domingo, julio 03, 2011

The COSMOS 954 Accident: Soviet nuclear satellite crashes in Canadian North



I've managed to amass quite a bit of info on the Russian Cosmos 954 satellite than crashed in the NWT in the late 70's, thanks to the wonders of the Internet. However, I'm always searching for more info, so if you know any information about this event, please write and share it with me.

Meanwhile, here is what I've put together: (info taken from various web sites and magazines)
Cosmos 954 was a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite (RORSAT) which was powered by a nuclear reactor. Previous Soviet missions using such technology would split the reactor from the parent body of the spacecraft and boost the radioactive material into a higher orbit where the reactor would remain for 300-1000 years once the short lifetime of the satellite was over (which was well beyond the life of the radioactive material). Cosmos 954 had a special problem however - it went out of control and the technicians were unable to separate the reactor from the spacecraft's parent body.

The Russians sent out a warning that one of their satellites was going to crash and it was monitored on radar by NORAD. On January 24, 1978, Cosmos 954 deorbited and came crashing into the Great Slave Lake area of the Northwest Territories, disintegrated during reentry into a shower of radioactive debris which spread over some 124,000 square kilometers. A radioactive portion of the craft fell near a trapper's camp. A canoeist travelling through the north found this, looked at the unusual phenomenon and then left it alone. A massive search was begun to locate the debris that was made up of over 200 troops from both the Canadian Air Force and the US military and lasted until October. Around "key" areas of the crash, tight security was present and no civilians were permitted to view the scene(s). The canoeist and his radioactive find were both located and taken back to Yellowknife, where the canoeist was found to be in good health and the reactor pieces were impounded. Some of the debris was flown to Manitoba for testing.

After the clean-up, the Canadian Government sent a $15 million bill to the Soviets. The Soviets paid less than half of this amount and agreed not to take back the spacecraft. The Canadians were happy with the amount they received and were happier still that the Soviets had acknowledged the spacecraft's existence.
Of the thousands of radioactive fragments that reached the earth's surface, some were potentially lethal (i.e., the gamma ray radiation, near contact, was as high as 500 R/h). However, less than 1% of radioactive material was recovered. Think about that - 99% of the radioactive parts of this satellite are now floating around in Great Slave Lake. Keep an eye out for three-eyed trout next time you're out fishing...
As an interesting aside, psychic Earl Curley claims to have been the one who located the crashed satellite (while working in conjunction with DND). 

Read more...

More  information from the Canadian Goverment  Here...

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