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Interstellar Trail Press, 2022
328 pages
with 150+ figures |
My Fifteen Years at IKI, the Space Research Institute
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About the Book
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This is a personal story of a young physicist in the Soviet Union, a country distinctly different from the Western world. Mike Gruntman worked primarily in space physics and on particle detectors and science instrumentation. He was among the early pioneers in the emerging field of imaging of space plasmas in fluxes of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). Today, multiple space missions operate ENA imaging instruments.
The events in this book unfolded during the Cold War in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the Iron Curtain stood firmly in place during the epic struggle between the dark forces of communism and the free world. Gruntman describes the life and work of a scientist in the totalitarian Soviet Union, including elite education in physics and engineering, the disfunction and ideological control of a centrally planned state, collaboration with scientists abroad, and the impact of foreign radio broadcasts. These, and other glimpses into the realities of the Soviet past, serve not only as background to the story; they also inform us about the nature of neo-Marxism, which is gaining popularity in the free world today.
The book has more than 150 figures, including several space reconnaissance photographs.
Selected bibliography includes more than 160 entries.
About the Author
Dr. Mike Gruntman is a professor of astronautics and the founder of a space engineering program at the University of Southern California (USC). As a child, he grew up on the Tyuratam (Baikonur) missile range and space launch base and went on to graduate from the Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (Fiztekh) and become a research fellow at the leading space science institute in the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Space Research Institute (IKI). Mike joined USC in March 1990. He is an accomplished specialist actively involved in R&D programs in space science and space technology and has authored and co-authored more than 300 scholarly publications, including six books.
My Fifteen Years at IKI – Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. From Fiztekh to IKI
Fateful telephone call
Moscow Physical-Technical Institute MFTI (MIPT)
Fiztekh (Fiztech, PhysTech) and Fiztekh system
(history, founders, Dolgoprudny, faculties, classes, military (ROTC-type) training, IRBM SS-4, Ostrov)
New institute in the Academy of Sciences
Space Research Institute – IKI
Students at IKI
Science advisor or shef
Chapter 2. Department of Space Gas Dynamics
Semi-independent fiefdom
Atomic collisions laboratory
Rudderless without a helmsman
To join or not to join
Verboten travel and patriotic duty
Chapter 3. Blazing My Own Trail
Research fellow
Detection of interstellar helium atoms in ... 1975
Secondary electron multipliers (incl. VEU-1, VEU-6)
Master's thesis
My first publication was ... a NASA TM
Detecting individual neutral particles
Behaving oneself vs. having fun
Chapter 4. Per Aspera et cum Alcohol ad Astra
Rich in poverty and poor in riches
Universal hard currency
On "friends" and "friendship"
Squatterson technical floors
Vigilant guards on duty and on the take
On occasions and without
Working hours and after
Hole in the wall
Marxist stooges in developing world
Mystery of welded windows
Chapter 5. Position-Sensitive Detector: First Image and Beyond
Microchannel plates (MCPs) (incl. VEU-7)
Elektron and SNIIP
First image
Wedge-and-strip collector
Position-sensitive connections
No road to independence
Glacially slow advance
Special Astrophysical Observatory SAO
Optical 6-m telescope BTA-6, Radiotelescope RATAN-600
UV space telescope
Chapter 6. Boundary Conditions of Life and Work
Visitors in the land of real socialism
A little bit more comfortable
Remote places in the wilderness
"Clandestine" advice
Snafu in science diplomacy
It all could end in one moment
Foreign radios
The free spirit in the ether
Broadcasting and jamming
Forbidden fruit of foreign broadcasting
Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe
CPSU and fellow travelers fight back,
Keeping the spirit of freedom alive
Printed word and Sir Winston
Chapter 7. Energetic Neutral Atoms
Birth of ENAs
Wandering in wilderness
Detecting neutral atoms directly
1979 List
ENA fluxes at 1 AU and in interstellar space
On a free range
Chapter 8. First Steps Together
Foreign entanglements
One sentence in a report
Professional growth
Interstellar helium experiment
MASTIF for interstellar helium and SIMS
Chapter 9. ENA Experiment That Never Flew
Ultrathin foils for TOF instruments
On the way to Phobos, sort of
GAS Experiment in the "heroic" ENA era
Extracurricular affairs in Poland,
NSZZ Solidarity, tear gas, and ZOMO in Gdansk in 1984
Early advances of ENAs
Chapter 10. Neutral Atoms Reach Critical Mass
Serendipitous discovery of magnetospheric ENAs
International workshops on neutral atoms
What is 'Whoa'?
Fifth Workshop in Moscow
Trip to the Caucasus
Sumgait, Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh, Yerevan, and Armenia in 1988
Sixth Annual Meeting: COSPAR Colloquium
Chapter 11. Separation of Stages in Powered Ascent
Annual evaluation
Transfer to IPM
Whitish winter jacket from Gdansk to Moscow
Mission-critical event: separation of rocket stages
Ignition of the second stage
First days at USC; 30+ years at USC
Sic transit gloria universitatum
Sinister transformation and suicidal slide of American academia to socialist hell
Remarkable colleagues and friends
Appendix A. Neutral Atom Workshops in 1980s
Appendix B. Brief History of Energetic Neutral Atoms
Appendix C. Acronyms and Abbreviations
Appendix D. Pronunciation Guide
Appendix E. Selected Bibliography
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