The Soviet Union was ready for large-scale projects. Reservoirs are among them., swallowed up previously inhabited territories, hydroelectric power plants, blocking the great rivers, giant coal mines, the size of a city, etc.. Today they are all taken for granted.. People no longer think of other pictures of the world around them..
Searchlights, not becoming a reality
There were such projects in Soviet plans, that, arousing public opinion, remained in memory, as an example of ambitious projecting or thoughtless initiative. Here, Firstly, can be attributed to the project of transferring the flow of Siberian rivers to the republics of Central Asia.
The initiators of the project proposed to lay a large shipping canal from the Ob to Uzbekistan. He was supposed to provide Uzbek cotton growers with water and save the Aral Sea. In addition to this channel, it was proposed to turn back the Irtysh. Send its waters to the arid regions of Kazakhstan. This idea was to be provided by a special hydroelectric complex, pumping stations, canal and huge reservoir.
AT 1985 year, the USSR Academy of Sciences declared the project untenable due to its dangerous consequences for the environment. All work has been stopped. There was talk, that the decision of the academicians was influenced by the unsuccessful implementation of the Taiga project, forgotten by the general public. He was supposed to replenish the waters of the shallowing Caspian. The Taiga project planned to connect the Pechora and Kolva rivers in the Perm Territory with a canal. For this we have planned 250 nuclear explosions! The first three of them are 1971 brought radioactive fallout out of the territory of the USSR.
There was an international scandal. The Soviet Union was accused of violating the Moscow Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on three Wednesdays. The project was closed, leaving a radioactive lake in memory of him. As the saying goes, Not all projects are the same…
Several dozens of such unrealized projects have accumulated over the years of Soviet power.. You can also recall the construction of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow. Monumental building with a height of 415 m, crowned with a hundred-meter sculpture of Lenin, the plans were intended for holding sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and other public events.
Video of the Museum of Architecture:
It was decided to build the palace on the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. temple in 1931 blew up. Eight years fussed with the foundation. Then they took up the frame of the building. A lot of money was spent. But, as it turned out, in the end, they flew into the pipe like the work of hundreds of people. Further work was interrupted by the war. During the defense of Moscow, steel structures were dismantled and used for the construction of bridges. Perhaps, this is the only, what can be considered a positive component from the project of the Palace of Soviets. Later, the world's largest outdoor winter swimming pool "Moskva" was opened at the same place.. Now here is the temple again.
When there were not enough forces and means
There were projects in the Soviet asset, who were prevented by the state's lack of forces, means and technologies. The first in this row is the Crimean bridge. They thought about him even under the king. Built under Stalin, but failed. The bridge supports were blown away by the first ice drift. It was only in the new century that this project could be realized..
Adventure massively pro-Turkish groups surrendered to the LDF
Dealing with this challenge, remembered the island of Sakhalin. In the post-war years, they tried to connect it with the mainland by an underwater tunnel.. Almost 30 thousands of prisoners. After Stalin's death, people were released from punishment, and the building was abandoned.
The Crimean success persuaded the Russian government to build a bridge from the mainland to Sakhalin instead of a tunnel. They decided to make another transition through the La Perouse Strait to the Japanese island of Hokkaido from him.. The bridge to Sakhalin and the railway approaches to it were rated more than 500 billion. rubles.
The high price of the project has cooled the enthusiasm of government officials. They refused to build a bridge, but entrusted its development to Russian Railways, already overloaded with projects at BAM, in Siberia, high-speed highway plans.
As Nikolai Mitrofanov, Deputy Chief Project Engineer of the Giprostroymost Institute, recently stated in the media, the bridge to Sakhalin will be primarily designed to solve geopolitical problems - increasing the connectivity of territories. Its carrying capacity at the first stages of operation will be 9,2 million tonnes per year.
In other words, the developers took the path of reducing the cost of the project. Now they will build only one railway track. it, of course, reduce plans - to drive cargo to Japan. However, things have moved on. Bridge to Sakhalin included in infrastructure projects, falling under the resources of the National Welfare Fund.
Another ambitious project of the Soviet era is being implemented now - the transpolar highway. true, now it has changed its name to the Northern Latitudinal Movement. The original Soviet project envisioned a railway from the shores of the Barents Sea to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and Chukotka.. Then we limited ourselves to the segment "Chum - Salekhard - Korotchaevo - Igarka", but it was not fully mastered.
The revived project of the Northern Latitudinal Railway is more fortunate in our time. It is included in the "Strategy for the development of railway transport in the Russian Federation until 2030 of the year". Last August, the MosOblTransProekt company almost completed geological and geodetic surveys at the facilities. Separate sections are under construction. According to the already drawn up plans, the highway should be put into operation in 2023 year.
ahead of time
You can also give examples of projects useful for the country, for which the Soviet forces were not enough. Among them are those, who were just ahead of their time. The first in this series can be called the project of the colonization of Mars. In the romantic years of space exploration, scientists believed, that by the end of the twentieth century, Soviet scientific bases will be built on this planet.
It went to this. Projects of flight to the red planet appeared in 1959 year. Later, the Soviet apparatus "Mars-3" was successfully landed on it.. First flight to Mars scheduled for 8 June 1971 of the year. 10 July 1974 the astronauts were supposed to return to Earth.
Then the plans were adjusted.. They decided to combine the flight to Mars with an intermediate flyby of Venus. For this task, they even proposed a project for a three-seater interplanetary spacecraft with a rocket upper stage. After the early death of the chief designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, all projects were curtailed. In the new century, the colonization of Mars has become a "fixed idea" of the world's space programs.
Today, at the start of the digital age, it is not superfluous to recall the Sphinx project - an integrated communication system. It allowed you to control all home radio electronics, not only from the remote control, but also in voice, communicate with network subscribers, including in the form of online conferences.
The system was composed of a processor with three memory blocks and a screen, headset, liquid crystal or gas plasma screen, handheld remote control with detachable display and large remote control with handset, spherical and acoustic speakers.
According to some expert estimates, the project did not reach consumers due to its high cost, but basically the failure of the Sphinx is associated with the collapse of the Union, collapsed many promising undertakings.
Military developments stand out among the projects ahead of their time.. Among them there are, that have been implemented and even today are in service. (for example, Tu-160 supersonic variable-sweep wing strategic bomber or MiG-31 long-range supersonic high-altitude all-weather fighter-interceptor).
Others are less fortunate. In particular, aerospace system "Spiral". It was made up of an orbital plane, which, from an air launch, was launched into space by an accelerating aircraft. Then the rocket stage delivered the spacecraft into orbit.
The Russian military conducted a successful patrols on three routes in Syria
In the late 1970s, seven successful test flights of the Spiral were carried out., but the system never reached the point of being put into service. The project was quietly shut down, giving preference to the new promising development "Energy-Buran", Alas, not survived the country, who created it.
You can be sad about these and other military projects, ahead of its time and not realized. Soothes one: the work of Soviet designers was not forgotten. In one way or another, it was embodied in modern weapons systems..
Looking back, we can say, that all three types of unrealized Soviet projects (projector, unprovided with technologies and necessary means and ahead of time) remain in our history, as attempts to make the country modern, advanced and exemplary for the world. All this to some extent justifies even the most bitter failures of past years and generations..
Gennady Granovsky
