8,347
edits
Soviet Superscience: Difference between revisions
→Real Life
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead. #IABot (v2.0beta9)) |
|||
Line 121:
* [[wikipedia:Kola Superdeep Borehole|A twelve-kilometre-deep hole in the ground]]. Y'know, [[For Science!|for science]]. Or something.
* Real life averted: late-70s tinfoil hatter "Dr." [[wikipedia:Peter Beter|Peter Beter]] (believe it or not, his real name) entertained many fantasies about Soviet technology, including the existence of "cosmospheres", which were apparently large, blimp-like spacecraft. His, er, theories were carried into the 1990s by noted Usenet kook Robert [[Mc Elwaine]].
* The Soviet Union built an allegedly [[wikipedia:Dead Hand (nuclear war)|automated nuclear retaliatory system]] (though opinions differ if it's fully automated), which the Russian Federation apparently still maintains.
* Real state of Soviet (and for much the same reasons post-Soviet Russia's) development was split between "left to rust" (car industry in particular: it was diverted to military requests, but couldn't even do that, so few good designs were made, and even those didn't go beyond small series), "mediocre knock-offs of NATO hardware" (Tupolev and his bureau were particularly infamous for making inferior Boeings, and long after fall of Soviet Union you could meet his [[Hatedom]] in Russian-speaking internet) and "[[HAD to Be Sharp|deviously creative]]" (including several designer bureaus in aviation). The best technology has never been super-science, but [[Boring but Practical]]. The T-34 tank is considered by some to have been the best of [[World War II]] and Soviet small arms have long been quite good. On the less bellicose side, Russia makes some pretty good bush planes and similar heavy weather equipment. Some products aimed for both military and civilian niches turned out downright [[Awesome Yet Practical]], like Antonov An-22.
{{reflist}}
| |||