441 Titanium Star Visitor: A Cold War Materials Competition Talking About Soviet Venus Probes
-Introduction- In May 2025, a lander launched by the Soviet Union 53 years ago, which failed to reach Venus due to a malfunction, re-entered the atmosphere and eventually crashed into the Indian Ocean. Due to its special high-temperature and high-pressure resistance design, the titanium alloy hull remained intact after passing through the Earth's atmosphere. Looking back at the space exploration during the Cold War, why did the Soviet Union challenge the harsh environment of Venus? Why did the seemingly ideal titanium alloy material both achieve the super performance of the SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft and the Soviet "Golden Fish" nuclear submarine, but also put them into a "high-tech trap"? From France's domestic nuclear industry route to China's breakthrough in thorium-based molten salt reactors, how does the materials race affect global technological development? Please listen to the wonderful sharing from this episode's guests, Xu Zhikai and Li Yunyi! -This Episode's Participants- Cheng Yanliang (Weibo @GrenadierGuard2) Xu Zhikai, Professor of History Department, School of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University. Main research areas: World War History, Contemporary European History, History of Franco-German Relations. Li Yunyi, Associate Researcher, Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Main research directions: World History of Science and Technology, French History of Science and Technology, and History of Sino-French Relations. -Timeline- 06:45 Hell Venus: High temperature and pressure on the surface, a day longer than a year 11:24 US-Soviet Cold War space race, why did the Soviet Union choose the difficult Venus? 13:47 The space competition between the US and the Soviet Union is a materials competition behind it 17:16 Characteristics of titanium: widely distributed but dispersed, good performance but difficult to process 18:51 American SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft: faster than missiles, the weakness is oil leakage 23:32 The fastest Soviet "Golden Fish" submarine in history, but a noise maker 30:07 Cold War competition ignores costs, leading to "high-tech traps" due to technology for technology's sake 37:13 French nuclear industry exploration: abandoning domestic gas-cooled reactors and actively introducing pressurized water reactors 45:20 From catching up to surpassing: the development history of China's thorium-based molten salt reactor technology 53:45 Materials "Evil Cultivation": salvaging pre-World War II shipwrecks, just to create "low-radiation steel" 01:03:10 Phased array radar: the application of gallium nitride technology behind the Indo-Pakistani air war 01:08:14 "Metal smelting is a history of continuously increasing temperature" 01:12:10 The international journey of the artificial sun "Tokamak device" -Supporting our sponsors is the best support for us- "Suddenly Left Suddenly Right"'s book selling business is online! This time, it not only gathers books that have been discussed in depth in the program, but also includes books personally selected by the hosts, including a small number of signed and rare original editions. For complete book information and purchase methods, go to the WeChat official account "Suddenly Left Suddenly Right leftright" and reply "buy books" to get it. The book list will be updated from time to time, welcome to come and see. -Production Team- Sound Design hotair Program Coordination He Fang Program Operations Xiao Mili Program Production Si Zhao Yo Logo Design Yang Wenji -Music- Danse Macabre - Busy Strings - Kevin MacLeod -This program is produced by JustPod © 2025 Shanghai Hulu Network Technology Co., Ltd.- -Interaction Methods- Business Cooperation: [email protected] Weibo: @忽左忽右leftright @播客一下 @JustPod WeChat Official Account: 忽左忽右Leftright / JustPod / 播客一下 Little Red Book: JustPod Atmosphere Group / 忽左忽右 Bilibili: 忽左忽右leftright Douyin: 忽左忽右
Original title: 441 钛星来客:从苏联金星探测器谈冷战中的材料竞技
Original description: <p>- 导语 -</p> <p>2025年5月,一颗由苏联在53年前发射、但因故障未能成功前往金星的探测器着陆舱重返大气层,最终坠入印度洋。由于具有特殊的耐高温高压设计,在穿过地球大气层后,其钛合…