigation satellitaire, a indiqué Sergueï Ivanov, s'opère en étroite coopération avec les Etats-Unis, la Commission européenne et l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA). La compatibilité des systèmes de navigation américain, européen et russe fait partie des principaux problèmes en discussion. Plus d'une dizaine d'accords ont déjà été conclus, sur l'utilisation du GLONASS, avec des pays de la Communauté des Etats indépendants (CEI), d'Amérique latine et du Proche-Orient.
Le responsable de l'Agence spatiale russe, Anatoli Perminov, a rappelé que ces trois dernières années, la Russie a mis en orbite annuellement 6 satellites du système GLONASS. Ces satellites assurent aujourd'hui une précision des coordonnées de 10 m. Cet indice sera porté à 5,5 m en 2010 et à 2,8 m en 2011.
En 2008, le ministère russe des Transports avait équipé de navigateurs satellitaires GLONASS/GPS 17% des aéronefs, 23% des navires de transport maritime et fluvial, 27% des moyens de transport routiers et 35% des convois ferroviaires. Anatoli Perminov a annoncé que Roskartografia (Service fédéral de géodésie et de cartographie) disposait à ce jour de cartes de navigation numériques à l'échelle du 1:100 00, englobant la totalité du territoire de la Russie. Des cartes plus détaillées et des plans électroniques des villes sont en cours de création.
Le directeur du développement de la compagnie NAVTEQ en Russie, Pavel Kozlov, a indiqué pour sa part que sa société était déjà parvenue à réaliser la carte de navigation la plus complète et la plus précise du monde. Cette compagnie a notamment élaboré des cartes détaillées des régions de Moscou et de Saint-Pétersbourg, ainsi que de toutes les villes russes de plus d'un million d'habitants. Elle projette de créer une carte complète de la partie européenne de la Russie.
Le premier directeur général adjoint du Trust PVO Almaz Antei, Pavel Sozinov, a annoncé que sa société évaluait les besoins en appareils de navigation, d'ici 2011, à 341 500 pour les ministères "civils", et 365 000 pour les ministères "spéciaux" (dont le ministère de la Défense). D'ici 2015, quelque 8 millions d'appareils devraient trouver preneurs sur les marchés civils régionaux, a-t-il dit.
Les participants au Forum ont noté que les appareils de navigation faisaient déjà l'objet d'une très forte demande dans les pays européens, où ils venaient en 2008 juste après les téléviseurs dans les ventes d'électronique grand public. Selon Pavel Kozlov, le navigateur satellitaire de demain risque fort de remplacer le traditionnel réveil. "Sur la base des informations qu'il aura recueillies sur la météo, l'état du réseau routier, la circulation, les bouchons, il sera capable de vous réveiller à l'heure optimale pour que vous arriviez juste à temps à votre travail."

На аэрокосмическом салоне в Ле-Бурже Россия представила самолет SuperJet 100 (КБ "Сухой"), первый пассажирский самолет, появившийся в России в постсоветское время. Предполагается, что аппарат сможет составить конкуренцию двум гигантам сектора среднемагистральных самолетов - канадскому Bombardier и бразильскому Embraer. Кроме того, он символизирует возвращение России на рынок гражданской авиации.

La seule nouveauté du Salon 2009 est le SuperJet 100 de Sukhoï, avion régional capable de transporter 95 passagers. Cet appareil veut concurrencer les deux grands du secteur que sont le canadien Bombardier et le brésilien Embraer. Surtout, il symbolise le retour de la Russie sur le marché aéronautique civil. Les Russes, qui n'avaient plus fabriqué de nouveaux modèles depuis près de vingt-cinq ans, sont ambitieux. Ils entendent se hisser, d'ici à 2025, à la troisième place mondiale dans la construction d'avions de ligne et de transport civil en prenant de 10 % à 12 % du marché contre 1 % aujourd'hui.
Le pari est audacieux tant le retard à combler est important, notamment du point de vue technologique. Pour ce faire, les coopérations ont été multipliées avec les groupes occidentaux. Pour fabriquer le Superjet100, Sukhoï a noué des accords avec des constructeurs américains comme Boeing pour le conseiller ; Goodrich ou Honeywell fournissent, eux, des équipements. La participation française est aussi conséquente avec Thales (avionique), Messier Dowty (trains d'atterrissage) et Snecma (moteurs en collaboration avec le russe NPO Saturne).
De son côté, l'italien Alenia a signé un accord pour vendre ce nouveau jet en dehors de la Russie. Il a même pris 25 % du capital, soit la minorité de blocage, dans la société qui gère les activités civiles de Sukhoï. Sorti d'usine en septembre 2007, l'avion a fait son premier vol l'année suivante. Les prises de commandes ont bien commencé avec 98 achats fermes, dont 30 de la part d'Aeroflot.
Les Russes ne sont pas les seuls à s'intéresser aux avions régionaux, les Chinois également avec le ARJ21, qui a fait son premier vol en 2008 et qui a été commandé à 200 exemplaires par des compagnies chinoises. Pékin veut s'immiscer dans le duopole Airbus-Boeing en lançant le C919, un long-courrier de plus de 150 places, vers 2020.

Роскосмос подписал соглашение о сотрудничестве с Космическим агентством Франции (CNES) в рамках программы по запуску к спутнику Марса Фобосу межпланетной станции "Фобос-грунт", запланированному на октябрь этого года. Станция предназначена прежде всего для доставки на Землю образцов грунта Фобоса, также аппарат должен исследовать Фобос как небесное тело: картировать поверхность, изучить структуру, уточнить размеры, форму, массу и плотность объекта.

LE BOURGET (AFP) - Le Centre d'études spatiales français (CNES) et l'agence spatiale russe Roscosmos ont signé un accord sur la mission scientifique russe sur Phobos, satellite naturel de mars, selon un communiqué du CNES mercredi. Selon cet accord signé au Salon aéronautique du Bourget, près de Paris, les scientifiques français participeront à la collecte d'échantillons du sol de Phobos.
Phobos-Grunt, dont le lancement est prévu en octobre 2009, consiste en un véhicule emportant un atterrisseur, équipé d'un module de retour sur Terre. Cet atterrisseur est doté d'une charge utile scientifique, ayant pour but l'analyse in situ du sol de Phobos et l'aide à la collecte des échantillons, à laquelle la France contribue. Trois contributions instrumentales françaises sont en effet financées par le CNES.
La mission a pour objectif le retour sur Terre d'échantillons de Phobos, la caractérisation physico-chimique de la surface de Phobos, l'étude de l'environnement ionisé de Mars, et de son interaction avec le vent solaire et l'étude de l'atmosphère martienne.
L'accord prévoit la possibilité pour le CNES de recevoir des échantillons du sol de Phobos pour analyses par les scientifiques. Sur cette mission est prévu également un orbiteur martien dénommé Yinghuo-1 comprenant quatre instruments scientifiques, financé et développé par le gouvernement chinois.

Ученые из Университета Небраска-Линкольн и Воронежского государственного университета нашли способ повысить мощность рентгеновского лазерного излучения на основе генерации высоких гармоник (High Harmonic Generation, HHG). Методика HHG используется с 1988 г., но повысить интенсивность излучения до сих пор не удавалось.

LINCOLN, Neb., June 22 (UPI) - U.S. and Russian scientists say they have developed a technology that can create coherent, high-powered X-rays.
Scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russia's Voronezh State University said their achievement moves three-dimensional, real-time X-ray imaging closer to reality.
University of Nebraska Professor Anthony Starace said the new technology could be a "contributor to a number of innovations."
Starace's work focuses on a process called high-harmonic generation. The HHG process, in which energetic X-ray radiation is created by focusing an optical laser into atoms of gaseous elements, has been used since 1988. However, HHG has one major problem: the X-ray light produced by the atoms is very weak.
But Starace's group solved the problem by applying HHG theory to heavier gaseous atoms having many electrons – elements such as xenon, argon and krypton. They discovered the process would unleash high-energy X-rays with relatively high intensity.
Starace said the achievement could lead one day to more powerful and precise X-ray machines. For instance, he said, heart doctors might conduct an exam by scanning a patient and creating a 3D hologram of that patient's heart beating in real time.
The research is to be reported in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Международная научно-исследовательская экспедиция "Миры" на Байкале", начавшаяся в прошлом году, приступила к 2 этапу глубоководных исследований. Экспедиция проведет мониторинг состояния экосистемы озера, исследует животный и растительный мир, места выхода подводных гидротерм и грязевых вулканов. Поиск золота Колчака и прочих артефактов - по обстоятельствам.

Explorers have returned to Lake Baikal equipped with two minisubmarines to continue a hunt for a fortune in Tsarist gold that, legend has it, was carried by Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak's White Army as it fled the advancing Bolsheviks during Russia's civil war.
Tales abound about the fate of Kolchak's gold - a haul estimated at 1,600 tonnes and worth billions of pounds today. One version has it that troops retreating on foot and horsecarriage across Baikal's icy surface froze to death as temperatures hit minus 60C (minus 76F) in the winter of 1919-20. When the spring thaw arrived, they and the sacks of Imperial gold sank to the bottom of the massive lake, which contains 20 per cent of the world's fresh water.
Others say that the treasure was lost when railway carriages plunged into the lake from a branch of the Trans-Siberian line at Cape Polovinny. Intriguingly, one of the mini-submarines spent five hours yesterday more than 1,000 metres below the surface searching for railway carriages, after wheels dating from the civil war were found nearby.
The explorers plan to make about a hundred dives by September in the submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 - which were used to plant a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole in 2007.
The expedition is the second stage of a two-year project focused mainly on the lake's geology and water life.
The three-man submarines descended almost 1,600 metres to the bottom of Baikal during more than 50 dives last summer, but failed to find the gold. They did, though, find ammunition boxes dating back to the civil war era.
Kolchak was a naval commander and polar explorer before leading the White Army against the Bolsheviks after the revolution, initially with strong British backing. His forces, based in Siberia, enjoyed early success but were eventually driven back by the Red Army. He was arrested in Irkutsk and executed by firing squad in January 1920. His body was thrown into the Angara River.
Organisers are reluctant to speculate on the likelihood of finding Kolchak's gold after last year's failure and many observers are sceptical that the bullion is in the lake.
Inna Kyrlova, the deputy director of the Fund for the Protection of Lake Baikal, one of the bodies funding the research, acknowledged that the submarines were exploring locations reputed to be linked to Kolchak's gold, but she insisted: "Our expedition's primary interest is the flora, fauna and geology of Baikal and monitoring current conditions in the lake."
Finding the Tsarist treasure would be a great publicity coup for the Kremlin at a time when Kolchak's image is being transformed from counterrevolutionary to patriotic Russian hero. He was the subject of the blockbuster film Admiral in Russia last year, which was funded by state-run television.
It portrayed him as a tragically romantic figure who gave everything to defend his motherland. Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, recently praised Anton Denikin, another White Army general who fought with Kolchak, as a fighter for a "great, united and indivisible Russia".
The mission has a daunting task in trying to explore Baikal, which, after being formed 25 million years ago, is the world's oldest lake. It is also the biggest, measuring almost 400 miles long and nearly 50 miles wide at one point.
The £4.5 million expedition has been organised by the Russian Academy of Sciences in a joint venture with a private company.

Директор Института всеобщей истории РАН Александр Чубарьян заявил, что российские и немецкие историки хотели бы написать совместный учебник по истории ХХ века. Пока не ясно, в каком виде он будет сделан (и будет ли вообще). Рассматриваются три варианта: параллельная история России и Германии в одной книге, более узкий учебник о российско-германских связях или российско-германский учебник европейской истории. Также возникает вопрос, насколько возможно создание общих учебников бывшими странами Советского Союза.

On the 68th anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union, a senior Moscow academician said that Russian historians are close to an agreement with their German colleagues to write a common textbook on 20th history, something possible he said because of their lack of disagreements concerning the key events of that period.
In an interview in today's "Rossiiskaya gazeta," Academician Aleksandr Chubaryan, director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that after more than ten years of consultations, Russian and German historians have concluded that they did not have any disagreements about the events of the 20th century, including World War II.
Consequently, he said, there is nothing to "prevent" the preparation of a common textbook, and at present, three variants of such a project are being discussed: "a parallel history of Russia and Germany in one volume, a shorter text on Russian-German relations, or a Russian-German textbook of European history".
If Russian and German historians have reached such a level of agreement, the Moscow paper asked, why have the historians of the former Soviet republics not been able to? For an answer, it asked several non-Russian historians, and their responses suggested that while there may be only "one past," there are of necessity "many versions of it."
Georgian Academician Roin Metreveli noted that despite five years of effort, historians from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia had not been able to agree on the text of a common "History of the Caucasus," the product the Georgian scholar said of the difficulties of achieving objectivity.
"Now we are free from principles imposed from above, from Marxism, and from dogmatism. But none the less we need principles which all must follow. One of these is objectivity" - which he defined as "the extremely difficult attempt to free history from politics" - something almost impossible to achieve when dealing with contemporary events.
Liliya Zabolotnaya, the deputy director of the Moldovan Institute of History, State and Law, suggested that efforts to produce common textbooks are part of "a populist post-Soviet syndrome" in which political leaders hope to advance their positions by suggesting that they are objectively true.
But in fact, she continued, "national textbooks of any country are based on national histories. And there are always sensitive issues, such as for example territorial claims." Trying to come up with a common textbook may be "useful as a chance to find a common language at the level of scholarship, but not at the level of politics."
Ashot Melkonyan, the director of Institute of History of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, explained what was taking place in terms of psychology. After the end of the Soviet system, "when everything was permitted, there appeared not only the desire to write the true but also the temptation to go further."
That temptation, one reflecting "political interests, has led to "the falsification of the history of neighbors." And while patriotism is fine, "educating young people by blackening the reputation of former friends is impermissible." Instead, one must "find in oneself the strength to say" that the neighbors have many good things about them, including "a heroic history." Valery Khan, the deputy director of Uzbekistan's Institute of History, suggested that many of the problems in the writing of history in the 1990s were "a disease of growth." Efforts at finding one's own national identity through the study of the past of one's people "often acquired radical forms."
"The basmachi movement began to be treated as heroic and romantic. The basmachis became almost Robin Hoods. [Indeed,] it became fashionable to trace one's clan almost back to Adam." Khan insisted, however, that "an attempt to reduce history to a single uninterrupted line contradicts science," however much some political figures may want to do just that.
But perhaps the most interesting comments came from Stanislav Kulchitsky, the deputy director of the Institute of History of the Ukrainian Academy of Science. He argued that "the past is one thing but histories about this past are many" and that even in Russia "many things can be disputed."
As an example, he points to discussions about the famine in Ukraine, a theme that is "very sharp because it is very politicized," although the Kyiv historian noted that there are "other issues" just as sensitive or perhaps even more, including "the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Ukrainian and Russian people."
Russian historians disagree with the insistence of Ukrainians that the famine in Ukraine was a genocide. "The famine in Kazakhstan led to even more destructive consequences than in Ukraine," he noted, "but there it was the result of the social-economic course" of Soviet policy. In Ukraine, on the other hand, the famine "was intentional."
According to Kulchitsky, Stalin had as his goal not the "destruction of the residents of Ukraine" but to create a situation in which no Ukrainian would ever rise up against him and his regime. "As is well-known," the Ukrainian scholar concluded, "all of Stalin's repressions were preventative."
Not surprisingly, Chubaryan intervened and rejected Kulchitsky's interpretation: "In Russia in recent years," the Moscow historian said, "a whole series of documents and scholarly works have come out which incontrovertibly show that hunger in various regions of the Soviet Union in the 1930s, including in Ukraine, was the result of collectivization."
"There is no place for talking about a genocide," the Moscow academician said, adding that "it is too bad that these works are not very well known to Ukrainian historians.

17 июня состоялся запуск американского космического аппарата "Лунный орбитальный разведчик" (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LRO) с российским нейтронным детектором ЛЕНД (LEND, Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector) на борту. С окололунной орбиты аппарат будет искать водяной лед на Луне.

NASA will launch two spacecraft to the Moon on Wednesday. One of them, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), will carry the Russian-made Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND). After making the four-day trip, it will orbit the Earth's satellite at low altitude for about a year, making analyses to determine the presence of water. Then it will enter into a higher, more stable orbit, where it will remain for several more years.
The craft will be equipped with a total of six instruments and will also measure the solar and cosmic radiation that humans working on the Moon in the future will be exposed to. It will be launched by the same rocket as LCROSS, or the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral. LCROSS will fire a probe into the Moon at a point near its pole that never receives sunlight and analyze the resulting plume of debris. Then LCROSS itself will crash into the Moon, producing debris for analysis by LRO.
LEND works on the same principle as HEND (High Energy Neutron Detector), the Russian instrument that found ice on Mars. Neutrons are released at different rates from ice and dry surfaces, and those rates are measured by the instrument. LEND is a joint project of six Russian institutes, NASA and three American universities. It was delivered to NASA by the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Space Research.
The Atlas V rocket carrying the lunar craft is competing with the Endeavor space shuttle for launch time. The shuttle is currently grounded by a leak. It must take off by Saturday to deliver a part of the Japanese Kibo lab into orbit, or else wait for several months for the right conditions to occur again. Therefore, the Atlas V launch may be delayed, if repairs to the Endeavor are completed quickly.
The US has announced plans to send more men to the Moon by 2020. China has set the same year as a target for it to place astronauts on the Moon as well. Water on the Moon would make human habitation there logistically much easier.

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