RU 
EN 
CN 
ES 
Samara University currently hosts the All-Russian Youth Scientific Conference with International Participation “The 18th Korolev Readings”. This year, it opened on October 07 and is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The pool of organizers of the Conference, which is held every two years, includes 13 participants. Besides Samara University named after the founder of practical cosmonautics S.P. Korolev, there are its key industrial partners: “Progress” Rocket and Space Centre JSC and UEC-Kuznetsov PJSC, 2 academic research centers of the Volga region, 7 universities and even a large farm.
Welcoming the participants, Mikhail Kovalev, Samara University’s Vice-Rector for General Affairs, noted that about 450 students, postgraduates and young scientists act as speakers. In total, 338 reports, some of which to be prepared by small scientific groups of 2 to 5 people, will be heard in 22 sections.
The range of the participants’ scientific interests is extremely wide and is not limited to traditional areas related to cosmonautics – the design and production of rocket and space systems, flight dynamics, advanced materials, electronics, instrumentation engineering and information technology.
More than three dozen reports on fundamental and applied mathematics, theoretical and applied physics and chemistry, as well as biology, have been confirmed. The issues of controlling complex systems and aerospace clusters, the legal and psychological aspects of space exploration, and the philosophy of science and technology are discussed in detail. Historians, sociologists, philologists, and mass-communication specialists have a lot to say.
Participants and guests of the 18th Korolev Readings were greeted by Evgeny Shakhmatov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Supervisor of Samara University. He recalled the history of the NK-33 and NK-43 engines for the N1-LZ lunar rocket, which were developed by young designers inspired by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev’s ambitious plans for exploring the Moon.
“You are representatives of modern youth, who have everything needed for advancing science, technology, and our entire country. Sergey Pavlovich had a desire to involve young people in strategic projects and give them opportunities for implementation. I wish you, my friends, to follow Korolev’s path, to be ahead and achieve success!” addressed Evgeny Shakhmatov the participants of the Conference.
Natalia Kudasheva, Head of the Directorate of the Samara Region’s Ministry of Education and Science, delivered letters of appreciation to three young employees of Samara University: Maria Klevina, Director of the Centre for Project Development and Training, Ruslan Pikalov, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theoretical Mechanics, and Daniil Iskvorin, Design Engineer at the Engineering Centre. They were awarded with the letters for the successful implementation of projects in the field of science and higher education.
Olga Mikheeva, Deputy General Director for Personnel at Aviakor Aviation Plant, Dmitry Shchelokov, Deputy General Director of RCC Progress JSC, and Vladimir Pavlov, Deputy General Designer for Research at UEC-Kuznetsov PJSC, delivered their welcoming speeches.
The Plenary Session was opened with the report by Anton Doroshin, Head of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics. He spoke about modern approaches to designing control systems for composite spacecrafts and nanosatellites. One of the key trends in modern cosmonautics is fragmenting functionality, when many small-sized, very simple nanosatellite devices are created and launched for the purpose of solving a narrow range of tasks.
“The control systems of such devices are simplified as much as possible, and we must design them so that each element – everything that is at the designer’s fingertips, – becomes an actuator of the control system. Herewith, we need to monitor every phenomenon, every effect that mathematics indicates”, emphasized Anton Doroshin.
The Conference participants observed the visualization of the paradoxical effects of rotation that occur in course of targeting of spacecrafts at the object desired. Original examples of how one can benefit from the chaos in the dynamics of a satellite, as well as the transition of satellites to unplanned orbits due to subtle effects, when the jet stream expires, were shown.
The baton was taken over by Vladimir Pavlov with his report to be dedicated to the technological leadership of UEC-Kuznetsov PJSC. He spoke about the company’s promising projects – the testing of Russia’s first fully domestic high-power (32 MW) ground-based gas-turbine engine, the NK-36ST32; the development of the PD-8V, a turboshaft version of the PD-8 engine for the Mi-26 helicopter, and the creation of the NK-3 liquid rocket engine for an ultralight launch vehicle.
Vladimir Pavlov also spoke introducing by the company new critical technologies – digital twins, large-sized thin-wall casting, low-emission combustion chambers and others. They will ensure a high technical level of the engines being developed.
In addition to meetings in 22 scientific sections, the program of the 18th Korolev Readings included the intellectual game in the quiz format, excursions to the University Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics and the Aviation Engines History Centre, a lecture on the use of generative artificial intelligence in image synthesis, as well as the competition for young scientists in the Science Slam format.
The 18th Korolev Readings concluded their work on October 09.
For reference:
Organizations taking part in the All-Russian Youth Scientific Conference with International Participation “The 18th Korolev Readings”:
· Samara National Research University
· Progress Rocket and Space Centre JSC
· UEC-Kuznetsov PJSC
Peasant farm “Volzhsky Osetr” (Volga sturgeon)
· Samara Branch of Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
· Federal Research Centre “Kazan Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences”
· Ustinov Baltic State Technical University “VOENMEKH”
· Tupolev Kazan National Research Technical University – KAI
· Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University)
· Volga Region State University of Telecommunications and Informatics
· Samara State Agrarian University
· Academician Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science and Technology
· Yaroslavl State Technical University
Photo by Olesya Orina
