The Big Solar Furnace at Parkent was completed in 1987 as a Soviet high-temperature research facility. Its field of 62 heliostats tracks the Sun and reflects its light onto a huge parabolic concentrator, producing around 1 MW of thermal power for materials research and testing.
The NAMI-013 was an experimental rear-engined Soviet car developed at NAMI under Yuri Dolmatovsky. It combined an unusual wagon-style layout with independent suspension and an experimental automatic transmission. The prototype first ran in December 1950 and underwent testing through the early 1950s, but never entered production.
The Elektronika T3-16M was a Soviet desktop programmable calculator from the mid-1970s. The T3-16 family used reverse Polish notation, magnetic-core memory, magnetic cards for program storage and a CRT display. Its design was based on the Hewlett-Packard 9100B.
The Elektronika IM-11 “Lunokhod” was a Soviet programmable electronic toy produced during the 1980s. Using the keypad on top, users could enter sequences of movement commands, allowing the rover to drive and turn automatically.
The design was based on the American Big Trak, but later Soviet versions introduced their own electronics and additional features such as lights and a small propeller launcher.
The TES 3 was an experimental Soviet mobile nuclear power plant developed to supply electricity to remote areas. The entire station was divided across four tracked vehicles, using extended chassis derived from the T-10 heavy tank.
The four vehicles carried the reactor, steam generating equipment, turbogenerator, and control and auxiliary systems. The plant used a water cooled and water moderated reactor and could generate 1.5 MW of electricity. It entered operation in 1961 and served as an early Soviet experiment in making nuclear power transportable.
Source: Nuclear Energy and Technology, Naumenko & Mokhireva (2022)
The Saigak was designed at VNIITE by Aleksei Kolotushkin, Maria Kolotushkina and Dmitrii Azrikan in 1987. Intended for drivers and tourists, it was designed to be rugged enough to carry in a backpack or mount to bicycle handlebars. Its detachable headphones folded away into the carrying case. Despite reaching the prototype stage, it never entered production.
Source: Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University (Moscow Design Museum Collection)
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