Plasma cloud. Russia has declassified a plasma “invisibility cloak” for cruise missiles

Below, the bony ridges of the chains of the great Hindu Kush ridge, “the killer of the Hindu,” flashed. The ranks of rocky treeless mountains are strictly parallel to the main ridge. Artsybashev peered into the horizon. There, ahead, the main ridge of shining peaks should rise, and the on-board radar, glowing green, showed this great wall.

"Hannibal is at the gates!" This meant that the group was already in place and the object was in sight. Artsybashev moved the lever on the remote control, and only his instinct told him that the hundred-kilogram plasma generator in the nose of the machine had started working. A few seconds later the MiG was enveloped in a bluish haze.

At that moment, his mark disappeared from the radar screens of the Kabul air hub and even from the indicators of the powerful A-50. Four planes melted into space at once, as if disappearing into yet another Bermuda Triangle...

To understand how “plasma stealth” works, you need to travel a hundred years into the past.

1919 J. Hettinger receives a patent for a plasma antenna. A device for emitting and receiving radio waves that uses ionized gas instead of metal conductors. Hettinger's invention did not find application immediately. Only nowadays, with the advent of plasma solid-state antennas, has it become possible to create high-speed data exchange networks (WiGig).

The military, on the contrary, was interested in the possibility of forming plasma antennas in open space. The main task is to increase the secrecy of military equipment. Such a system has better noise immunity and is capable of inertia-free changes in its parameters.

What do we end up with?

Like any metal containing free electrons, ionized gas (plasma) has excellent electrical conductivity.

Now let's look at the basics of radar. Here everything is determined by the principle of changing the direction of movement of radio waves when passing through an inhomogeneous medium. And the higher the electrical conductivity of the reflecting medium, the stronger the reflection of radio waves from the interface between the two media.

The high reflectivity of plasma is confirmed by the reflection of radio waves from the Earth's ionosphere.

Some may be confused by the mention of reduced visibility military equipment. But visibility is reduced not due to any effects during operation of the plasma antenna, but at the moment it is turned off. Unlike metal structures, a plasma antenna exists only while the generator is operating. And then she disappears without a trace.

There is also the effect of temporary loss of radio communications during the descent of spacecraft from orbit. But the connection is lost not because of the invisibility of the spacecraft. This is banal interference created in the antenna devices of the descent vehicle itself, caused by strong electromagnetic fields. The descent capsule can be seen from Earth, but it is impossible to communicate with the astronauts sitting inside. If necessary, this problem can be solved in an original way. Engineers propose to use as an antenna... the very cloud of plasma that enveloped the descent vehicle.

Physics lesson. 9th grade. Topic: “Plasma”

Fourth state of aggregation substances - partially or fully ionized gas. According to modern calculations, plasma is the phase state of 99.9% of baryonic matter in the Universe.

There are low-temperature (less than a million K) and high-temperature (over a million K) plasma.

1,000,000 K = 999,727 °C.

It's hard to imagine.

Let's assume that the creators of the “stealth generator” chose low-temperature plasma, similar to that used in plasma cutters (torch temperature ~ from 5000 to 30,000 °C).

The luminosity and IR signature of the “plasma cloud” will be similar to a meteorite, and the “stealth” itself will be noticeable at a distance of thousands of kilometers.

Finally, a simple and well-known fact. Meteorites bursting into the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 11...72 km/s (as well as ICBM warheads) are well detected by radar, despite the plasma cloud that envelops them.

Of no less interest are the methods of creating and holding a “plasma screen” around aircraft. How to create plasma? How to apply for plating? How, at the same time, to protect the aircraft skin from heating?

These problems are so great that one cannot get away with “a 100-kg generator under the nose cone” (hello to M. Kalashnikov).

Finally, none of the proponents of plasma “stealth screens” think about where to get the energy for a cloud of plasma the size of an airplane!

Modern combat aircraft hardly have enough electricity to power the operation of avionics, electronic warfare systems and electronic thrust control systems.

The power supply system of Su-27 fighters consists of two systems: direct and alternating current. Two integrated drive-generators GP-21 (2 x 30 kW) and two brushless generators are used as power sources direct current(2 x 12 kW).

As an example of a typical load, the powerful radar N035 “Irbis” (Su-35). Average radiation power - 5 kW, max. peak power - 20 kW.

For comparison: the simplest plasma incinerator (plasma torch in a limited volume of the melting chamber, t = 1500...2000°C, productivity 250 kg/h) has an installed plasma torch power of 150 kW!

As a result, to create a plasma screen the size of an airplane, an entire nuclear power plant will have to be lifted into the sky.

Then the question will arise about the safety of the aircraft’s equipment and the threat to the pilot’s life due to exposure to high-intensity electromagnetic fields. However, thermal heating will put an end to this issue much faster.

Conclusion

Before you rush to drill thousands of holes in the skin and install it on the wing nuclear reactor, it is necessary to answer the question: WHY?

All attempts to find at least some information about the development and creation of “plasma stealth systems”, as a rule, lead to the same fictitious interview with specialists Research Center them. Keldysh.

“We decided to make “invisible” cameras using technologies based on fundamentally different physical principles,” said the director of the Research Center. Keldysh Anatoly Koroteev. According to him, if you create a plasma screen near an aircraft, the aircraft becomes invisible to radar.

A simple example: if you throw a tennis ball at a wall, it will bounce back and come back. Likewise, the radar signal is reflected from the aircraft and returns to the receiving antenna. The plane has been discovered. If the wall has angular edges and they are inclined in different directions, then the ball will bounce anywhere, but will not come back. Signal lost. American stealth is based on this principle. If you line the wall with soft mats and throw a ball at them, it will simply splash against it, lose energy and fall next to the wall. In the same way, a plasma formation absorbs the energy of radio waves.”

Dear scientist, Doctor of Technical Sciences. Anatoly Sazonovich Koroteev would hardly talk like that about the properties of plasma. It is obvious that the “canard” about the stealth generator was invented by some illiterate journalist. Plasma formation, due to its nature, is not capable of absorbing radio waves, as described in the quoted “interview”.

Due to its high electrical conductivity, plasma cannot reduce radar signature. When turned on, such a “cloud” will shine with the brightest mark on the screens of all radars, and its visibility will become even higher than that of an all-metal aircraft. In all spectrums without exception!

Saying otherwise is like saying the Earth is flat.

And it is quite alarming that the inhabitants of the most reading country in the world, with everyone having a 10th grade education, so easily believe in various nonsense.

Well, for now - the angularity of the shapes, the parallelism of the edges, the use of radio-absorbing paints and composites. Sukhoi T-50 with stealth technology. The future of domestic aviation without plasma generators.

The Scientific and Production Association of Mechanical Engineering (NPO Mash) has declassified a unique plasma cannon that made the strategic supersonic cruise missile 3M25 “Meteor” invisible to enemy radars and anti-aircraft systems. At the moment of irradiation by enemy radars, the Meteorite created a cloud of ionized gas around itself, impenetrable to radar radiation. The unique guns will be transferred to Russian universities over the next year as teaching aids for future engineers and designers when designing hypersonic aircraft.

As NPO Mash told Izvestia, negotiations on the transfer of unique products are currently underway with the leadership of the Moscow Aviation Institute, State Technical University. N.E. Bauman, Baltic State Technical University "Voenmekh" named after. D.F. Ustinov and Uralsky state university them. B.N. Yeltsin.

According to the tactical and technical specifications, the 3M25 was supposed to fly at speeds close to hypersonic, and at the same time be invisible to enemy radars. But the designers of NPO Mash encountered a problem.

The best areas to see when irradiating an aircraft or cruise missile with radar are the engine turbine blades and the edges of the air intake. These structural elements are similar to corner reflectors, he tells Izvestia. Chief Editor Internet project Militaryrussia Dmitry Kornev. - By hiding these structural elements from the radar, the problem with the radar visibility of the aircraft is solved by 70–80%. Therefore, on stealth aircraft, an air intake is made in the shape of the Latin letter S. Its bend blocks the passage of radio radiation, but at the same time does not allow a rocket or aircraft to fly at supersonic speed.

The designers of NPO Mash equipped the product with a normal air intake, allowing it to develop supersonic speed, and protected it from enemy radars with a plasma screen.

Plasma is an ionized quasi-neutral gas. On the one hand, it completely absorbs radar radiation, on the other hand, it can itself be an antenna for transmitting signals.

The plasma screen on the “Meteorite” is formed by a special electronic device - a “plasma gun”, created by specialists from the Keldysh Research Center. A unique device is located in the air intake area jet engine missiles and at the moment of danger, as it were, deploys a “metal radio-absorbing network” in front of the missile. It is powered by electricity generated by a special electrical unit, powered by a running rocket propulsion engine.

One of the developers of the “plasma gun,” director of the Keldysh Center Anatoly Koroteev, described to Izvestia the principle of its operation:

If you throw a tennis ball at a wall, it will bounce and come back, says the specialist. - In the same way, the radar signal is reflected from the aircraft and returns to the receiving antenna. If the wall has angular edges and they are inclined in different directions, then the ball will bounce anywhere, but will not come back. American stealth is based on this principle. If you line the wall with soft mats and throw a ball at them, it will simply splash against it, lose energy and fall next to the wall. In the same way, a plasma formation absorbs the energy of radio waves.

The complex with the Meteorite cruise missile was being prepared for commissioning. A complete ammunition load was manufactured for installation on a missile submarine cruiser strategic purpose project 667AM. However, the agreement between the USSR and the USA on the limitation of strategic arms (SALT-2) stopped work.

It is no longer as relevant today to specifically create a plasma screen in front of a cruise missile as it was in the 80s of the last century, when the Meteorite was being developed,” Vadim Kozyulin, a professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, told Izvestia. - The car was made to suit the breakthrough conditions of that time missile defense, when the enemy could only notice her on a collision course. Today, radar equipment is irradiated from above, below, and from the side. Therefore, the only way to remain undetected is to fly at hypersonic speeds of Mach six or more. At such speeds, a plasma cloud itself forms around the device. And what is important here is that in Russia they already know how to use it both as a radio-absorbing protective shield and as an antenna with the help of which combat control signals can be transmitted.

Residents of Moscow on the night of September 9-10 will most likely be able to observe the northern lights in the sky over the capital. The reason for this is most likely the powerful X-class flares on the Sun that have occurred over the past two days.

In addition to the two X-class flares that occurred on the morning of September 7, another super-powerful flare was recorded at 11:00 Moscow time on September 8. The Laboratory of X-ray Solar Astronomy of the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences reports that such intense solar activity caused a magnetic storm of the fourth of five possible categories on Earth.

Leading researcher at the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation Boris Filippov, in a conversation with RT, noted that solar plasma affects the Earth’s magnetic field, reducing it, but this phenomenon will not last long.

“After the flare, a cloud of plasma with a magnetic field was ejected from the solar atmosphere. It took one and a half days to reach the Earth. Now the magnetic field of this emission interacts with the geomagnetic field of the Earth. They are directed in different directions, antiparallel, that is, the magnetic field decreases in the place where they contact.<...>But this is a fairly short-term phenomenon,” he said.

Filippov noted that the duration of the magnetic storm will be determined by the size of the plasma cloud. At the same time, talk about serious consequences For magnetic field Earth would be wrong.

“The geomagnetic storm began when it (the Earth’s magnetic field. — RT) came into contact with the plasma cloud. How long it will last depends on the size of this cloud. It could be hours, a day or two. But the Earth's geomagnetic field will, of course, be restored. One cannot even say that it has decreased very much. We are talking about percentages or even fractions of percentages. In some places this is strongly felt, but in others not so much. Even now, our compass works in mid-latitudes, for example in Moscow, and reliably points north. Nothing bad is happening,” the specialist concluded.

• Reuters

Among the possible effects of such a strong magnetic storm, experts name failures in the voltage of power systems, erroneous signals on some safety devices and problems with navigation. Spacecraft in low Earth orbit may develop a surface charge, which may cause them to experience orientation problems and increase their resistance to atmospheric movement.

The Mission Control Center reported that the radiation level on the International Space Station, despite a series of powerful flares, is within acceptable values.

“Russian and American specialists have again assessed the danger to the crew. The background radiation at the station is normal. A decision was made to continue work as usual; there is no need to evacuate the cosmonauts into the well-protected Soyuz descent capsule,” RIA Novosti quotes a message from a center representative.

Let us recall that the X9 class solar flare, which astronomers recorded on September 6, became the most powerful in the last 12 years. Due to the fact that the sunspot that generated the flare and possible coronal ejection was turned towards Earth, the impacts on our planet may be maximum for this type of cosmic event. The last time astronomers observed an X9 class flare was in 2009.

Solar flares occur when the Sun's magnetic field, which forms dark spots on the surface of a star, twists and releases energy, overheating the surface of the star. In addition to interference with radio communications at various frequencies, class X flares can cause radiation storms in the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. In addition, during such flares the Sun can eject a cloud of charged plasma, which astronomers call a coronal mass ejection.

The spot in active solar region 2673 is the second largest and can accommodate seven of our planets in width and nine in height. On September 5, the same spot released an M-class solar flare, which was accompanied by a coronal ejection directed towards the Earth.

• Reuters

Leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexey Struminsky, said that a series of powerful flares caused seismic waves on the surface of the star, which experts call a sunquake. Scientists pay special attention to the fact that a series of X-class flares occurred during the minimum cycle of solar activity over the past 11 years.

“What’s interesting is that during the decline phase, almost in the area of ​​the minimum, a powerful outbreak occurred; a similar situation occurred during the last cycle, after which there was a very prolonged minimum between the previous cycle and this one. We can begin to discuss how powerful outbreaks at the end of a cycle can affect the beginning of the next. Any outbreak is a release of energy. Whether there is additional energy or not, this is important for the formation of processes,” RIA Novosti quotes the scientist as saying.

Astronomers are sounding the alarm: a huge plasma cloud, the size of a planet, is heading towards Earth.

For just under a hundred years, scientists have been collecting information about flares occurring on a double star belonging to the V745 Scorpii star system. The system is located approximately 25 thousand light years from Earth. And flares, according to the observations of astronomers, occur irregularly, for example, after 1937, the next one occurred only in 1989. A quarter of a century passed before the next flare, during which scientists managed to acquire high-tech equipment in order to observe the explosion on the star on February 6, 2014 with maximum detail. This moment was recorded by several telescopes in different parts of the globe, including one of NASA’s space laboratories specializing in X-rays.

The duality of V745 Scorpii consists of a closely spaced white dwarf and a red giant. These cosmic bodies interact with each other in the following way: the gravitational field of the white dwarf pulls the outer layers of the red giant towards itself, an accretion disk is formed around the first body, and the particles of the components of these layers also fall on the surface of the white dwarf. As a result of the gradual accumulation of such materials, a thermonuclear explosion of enormous power occurs, called a nova. The mass of material required for the explosion can be equal to 30 Earth. Its layer expands in proportion to the increase in temperature, and when it is high enough, its expansion speed can be 3000 km/s, with a luminosity equal to 100 thousand solar. In about a thousand days, the shell of the nova can expand so that it looks like a nebula around the stellar pair. Over the centuries, this shell gradually dissipates in the interstellar medium.

Variable star V745 Scorpii is classified as a repeat nova. It is included in the same category as new stars, but differs from them in the presence of fairly significant time intervals between outbursts - from 10 to 80 years. A repeated nova can be considered only when it has more than one outburst. It is noteworthy that repeated new ones can be fast and slow.

In general, a classical nova is an interconnected binary system with an orbital period of 0.05 – 230 days. The main body of such systems is a hot white dwarf, and the secondary body is a giant, subgiant, dwarf of spectrum class K or M. From the flare state to the rest state, they take from one to three days. Repeated new ones, in all likelihood, exist according to the same routine.

The outbreak that occurred in 2014, according to scientists, led to the release of a fairly large amount of material, most of which headed towards the Earth. The researchers created a three-dimensional model of the explosion on a computer and determined that the ejected material was arranged into two large lobes, which are located above and below the plane of the accretion disk. X-ray radiation from one of these lobes is absorbed by the material of the second lobe, so even in X-rays it is not visible from Earth.

Astrophysicists concluded that over time, less material is ejected during an explosion than is necessary for a new explosion. Over time, the dwarf should gain enough mass to provoke an explosion capable of destroying the entire object.

From Earth, this moment can be observed using telescopes. This will not have any impact on our planet. She will be waiting for the next global events predicted by numerologists. In particular, having predicted the apocalypse on September 23, when all life on Earth would disappear from the face of our planet, scientists carried out another series of calculations, according to which the end of the world is somewhat “postponed.” Which, however, is not the first time. Now the end of the world is coming on October 12, when asteroid TC4 2012 crashes into the Earth. The size of the “heavenly guest” is 40 meters in diameter, and its speed is about 28,000 km/h.

True, not all scientists believe that a collision will still happen - some say that its probability is reduced to a minimum - 0.00055%, others claim that the asteroid will fly at a small, by cosmic standards, distance from the Earth, but not so close to get into its gravitational field.

By the way, NASA experts recently allegedly declassified the latest development, which is the anti-asteroid protection of the Earth. It was launched into orbit of our planet some time ago and is now undergoing a test phase. So far, NASA has not published any data on the performance of this equipment. But why then does the upcoming “meeting” of the Earth with an asteroid pose such a danger if we are protected by such a protective system? The point is that on this moment the list of potentially dangerous celestial objects that can harm our planet and civilization is so extensive that even if it starts working at full power, there is no guarantee that it will cope with all the “enemies” of the Earth. In addition, they fly near her so often that she will have to work around the clock, which she is not yet ready for. Therefore, such protection of the Earth cannot be considered complete; it is only an approbation modern equipment, which in the future will help protect our planet from uninvited “space guests”.