HP Forums

Full Version: Буран/BURAN shuttle, Copy or Inspiration
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
While we could focus on the similarities and differences between the two program's shuttle hardware, I think the real difference was in the intended purpose and use of Buran. In a 2011 interview published in New Scientist, cosmonaut Oleg Kotov had the following exchange:

Quote:New Scientist: After the cold war, why didn’t Russia maintain its shuttle programme?
Oleg Kotov: We had no civilian tasks for Buran and the military ones were no longer needed. It was originally designed as a military system for weapon delivery, maybe even nuclear weapons. The American shuttle also has military uses.

The idea was to drop weapons from orbit?
Yes, absolutely. A shuttle is particularly useful for this because it can change its orbit and trajectory – so an attack from it is almost impossible to protect against. But the need for such military applications ended.

Absolutely chilling IMHO.

Mark Hardman
Unfortunately or fortunately, chernobyl ended with the USSR and many projects (space and science) were canceled in the following years.

Something related:
DRAKON is an algorithmic visual programming language developed within the Buran space project

http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAKON

[Image: s-logon.png]
I can see the similarities of the Dragon lang. and IEC-61131-3 Sequential Function Chart lang.(is older than the standard IIRC) or that old french system what the namw of it were have escaped from my head hm.. Anyway it a bit odd that these high-level highly abstract and highly autodocumenting languages haven't had more foodhold outside certain niche markets.. eh, maybe they aren't kewl enough. Big Grin
(12-28-2016 09:23 PM)compsystems Wrote: [ -> ]Unfortunately or fortunately, chernobyl ended with the USSR.

"Very good, Louis. Short, but pointless."
-- Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_th4Xe6Dsm4
(12-29-2016 01:45 AM)Mark Hardman Wrote: [ -> ]"Very good, Louis. Short, but pointless."
-- Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters 2)

Big Grin
(12-28-2016 11:57 PM)Vtile Wrote: [ -> ]I can see the similarities of the Dragon lang. and IEC-61131-3 Sequential Function Chart lang.(is older than the standard IIRC) or that old french system what the namw of it were have escaped from my head hm..
Do you mean Grafcet ?
I remember learning it in the early 80s, mainly to program PLCs.
(12-29-2016 07:34 PM)jch Wrote: [ -> ]
(12-28-2016 11:57 PM)Vtile Wrote: [ -> ]I can see the similarities of the Dragon lang. and IEC-61131-3 Sequential Function Chart lang.(is older than the standard IIRC) or that old french system what the namw of it were have escaped from my head hm..
Do you mean Grafcet ?
I remember learning it in the early 80s, mainly to program PLCs.
Yes that was it - Grafcet, but did it have language application or were it "only" a design system..? IIRC 5-series of Siemens Simatics did have something that were similar to Sequential Function Charts (if so name were certainly different, since it were before standard as Simatic 5 introduced in the 1979 ... wikipedia is a friend Graph5)..
(12-29-2016 10:59 PM)Vtile Wrote: [ -> ]Yes that was it - Grafcet, but did it have language application or were it "only" a design system..? IIRC 5-series of Siemens Simatics did have something that were similar to Sequential Function Charts (if so name were certainly different, since it were before standard as Simatic 5 introduced in the 1979 ... wikipedia is a friend Graph5)..
I used it as a design tool when I was a student, and I then had to translate the program to hexadecimal instructions for a PB100 PLC. Wink
However I never got to use it IRL, as well as PLCs.
Reference URL's