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As the Soviet Union dropped to Canada satellite with radioactive fuel, and how it ended

When parts of a spent spacecraft fall onto the territory of any state, this always entails a number of problems. Well, what if this is the fall of a satellite with a nuclear installation?, which did not have time to burn up in the atmosphere, then the number of troubles increases significantly. Just such an accident happened more 40 years ago, when fragments of a Soviet satellite fell into Canada.

As the Soviet Union dropped to Canada satellite with radioactive fuel, and how it ended

The successful launch of the Cosmos-954 satellite occurred in early autumn 1977 of the year, and he worked in orbit for a little more 40 days, after which contact with him was lost. Despite all attempts to restore control, the satellite stopped responding to sent signals. Engine failure subsequently occurred, the satellite has moved from its intended orbit. Not only specialists from the USSR monitored the fate of the lost device, but also employees of the joint aerospace defense system of Canada and the United States of America.

As the Soviet Union dropped to Canada satellite with radioactive fuel, and how it ended

When it became obvious, that the satellite has left orbit and its fall to Earth is inevitable, panic began in the press, and experts began to speculate that, Where will the remains of the device end up?. "Cosmos-954" kept earthlings in suspense for 3 months, and after passing through the layers of the atmosphere, the fragments of the Soviet satellite landed in Canada. By a happy coincidence, these were the sparsely populated Northwest Territories, therefore, people and infrastructure of settlements were not damaged. But this same circumstance significantly complicated the search for debris and the elimination of the consequences of radioactive contamination, which were carried out in winter in difficult terrain. This man-made disaster complicated relations between the USSR and Canada, who sued for several million dollars. The USSR partially satisfied these demands and compensated for the damage, and also stopped flights of such devices and began their modernization. And although since then on Earth, including to the territory of various countries, a lot of spacecraft debris fell, this incident became widely known due to radioactive contamination of the area.

As the Soviet Union dropped to Canada satellite with radioactive fuel, and how it ended

Need to mark, that the first models of satellites with nuclear installations were developed in the USA. Such devices, usually, were engaged in collecting intelligence data and were intended to work in low orbits. In such conditions, solar panels were ineffective as an energy source, in addition, they required round-the-clock operation, regardless of the presence or absence of the Sun. Later, similar satellites also appeared in the USSR, whose functionality did not depend on the supply of solar energy, but their activities sometimes took place in abnormal mode. After the described disaster, the model of the serial US-A satellite was modified in order to prevent radioactive substances from reaching the Earth, if there is a repeated deorbit.

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