Search by tag «Space» 34 results
What to Do in St. Petersburg on Cosmonautics Day
Today, on April 12, Russia celebrates Cosmonautics Day. It was on this day in 1961 that Yuri Gagarin became the first human to venture into outer space. In 2011, the United Nations even recognized it as the International Day of Human Space Flight! If you’re fascinated by space travel, our galaxy, and the mysteries of the Universe, today’s your day. Here’s a handy list of places and events to check out on this wonderful holiday and in the coming month:
12.04.2019
The Radio-Astronomical Triangle of Russia’s Institute of Applied Astronomy’s Quasar-KVO Complex
How to keep count of time with second-to-second precision and what makes our smartphones’ maps so handy in directing us to the exact location we need? Providing different systems with precise coordinates is an important strand of modern research, and one conducted by the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the beginning of the 21st century, this scientific center spearheaded the creation of the unique system Quasar-KVO. It consists of three powerful radio telescopes located in different spots all over the country, Leningrad Oblast’s radio-astronomical observatory Svetloe being one of them. Participants of ITMO-Sberbank “It’s Your Call!” winter school were given a tour of the iconic location. Its specialists talked them through the ins and outs of their cutting-edge radio-astronomical research.
28.02.2019
School Students Launching Sputniks Into Space? No Big Deal Today, Says This Educator
Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft are all the rage right now, but how did the story of reusable space systems actually start? What was the Germans’ plan to conquer the atmosphere in the 1930’s? What’s the secret of the American space successes? Mikhail Lutsky, a graduate of the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation and educator at the Sirius educational center, delved into rocket science at his lecture on first recoverable spaceships. ITMO.NEWS presents the keynotes of his speech.
16.01.2019
ITMO Graduate Anastasia Svarovskaya on Promoting Space Science
This year, Anastasia Svarovskaya graduated from Russia's first Master's program in science communication. During her studies, she visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Now, Anastasia conducts space-themed projects and writes for Russian and international magazines, as well as manages popular science communities in social networks. In an interview for ITMO.NEWS, she spoke about the issues of promoting space science in Russia.
06.11.2018
Break Down to Atoms: Why It’s So Hard to Become an Astronaut in Russia
How much do astronauts earn? How long are their vacations? What exams do they have to take? Speakers of the Break Down to Atoms talk show answered these and other questions during its 12th session that coincided with the start of the World Space Week. Alexander Khokhlov, a design engineer at the Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, spoke about the requirements for becoming an astronaut. ITMO.NEWS put down the highlights.
09.10.2018
Houston, We Have a Problem: the Dangerous Subtleties of Space Flights
It may seem that in our technologically advanced age of artificial intelligence and kid hackers, space flights have become a routine and safe activity with perfectly played-out procedures and unfailing equipment. But in reality, even the smallest of glitches can put the astronauts’ lives in peril, which makes space missions even more risky since you can never fully factor in all the possible hazards. In his open lecture at the St. Petersburg Lermontov Library, Alexander Khokhlov, an astronautics popularizer and design engineer at the Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, talked about different predicaments that could happen (and really happened) during space flights. ITMO.NEWS publishes the highlights of his speech.
16.08.2018
Interstellar Performance: ITMO Student Wins Gagarin Scholarship
41 students from 14 Russian regions participated in the second annual open competition for the Yuri Gagarin scholarship. Tatiana Shemigon, Master’s student at ITMO’s Department of Applied and Computer Optics, was among the three winners of the award this year. She is the first ITMO student to receive this prestigious scholarship.
30.11.2017
Science Fest 2017: Space, Big Data and VR
Last weekend, yet another Science Fest took place in St. Petersburg. As this time the event was hosted at the recently-opened planetarium, guests were able to watch full-dome popular science films about space and space exploration. Adherents of “hard” science could also attend lectures on modern technology, the capabilities of hybrid intelligence and Big Data, while those who thrive for new experiences could try out VR apps and see a hologram of R2-D2 at ITMO University’s interactive zone.
28.11.2017
Physics Is No Longer To Explain The World, Rather Predict Its Future
ITMO University has become one of the sites for film screenings of the Contemporary Science Film Festival, which is traditionally held in several Russian cities in late autumn. ITMO has run the film "Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking. Lucky Imperfection", which tells about the physical aspects of time travel. Alexandr Chirtsov, Professor of Physics at ITMO, provided his commentary on the film. ITMO.NEWS interviewed Professor Chirtsov and got to know why classical physics gives only one of the possible approximate interpretations of the world, why the world does not always completely follow the formulated laws of physics and why theoretical physicists are constantly trying to come up with the right equations, providing the right solutions, while experimental physicists are looking for ways to refute them.
20.11.2017
Watching the Stars: Technologies of St. Petersburg’s New Planetarium
A new planetarium with the world’s biggest dome (37 meters in diameter) has opened in St. Petersburg; a unified system of 39 projectors allows for fulldome 360 videos. The new equipment was first tested at ITMO’s Higher School of Lighting Design. ITMO.NEWS visited the new planetarium and found out how these new projections work, and learned what issues such equipment presents.
09.11.2017