Russia

​To experience life in and around the ISS requires years of astronaut training, but technology does continue to bring us closer to the experience. The latest example is a 360-degree video that places the viewer in the thick of the action as Russian cosmonauts carry out a spacewalk.

Here at New Atlas we love a good hoverbike. So when Kalashnikov, the Russian weapons manufacturer best known for its infamous AK-47 assault rifle, released a video demonstrating a strange hoverbike prototype it certainly piqued our interest.

At the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, this week, NASA and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, signed a joint statement making the US space agency's deep space gateway concept a common goal for the two major powers.

The ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite has arrived in northern Russia ahead of its scheduled launch in October. Once in orbit, the satellite will monitor air pollution over the entire planet every day, gathering environmental data and helping authorities make more accurate air-quality forecasts.

The mass extinction event that occurred at the end of the Permian period is the worst in Earth’s history, wiping out a staggering 95 percent of sea life. New research points the finger squarely at a huge volcanic region known as the Siberian Traps – but not in the way previously expected.

Look upwards tonight and you might just see a new “star” streaking across the sky. A Russian CubeSat called Mayak (meaning "lighthouse") was successfully launched on Friday, and is set to be one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

The night sky is dotted with familiar faces, easy to spot thanks to their brightness. But a new object could soon outshine them all (bar the Moon, of course): A Russian CubeSat fitted with solar reflectors, named “Mayak” is due for launch mid-July.

If drones catch on like they seem they might, there stands to one day be quite a few unmanned vehicles buzzing about overhead. Russia is taking steps to manage all that potential new traffic, with its space agency announcing plans to test a nationwide monitoring network for drones. ​​

Aspiring amputees should check out this latest manned multirotor out of Russia. The Hoversurf Scorpion is a motorcycle-styled hoverbike with four high-speed props mounted right at leg-amputation level. And it's already flying high enough to bang the pilot's head on the rafters.

Russia's TsAGI is developing a new blended-wing heavy transport aircraft that is designed to carry up to 500 tonnes (492 tons) of cargo, yet only reaches an altitude of between three and 12 m (10 and 40 ft) over water and land.

Russia's famous Trans-Siberian Railway links Moscow to the country's huge eastern areas and serves as a gateway to China, Mongolia, and North Korea. Those making the journey will soon have the option of taking a pitstop in some odd-looking ​new wooden cabins designed by UK firm Kamvari Architects.

Russia has moved to update its nuclear arsenal with an extreme-range, massive payload ICBM designed specifically to defeat anti-missile systems. Capable of traversing the planet's poles and blowing up Texas in one hit, meet the RS-28 Sarmat, or Satan 2.