In Order For Me ...

 ... not to repeat hundred times and answer the same question over and over again--directly from the Boss himself about Burevestnik, yesterday.  

MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. Russia is working on a new generation of nuclear-powered cruise missiles - in the future they will become hypersonic. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the award ceremony for the developers of Burevestnik and Poseidon. The head of state drew attention to the powerful ultra-small nuclear reactors of the Burevestnik. Start-up is measured in seconds, whereas conventional reactors take hours and even a day."On the basis of such power plants, a new generation of types of weapons is already being created. Moreover, the development of the next generation of nuclear-powered cruise missiles has begun. Their speed will be more than three times the speed of sound, and in the future they will become hypersonic," the Russian leader said. "We recently discussed this with some of our colleagues in this hall," Putin added.

So, I think that explains the issue. It also means that highly likely the hypersonic prototype does exist and I don't have to repeat strategic ramifications of all these developments--it is a full revolution, not just in military affairs, but technologically. 

Meanwhile, 404 is moving (together with NATO and EU) towards advanced technologies of the end of the XIX century, because Russians had it with all this bullshit about "brotherly people" and combined West. This is Vinnitsa. 

Hey, God forbid WW III breaks out, Russians do have a rather impressive park of moth-balled steam engines and they will be able to move troops and materiel if need be. But in the mean time, Darnitskaya TES (Thermal Power Station) in Kiev left the chat. 

Agrarian remnants of 404 will not need that much generating capacity. They wanted to rid of Russian and Soviet heritage, Russian long-range fires and stand-off weaponry are working hard to help them. 

How This And Burevestnik ...

 ... are connected and not in a good way for Elon Musk, Space X and the US in general. It matters after yesterday's comments of Vladimir Putin on Burevestnik's propulsion. 

As strange as it sounds, but Musk's "audience" consists primarily of people with zero serious STEM education, liberal virtue signaling schizoids and zits-ridden soyboys and girls who ejaculate each time some SpaceX thing parks after the flight creating the illusion that Musk's promise of flight to Mars is to be fulfilled. I have news for them--no, SpaceX is not taking you or anyone else "to Mars". Chemical rockets cannot serve as the foundation of manned (as in--having HUMAN crew) missions to Mars, let alone other planets and planetoids of Solar System. Those chemical rockets are good primarily for delivering payloads to near Earth orbits where space stations and REAL starships will be assembled. The ones which will have enough thrust and power to accelerate massive ships to a non-trivial fraction of the light speed, say 600 to 1,000 km per second. 

Enter Burevestnik and Putin's revelation yesterday--a critical revelation:

The missile’s reactor “is comparable in output with a reactor of a nuclear-propelled submarine, but it’s 1,000 times smaller,” Putin said. “But the key thing is that where a regular reactor needs hours, days or weeks to go online, this one launches in minutes or seconds.”

I will be talking about it tomorrow, but this is from 11 moths ago, November 22, 2024. 

Manned flights to Mars may begin in the next 50 years, while Russia will begin to use "nuclear tugs" for deep space exploration within a few decades, Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov said in an interview with Solovyov Live. "I think that maybe even faster, in the next 50 years. <... > Appropriate technologies will be accumulated, worked out, new carriers will be created, which will make it possible to get to this distant planet much faster. And, of course, then the mission becomes more realistic. But, at least, [American entrepreneur Elon] Musk will visit Mars in the coming decades," Borisov said, answering a question about the timing of flights to Mars. The head of Roscosmos also said that it is planned to use the Zeus nuclear tug, which is being developed in Russia, for deep space exploration. It is planned to create its prototype in 2030. "We are doing this project on our own, it is going quite successfully. The corresponding reactor capacity has been achieved. And I think that we will not stop work in this direction, and somewhere in the 2030s and 40s, the product will be practically used for deep space exploration, for scientific programs," Borisov said.

It is clear now that a historic breakthrough has been achieved and that overturns our understanding of the REAL space travel with proper acceleration, cruise and deceleration near the target, not "shots" of vehicles with cramped quarters to save space for fuel and supplies. That changes the whole economics of space exploration. Many still cannot wrap their brains around what just happened with Burevestnik, I'll help, it is called technological revolution. Again, look at the size of these Russian ion engines:

These are not your traditional small, palm of your hand, ion engines for orbit correction of satellites, these are huge. All this is designed to push some damn large space vehicles towards Mars and beyond and they will (will? already have) have almost unlimited energy supply. You think it is Russian Rah-rah? I have news for you, Musk doesn't have a legitimate engineering background, people from Kurchatov Institute, however, do, real ones. This is from April this year. 

Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the National Research Center (NRC) "Kurchatov Institute", told Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit of the Russian leader on April 16 to the Bauman Moscow State Technical University about the technologies necessary for the conquest of deep space. "Now as for deep space. Deep space, these are, I think, the tales of this very [American billionaire and founder of SpaceX Elon] Musk <.. >Slogans are an important thing, but you can't fly anywhere on a liquid-propellant rocket. <… >We need to put a station on the Moon, test and adjust everything there. And from there to set up as a jump airfield," he said. Kovalchuk added that Russia is superior to the United States in the technology of creating nuclear reactors operating on hydrogen. According to him, this is enough to create an interplanetary tug. In addition, the president of the Research Center proposed a new "nuclear space project 2.0" with an emphasis on the independence of the Russian Federation in near-Earth space.

And let me tell you, we all know that Russians stole this technology from the US. Like they did with hypersonic technology/s. But what can I say, Tesla is a pinnacle of human idiocy and ignorant uneducated people's beliefs in magic. Ah yes, Poseidon was also tested recently. I live at the West Coast, so I have a vested interest in peaceful relations between the US and Russia. Meanwhile, something tells me--this is not the last we heard about Russian technologies. Stay tuned. 

Significant. Very!

Recall a week or so ago US media based on some "sources" claiming tests of unlimited range cruise missile with nuclear power plant only "partially successful".  Well, here are better sources.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The tests of the compact nuclear power unit for cruise missile Burevestnik have been successfully competed in Russia, a source in the missile producing industry told TASS."A major stage of trials of the cruise missile of the Burevestnik complex, the tests of the nuclear power unit, were successfully completed at one of facilities in January," he said. The trials "sustained stated specifications of the reactor ensuring the missile’s unlimited range," the source added.

I do not take ANY Western MSM "sources" seriously, on the other hand big Russian news movers, such as TASS, developed a rather impressive record of real trustworthy news and reporting facts even when making such, traditional in business, statements as:

No official confirmation of the information provided by the source has been obtained by TASS.

Truth is, the dynamics of geopolitical re-balancing after Putin's historic March 1, 2018 Address to Federal Assembly, where he revealed weapon systems which already revolutionized warfare, changed dramatically--the United States literally went berserk in her desperate attempts to arrest own decline, including framing Europe by means of installing US intermediate range missiles, aimed at Russia, there in a futile (and really stupid, honestly) attempt to recreate conditions for American revival akin to post-WW II situation when the devastating war happens elsewhere and the US enters the stage after the war to collect on restoration. I kid you not--many in D.C. think like that, they really live in a delusion. 

Success with Burevestnik (Petrel) unlimited range cruise missile, capable to loiter for days (or weeks) before striking from the most vulnerable directions, has a major ramifications for people in Washington who do believe that the US proper can be defended. But here is my thesis from two years ago:

There is a popular point of view in some of Russia’s political circles, especially among those who profess monarchist views and cling to a famous meme of 1913 Tsarist Russia development statistics, that WW I was started by Germany to forestall Russia’s industrial development which would inevitably challenge Germany’s plans on domination of Europe. A somewhat similar argument could be made for the WW II, but, in general, preventive wars are nothing new in human history. While “preventive” argument may or may not be a valid one regarding WW I, there is no doubt that it could be used, among others, when explaining the origins of a war.

US now is in full blown "preventive war" mode against Russia and, to a large extent, China. I would, however, state that Russia stands as number one in this list precisely for the reasons of Russia redefining warfare, blowing out of the water myth of American military omnipotence. Hysterical reactions, including trying to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism (LOL) in latest Graham-Menendez bill, are excellent signs of a complete state of "losing it". 

Introduction of Petrel into service will additionally create an enormous cognitive dissonance for US "elites" who will have to contend with new warfare reality of swarms of really "smart" missiles simply hanging "out there" while deciding what and when to attack. This brings another interesting twist to the dynamics of escalation to a nuclear threshold. Because Petrels have unlimited range they will be deployed in places where they will be beyond the ranges of US intermediate range missiles deployed in Europe (they will be deployed)--in other words, there will be more than enough time to launch them in case of US attack. How many? I don't know--20-30, maybe 100. After that--good luck catching them somewhere in Patagonia, over Brazil or in Africa, that is until they begin to converge on US targets. Well, you get the picture... I sense another "Star Wars" coming. That, plus other economic and ideological warfare means and, of course, increased doctrine-mongering. As per Petrel-Burevestnik, for people in D.C. who never read Maxim Gorky's Song of Burevestnik, they should really update themselves on what this poem is about and why Russians voted to name this weapon system Petrel, especially closing lines:

-Tempest! Soon will strike the tempest!
-That is the courageous Petrel proudly soaring in the lightning over the sea's roar of fury; cries of victory the prophet:

-Let the tempest come strike harder!