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HAVING FUN: Mohd Amin taking a ride on the Astronaut Chair under the watchful eyes of a National Space Agency officer Saturday. |
LANGKAWI: The MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation (MiG Corp) has developed a non-alcohol based fluid for the air-conditioning system of its MiG-29 fighter jets to comply with the religious feelings of Muslim pilots.
MiG Corp deputy designer-general Andrey Karasev said the company was ready to serve the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) MiG-29 jets.
“Alcohol was added in the water of the air-conditioning system to prevent it from freezing at high altitude.
“But we have now developed a fluid which does not contain alcohol. This fluid will be used in the air-conditioning system for the RMAF,” Karasev said, adding that the new fluid worked even better.
The RMAF has 17 MiG-29s in its service, two of which are two-seaters while the remaining 15 are single-seaters.
MiG Corp, which has been an active supporter of Lima over the years, has produced over 1,600 MiG-29 jets and sold the aircraft to 29 countries worldwide.
MiG Corp deputy director general Victor Kozlov also said a total of 6,289 aircraft of various models produced by MiG Corp were now in operation in 52 countries.
At the aerospace segment of Lima 2003, six-year-old Mohd Amin Syafiq was among those who took a ride in the Astronaut Chair.
“The chair, which moves in various angles, is like being on a playground swing that moves very fast,” said a shy Mohd Amin, who added that he would not mind becoming an astronaut one day.
His father, Iders Amin, 46, said he brought along his wife and four other children from Kuala Nerang in Kedah for a short holiday here.
The Astronaut Chair is among the many exhibits at the Astronaut pavilion booth put up by the National Space Agency, Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and two other government agencies.
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