Soviet

In 1968 the Soviet Union launched two turtles into space. The most incredible thing is that the two came back to tell it

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After the applause, whistles and the clinking of vodka bottles with which the night had started, silence now extends through the control center of Yevpatoria like a cold blizzard. The Soviet engineers, standing scattered in front of the monitors, can almost feel their icy, wet touch on their skin. All eyes are focused on the same person: Vasili Mishin, the chief designer who arrived from Baikonur to supervise the launch of the Soyud spacecraft of the Zond 5 mission. Sitting in front of the computers, Mishin does not take his penetrating eyes off the flashing lights on the panel. The Soyud which shortly before had successfully taken off towards the Moon (with a Proton rocket) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, is having problems. And serious. With each clearing of Mishin’s throat, the silence in the Yevpatoria room becomes denser and denser. Although, like the rest of his comrades, Mishin had celebrated the takeoff of the Soyud ship in style, now beneath his thick, tangled eyebrows his pupils shine with a concentrated expression. History remembers him as “the loser in the race to the moon“, but that night he hits the nail on the head. Before the expectant gaze of his colleagues (and the distant but overwhelming tutelage of the Moscow leaders, immersed at that time in the space race with the United States), Mishin gives some precise and the ship 7K-L1 solves its first incident. The gyrfalcons of Moscow breathe a sigh of relief. Mishin’s brow relaxes. And at the Yevpatoria control center, bottles of vodka are being uncorked again. The celebration continues. Zond 5 at the time of being rescued. (POT) It is the night of September 14-15, 1968. Hundreds of meters above the heads of Mishin and the Yevpatoria engineers, 7k-L1 rises unstoppably towards the Moon. The journey of Zond 5 will go down in history for being the first probe to hit one turn around the satellite and return to Earth. An odyssey not without difficulties. The problem that the ship registered shortly after taking off from Kazakhstan would not be the only one on its eventful journey. Zond and his peculiar crew Zond 5 does not attract attention, however, due to the incidents it has had since its takeoff. He does it for the curious crew that was on board. The same one that would have perished in space if Mishin and the rest of the Yevpatoria team had not shown their cold blood. In order to check whether trips around the Moon could pose any problems for astronauts, the Soviets introduced Zond 5 capsule fruit flies, worms, plants, seeds, bacteria and… two turtlestwo copies of Testudo horsfieldii. In the pilot’s seat there was also a mannequin that emulated a Soviet astronaut: it was 1.75 meters tall and weighed 70 kilos. Space technicians had inserted sensors to monitor the levels of radiation to which he was exposed. A peculiar Noah’s Ark… With a rag and plastic Noah at the controls. Scientists with turtles in their hands. As Brian Harvey tells it in Soviet and Russian Lunar Explorationthe turtles had to face a journey worthy of Hollywood. On the way to the Moon, part of the mechanism contaminated and became unusable. During their return to Earth, another incident prevented the operation from proceeding as planned. The work that the Soviets had done left much to be desired: the sensor to locate the Earth was poorly mounted and the optics of the stellar sensors were blocked by the thermal insulation. On their return, the Chelonians had to endure a tremendous sway. The violent descent caused the outer shield of the ship (which weighed about 5,400 kilos) to reach very high temperatures. The capsule landed in the Indian Ocean on September 21, around seven in the afternoon. Their large parachutes were deployed to cushion the fall and beacons marked their location, not far from the Borovichy ship, who took it out of the water the next morning. From there he transferred to the cargo ship Viasili Golovin bound for Bombay, where he embarked on a Antono planev that took her back to the USSR. When they checked the interior of the ship, the technicians met the watery eyes of the pair of intrepid turtles who had flown around the Moon. They arrived before all of us. (Schorle/Wikipedia) Although their health was good, the turtles looked like two newcomers from the war: they had lost 10% of their body weight, they were starving (they had not eaten since days before takeoff, when they were placed in the capsule) and to make matters worse, it is said that one of them had hurt her eye. Not a bad balance if you take into account the stellar journey they had undergone. Their triumphant return after making a historic return to the Moon, however, did not help them save their lives. What the violent splashdown in the Indian Ocean had not done, scientists from the USSR did shortly after. After your first exam they sacrificed to perform an autopsy on them and study them in depth. The trip that had ended successfully. Zond 5 had been about 1,950 kilometers from the Moon and made a historic circumlunar journey. He also left impressive images for posterity. The Legacy of the Space Turtles The maneuvers of the Zond 5 mission generated excitement even outside Soviet borders. At the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Manchester, the famous radio astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell He tracked the ship. The English center would set off alarms by intercepting a message with a human voice that had its origins in Soviet ingenuity. Had the USSR managed to make a trip around the Moon piloted by an astronaut? In reality, what they were listening to was a recording to test transmissions in space. Among the voices they heard in Manchester was in fact that of the veteran Russian cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky. On the pages of the book Animals in SpaceColin Burgess and Chris Dubbs point out that the voice was … Read more

The war already lasts longer than the Soviet fight against Hitler

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On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa with almost four million soldiers and thousands of tanks, opening the largest front in history. In just a few months the Red Army lost millions of men, but that war would end up becoming in a total pulse: factories dismantled and moved to the east, entire cities converted into fortresses and a mobilization so enormous that even today it remains the central axis of Russian memory. The invasion of Ukraine has just surpassed the Soviet fight against Hitler in days. A historic threshold. Yes, the war in Ukraine reached a milestone as symbolic as it was grim on January 11, 2026: 1,418 days of combat since the Russian invasion, then exactly the same duration as the Red Army’s fight against Nazi Germany in the so-called Great Patriotic Warfrom June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945. The comparison is devastating by contrast and propaganda, because the operation that the Kremlin sold as quick and surgical has ended up fitting into the schedule of the greatest existential war of Soviet history. And it also does so with an ironic twist that weighs tons: then the USSR was fighting against invaders who reached the gates of Moscow, and now Moscow is the invader, and after almost four years it still has not closed the conflict or translated it into a clear victory. A war of attrition. Far from a rapid campaign, the conflict has become a slow crushermore similar to a war of positions than to the decisive offensives of the 20th century. Russia occupies about a quarter of Ukraine, but its advance is described as progress at a snail’s pacepaying each kilometer with time, lives and ammunition. In that sense, there is an image especially revealing: After years of fighting, Russian forces are further from kyiv than in the first weeks of the invasion, when the initial blow seemed destined to topple the Ukrainian government. The war, even with external attempts of negotiation, does not give clear signs of closure, and each month that passes reinforces the idea that Moscow underestimated Ukraine, overestimated its own performance and entered a field where attrition rules more than maneuver. Panzer III marching towards Voknavolok on 1 July 1941 Russia and its tradition of wars. Russian history is plagued by conflict prolonged and campaigns that lasted much longer than expected, almost as if duration were a structural constant of their way of waging war. There are examples that draw a pattern: an endless war in the Caucasus that lasted for more than a century, or a chain of wars with the Ottoman Empire that spanned centuries and reordered borders and loyalties in the Black Sea and eastern Europe. Even when Russia sought “quick solutions,” the result was often the opposite: unexpected defeats, victories very expensive or bogged down that forced them to sustain the effort for years. In that sense, Ukraine would not be an anomaly, but rather another confirmation that the “short hit” in Russia is often more a political wish than a military reality. When losing is very expensive. Furthermore, Russian defeats are not measured only in territories or casualties, but in political earthquakes. The war against japan in 1904-1905 not only meant a military coup and the humiliation of a European power defeated by an Asian rival, but also fueled an internal crisis that led to the revolution of 1905exposing incompetence, eroding morale and opening the door to a decade of instability that would end exploding in 1917. The idea is clear: when the war drags on, the defeat becomes visible and the State loses its aura of control, the damage filters inward. The country does not need to collapse immediately, it is enough for legitimacy to crack and fear to become in everyday wear. Afghanistan as a warning. The most modern parallelism It’s Afghanistan: a Soviet intervention designed to sustain an allied regime that ended devouring resources for more than nine years. It was not only a military defeat against insurgents, it was an economic and moral drain thatthat accelerated the decline of an already rigid, inefficient and stagnant system. The 1989 withdrawal It left a demoralized army and a tired society, and the impact was so profound that it became one of the wounds that preceded to the Soviet collapse. That memory works as a warning because it shows that, in Russia, a long war can survive on the front while rotting inside, leaving a bill that is paid years later. Ukraine and the weakening. The war in Ukraine may not cause an immediate collapse of the Russian state, but it will aims to subdue him to continuous pressure on the economy, industry, army and social fabric. Even if there is no revolution, attrition operates like acid: it erodes capabilities, pushes to improvise solutions, exhausts reserves and reduces room for maneuver for other challenges. The Russian death toll (more than 156,000) illustrates the magnitude of the cost, higher than the total for Afghanistan despite having been sold as something quick and controllable. And although those losses do not come close to the demographic horror of the Great Patriotic Warare enough for the war to stop being an episode and become a structural wound. Blow to prestige. Beyond the battlefield, the invasion has also damaged Moscow’s image as a global supplier of weapons and as a military power. They remembered in Forbes the sharp drop in its exports and a symbolic change: France overtaking Russia as the second largest arms exporter in the world, something unthinkable recently. Also the decline of emblematic programs due to cost and performance, such as the T-14 Armataand the Su-57 casea fifth-generation fighter that fails to attract buyers and whose actual operational presence seems limited. Contrasted with this is the industrial and export success of the F-35, which has become Allies and partners standardwhich accentuates the feeling that Russia not only wears itself out fighting, but also emerges from the war with less technological brilliance and less … Read more

When nuclear energy orbited the Earth. The day a Soviet satellite with a reactor fell in Canada and unleashed a crisis

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In the late 1970s, the idea that a nuclear reactor could fall from space ceased to be science fiction and became a real problem on the table of several governments. A Soviet satellite with a reactor on board It had lost control and was heading towards the Earth’s atmosphere, without anyone being able to specify where its remains would end up or what consequences the impact would have. In the midst of the Cold War, secrecy and urgency marked decisions. From there, questions arose that remain uncomfortable today: what was a nuclear reactor doing in orbit, why that risk was accepted, and what happens when technology escapes the script. As CBC points outOn January 24, 1978, the Soviet satellite Kosmos-954 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after weeks of tracking by American radars. No one knew with certainty where he would fall or in what state his remains would reach the ground. Eventually, fragments of the device were scattered over a vast region of northern Canada, from the Northwest Territories to areas that are now part of Nunavut and northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. What began as an orbital control problem suddenly became an international emergency with scientific, diplomatic and health implications. The day the Cold War left radioactive remains over Canada Kosmos-954 was neither a scientific satellite nor an isolated experimental mission, but one more piece of a Soviet military system designed to monitor the oceans. It was part of the US-A series, designed to locate large ships, especially American aircraft carriers, using radar. To power this system, which is very demanding in terms of energy consumption, the Soviet Union resorted to a compact nuclear reactor, a solution that allowed operate for long periods without depending on solar panels. That technical choice explains why the satellite had fissile material on board and why its loss generated so much concern. The technological heart of Kosmos-954 was a BES-5 reactor, known as “Buk”, developed specifically for Soviet military satellites. This type of reactor used uranium-235 and was designed to power the US-A system radar for the life of the satellite. The BBC estimates that 31 devices were launched with BES-5 for this family of satellites, and places the use of reactors in space until the end of the 1980s, with launches that continued until 1988. That history was not a clean line, according to the BBC: there were previous failures and accidents, including serious problems in one of the first flights in 1970 and the fall of another reactor into the Pacific Ocean after a launcher failure in 1973, in addition to the plan security plan contemplated moving the core into a waste orbit to prevent its return to Earth. Arctic Operational Histories explains that The signs that something was wrong came weeks before re-entry. Tracking systems detected that Kosmos-954 was progressively losing altitude, an anomaly that indicated a serious failure in its orbital control. The United States began to follow its trajectory with special attentionaware that the satellite had a nuclear reactor on board. The big unknown was not only when it would fall, but whether the Soviet security system would manage to separate the core and send it to a safe orbit before the device entered the atmosphere. When it was confirmed that the debris had fallen on Canadian territory, the problem took on a completely new dimension. Authorities knew the fragments were scattered over a vast, largely remote, snow-covered region, making any quick assessment difficult. The first measurements detected radiation in some points, although without a clear map of the contamination. Faced with this uncertainty, Canada had to quickly decide how to protect the population and how to locate potentially hazardous materials in an extreme environment. To confront an unprecedented situation, Canada turned to international cooperation. Operation Morning Light mobilized Canadian and American military personnel, scientists and technicians, many of them from units specialized in nuclear emergencies. From improvised bases in the north, flights equipped with sensors capable of detecting radiation from the air were organized. Each anomalous signal led to more detailed inspections, in a race against time marked by extreme cold and lack of infrastructure. As the search continued, it became clear that the contamination was more complex than expected. Not only visible fragments of the satellite appeared, but also much smaller radioactive particles, difficult to detect and remove. This forced the teams to take extreme precautions expand tracking areas. At the same time, delicate communication work began with the northern communities, who wanted to know what real risks existed for health, water and the fauna on which they depended. As the weeks passed, the operation narrowed its objectives. The official Morning Light phase lasted 84 days, although CBC describes the search effort as extending through most of 1978 and the search covering an area of ​​124,000 square kilometers. In this process, 66 kilograms of remains were recovered and Canada considered the immediate threat to the population and the environment contained. The economic cost was raised and Ottawa claimed 6.1 million dollars from the Soviet Union, which in 1981 agreed to pay half, opening an unusual diplomatic process for an incident of this type. The case of Kosmos-954 was not closed with the removal of the remains from the ground. In the months since, the incident reached international forums and fueled an uncomfortable debate about the use of nuclear power in space. Several countries demanded greater security guarantees and more transparency in programs that, until then, had been developed under strong secrecy. The episode served to reinforce the idea that space accidents do not understand borders and that their consequences could directly affect third countries. Images | Arctic Operational Histories In Xataka | Mars is left with one less line of coverage: NASA loses contact with its key orbital repeater

Russia sent 75 mice to space in a Soviet design capsule. All have returned except 10

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A few days ago landed in the Russian steppe A capsule falls from the sky reminiscent of the dawn of the space race. It was the descent module of the Bion-M mission No. 2, launched a month before the space from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Its crew: cell cultures, seeds, 1,500 fruit flies and 75 male mice, of which 65 have survived. 30 days of polar orbit. The ship orbit the Earth from Pole to Polo to expose its passengers to the levels of cosmic radiation that the crew of the future Russian Space Station will receive. That is, 33% higher than those experienced by the International Space Station. The mice They were divided into groups: Some genetically modified, other treaties with a special medicine and a control group. The objective was to quantify the damage of radiation in its body and test countermeasures such as drugs or shields that could have direct applications both in the Earth’s orbit and in future trips to the Moon and Mars. The new Russian cosmonauts. They will not go down in history like the Laika dog, but the mice have played their role. The mission has been a success and the 10 specimens that died did so for reasons that the director of the Russian biomedical problems, Oleg Orlov, attributes that they were male miceaggressive and with “complex intragrupal conflicts.” Is it a success that 10 mice died? If we compare it with the previous mission, it is. In the first Bion-M, which took place in 2013, a failure in the life support systems caused the death of 29 of the 45 mice on board. That now 87% of animals have survived, and that deaths occur due to natural or behavioral causes, it is a great improvement. A capsule like Yuri Gagarin. Of course, the return of the mice has not been precisely quiet. As explained in detail Daniel Marín’s disseminator In its blog, the Bion-M spacecraft is a spherical capsule derived from the Vostok, the same that led Yuri Gagarin to space. This design does not allow maneuvers to soften the reentry, so landing is somewhat aggressive. For sample, the capsule caused a small fire in the ombourg steppe after impacting the ground. But the cause was not the impact, but the solid fuel retrocohetes located in the parachute lines. The fire was quickly controlled. And the flies? As we said, the biosatellite also transported a complete biological laboratory with fungi, lichens, seeds and about 1,500 fruit flies, part of a multigenerational experiment. According to the Russian Academy of Sciencesthe flies that traveled in the Bion-M No. 2 are the seventh generation of a line that originated in the International Space Station. During the 30 -day mission, the ninth and tenth generation were born. The plan is that, after a few more generations on Earth, their descendants are sent again to the International Space Station, continuing an insect lineage that has never known normal terrestrial gravity. Now, scientists have months of work analyzing recovered biological data and samples. The 65 surviving mice and their interplanetary travel companions are a valuable source of information that will help make the next space trips safer. Image | ROSCOSMOS In Xataka | The ruins of the Soviet space program in Kazakhstan: a hangar surrounded by death and fascination

Russia has recovered a Soviet festival as a cultural and political counterweight of Eurovision. It will not be easy

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You may like more or less, but there is an indisputable truth about Eurovision: it is not just a music festival. Beyond choreographies, lights, Brillibrilli And the catchy melodies, the appointment organized by the UUr is loaded with geopolitics. Russia knows. Hence, you have decided to start Your own alternative to the European Festival, which was expelled by the invasion of Ukraine: Interview. Your name may find you strange, but connect with an appointment of the Soviet era. The big question, now that the festival has started Your countdownit is whether Interview will become a real alternative to Eurovision. It will not be easy. What happened? That Russia is promoting its own Eurovision. Or rather, he wants to recover an old festival that hurts its roots in the time of the USSR, back in the 60s and 70s, when it served as showcase and agglutinator of the nations of the socialist block. The appointment is called Interview And it has been cooking over the last months: In February Vladimir Putin gave order to start it, In June The first participants were announced and (except for unforeseen changes) the appointment will be held in two weeks, Saturday 20in Moscow. Do we know what it will be like? More or less. The web Interview is grim Live Arena From the Russian capital, it will be issued through the official channel Piervy Kanal and will include about twenty artists. In June, at the beginning The countdown From the appointment, the organization talked about the participation of 20 countries, especially members of the geopolitical block BRICS and CEIalthough the list includes some surprise. Specifically those responsible for the festival They announced As participants to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Venezuela, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Kazakstán, Qatar, China, Colombia, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, United States, Tayikistan, Uzbekistan, South Africa and Russia itself. Only only the representatives of 17 candidates are announced on the interview website, including the great surprise: the US flag bearer artist, Brandon Howard. Why is it interesting? Input because it shows the determination of Vladimir Putin to recover interview, An old appointment Soviet whose history can go back to the 60s and 70s and that had Two great stages: between 1965 and 1968, when it was developed in Czechoslovakia; and between 1977 and 1980, when Sopot, Poland, replacing the City International Festival. In the early 80s the authorities decided to cancel it after the emergence of the movement Solidarność and his destiny was definitely marked with the fall of the USSR. In 2008 He had a fleeting resurgence and in 2014 Putin He showed his interest In recovering the cut, but the authentic support seems to have now received it, in 2025, Three years later that the Uuer decided to expel Russia from the Eurovision Festival for the invasion of Ukraine. What does Putin intend? Interview resurgence is not a simple matter of nostalgia or historical curiosity. In the festival there is a clear component of geopolitics and culture, just like there is in Eurovision. Good test is the list of countries with confirmed representatives or Howard’s presence. The context is not accidental either: the relaunch of interview comes three years after the Uuer showed the exit door to Russia, after Putin Try to recover Friendship games as an alternative to the Olympic Games (of which It was also excluded for his role in Ukraine) and in a moment of international claim in which the Russian leader has been shown with such relevant leaders Like Xi Jingping, Narendra Modi or even Donald Trump. Is it only geopolitics? No. There is also a cultural factor that Kremlin wanted to make clear from the beginning. Months ago, after the return of Interview, the Russian senator Liliya Gamerova was announced He claimed that the festival “will promote real music” and turn its back on “false values ​​outside any normal person” in an evening reference to Eurovision. In 2014, Putin’s vindication of Interview coincided with the victory at the European Festival of Conchita Wurst And last year the winner was the non -binary artist Nemo Mettler. In a Interesting analysis Posted today in The Guardian Elise Morton recalls that throughout the last decades Eurovision has been associated with the causes LGBTQ+, a link that can be traced at least 1997, with the participation of PALL ÓSKARthe first openly gay contestant of the festival. 11 years ago the victory of the Drag Queen Wurst coincided with Putin’s attempt to promote “traditional values” in Russia, which included limiting LGBTQ+contents. What will it be for? With interview, The expert reflects In Visual Cultura Bárbara Barreiro, the objective of the Kremlin is clear: to create a “cultural counterweight” to Eurovision, “to challenge Western cultural dominance” at a time when the UER Festival has become a “representative of liberal values.” Not just that. As Morton remembers, it has also served as a showcase so that countries that were under Soviet domain exhibit their cultural independence. Will it have it easy? It does not seem. Eurovision’s popularity lies in its effectiveness as an audiovisual show, something to which interview should aspire. And no matter how much the Russian festival presumably an artist poster, the truth is that it starts with some disadvantages. To begin its ignorance and the low impact that seems to be having on social networks. On Instagram the event has just over 4,000 followers. It is a figure understandable by the difficulties in accessing the platform from Russia, but its mark on the Russian network Vkontakte And Telegram is not much better, with just dozens of followers. Is it the only handicap? Another logistics challenge is the time spindle. Although in Eurovision Australia participatesmost participating countries (whether or not in Europe) share a more or less similar schedule. To hit with an hour of maximum audience does not represent a great challenge for its organizers. Nor manage a vote system that makes the audience feel participate. Musicians from countries such as the US, Russia, China or Saudi Arabia … Read more

In 1971 the Soviet Union decided to end the droughts. So he started throwing nuclear bombs into the rivers

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The story took place in the 1970s, when the Soviet Union launched one of the most ambitious and far -fetched engineering projects in its history: diverting the course of the great Siberian rivers so that, instead of flowing towards the Arctic, they would transport its waters to the arid regions of the south, such as Central Asia and the south of Russia. The problem was the solution to achieve it: they turned to “Pacific” nuclear explosions To dig colossal channels. The impossible epic. As we said, to carry out such a plan, Soviet planners did not spare in extreme methods. The most emblematic episode was the experiment called Like “Taiga” of 1971, in which three equivalent nuclear devices To the Hiroshima bombs They triggered simultaneously underground to create a channel that connected the basins of the Ríos Pchora and Kama. What happened? That the only thing was the known today Like Nuclear Lakea body of still radioactive water in the middle of the boreal forest, and an ambitious dream that ended up being a monumental failure. Despite the use of low -fission explosives, The detonations They were detected until In Sweden and the United Statesunleashing international convictions for violate the treaty of partial prohibition of nuclear tests. Soviet logic. The idea of redirect rivers It was not really new: already at the end of the 19th century, thinkers as Igor Demchenko They dreamed of flooding the depressions of the Caspian and the Aral to improve the climate. Under Stalin and, later, during the Cold War, the project acquired A new impulse. For the Soviets, the immense water flow that flowed to the uninhabited north was an intolerable waste. On the other hand, taking it to the south could make Central Asia an agricultural vergel, save the dying Aral Sea and, incidentally, affirm the Soviet power over the Central Asian republics. With the support of almost 200 scientific institutes and dozens of thousands of peoplechannels of up to 1,500 km were planned to divert 10% of the water from the OB and Irtish rivers to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Inspired by feats like Roman aqueducts and convinced that man had submit to naturethe leaders planned to complete the titanic work For the year 2000. The fall of the hydraulic myth. However, the magnitude of the project caused an unprecedented reaction. During the 80s, the opposition of scientists, writers and intellectuals became one of the First environmental campaigns massive in the history of the USSR. Figures like the hydrologist Serguéi Zalyguin They denounced not only the exorbitant cost and the low scientific support of the plan, but also the iEcological mpactos Catastrophic that would bring: climatic alterations, loss of unique habitats, flooding of cultural sites, and even possible changes in Siberian ice formation. The final blow came with the sadly famous Chernobyl disaster In 1986. The tragedy, which evidenced the risks of nuclear power Badly managed, he diverted resources and political attention, and just four months later, Mikhail Gorbachov formally canceled the river investment plan. For some, it was a response to environmental pressurebut for others, simply the recognition that the USSR already I couldn’t pay for it. Zombie idea. Although the project seemed buried together with the Soviet Union itself, The BBC counted that his spirit has persisted. Throughout the decades, figures such as former Moscow Yuri Luzhkov have advocated for retaking it. And in February 2025, two Russian scientists returned to Defend the idea In a National Journal, arguing that the current technical advances and the geopolitical reorientation of Moscow made Asia more viable. Some have even suggested that reducing the discharge of warm water to the Arctic could mitigate climate change, although studies such as The Oceanographer Tom Rippeth They warn otherwise: altering the flow of rivers could destabilize the stratification of the Arctic Ocean and accelerate the thaw. Resource as identity. If you want also, beyond its technical or ecological justifications, the river reversion project represents a vision deeply imperial: Russia as a power that dominates not only territories, but vital resources. The possibility of transferring water Towards Chinafor example, would fit with the extractivist model that has defined the country for centuries. As Historian Paul Josephson pointed outit was a form of internal colonization, to “modernize” Central Asia through public works and Slavic settlements, imposing the seal of the Soviet state into the landscape. That mentality lasts and, for some, Siberian water remains an underutilized treasure that must one day channel towards economic development and political power. Radioactive legacy. It is the last of the legs to analyze for the events that took place. Today, The nuclear lake It remains one of the few visible vestiges of this colossal hydraulic fantasy. Although radiation levels have decreased, some areas remain dangerous. The lake, surrounded by mounds of earth and oxidized warning signs, is visited by curious Like blogger Andrei Fadeevwhich described the BBC as “a beautiful place, apparently quiet, but with invisible scars.” As allegory, the landscape encapsulates the ambition out of context of the project: transform rivers with atomic pumps, fold the will of nature with underground explosions and turn water into a geopolitical domain tool. Surprisingly, half a century later, the idea has not died at all. Image | Dmitry TerekhovSentinel In Xataka | In 1958, the US wanted to simulate a nuclear attack against the USSR: he ended up releasing a bomb on the coast of one of his own cities In Xataka | In the 50s United Kingdom he had an idea to bend the pulse to the USSR: a nuclear bomb with live chickens

The European space agency begins to limit when the Soviet ship will fall. Where is it a lottery

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Like some people, there are spacecraft that say goodbye giving the note. The Kosmos 482 Soviet Missionlaunched 53 years ago with the failed objective of reaching Venus, is about to star in one of the most unpredictable atmospheric resentments of recent times. The European Space Agency is following her live. The last prediction. According to the ESA Space Waste Officethe capsule will fall to Earth tomorrow, on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at 08:16 UTC (10:12 in Spain). Although it has been reducing, the uncertainty window remains quite wide, with an error of +/- 8.61 hours. This means that the exact moment and the location can still vary (for now only latitudes above and below the 50º are discarded), but the predictions are noted as the object approaches. A capsule of the Cold War. Throwed on March 31, 1972, the Kosmos 482 ship was a twin sister of the successful Venera 8 mission, which did perch on Venus. However, a failure in the upper stage of the Molniya rocket that transported it prevented that it escaped the earth’s gravity, leaving it in an elliptical orbit with the earth all this time. What makes this event special is not only the longevity of the capsule, but the fact that it was built to survive the infernal conditions of Venus: surface temperatures of 464 ° C, pressures of 100 atmospheres and accelerations of up to 300 g. I could survive the reentry. What remains of the ship, the descent capsule of half a meter in diameter and 495 kg, was designed to support the extreme conditions of the Venusian atmosphere, so there is possibilities that it reaches intact to the surface of the earth. To survive, the impact could occur at about 240 km/h, with a kinetic energy similar to that of a 40-55 cm meteor. The big question is whether the parachute system, after 53 years and with exhausted batteries, could work. In view of telescope, the object seems to be tumbos. Prediction map on the reentry of the Soviet probe Kosmos 482. Image: that Do not panic. Taking into account that most of the planet is water, the risk of causing personal damage is “extremely remote.” And the probability of reaching a person is even lower, from 1 between 100,000 million, according to ESA. To put it in perspective, it is about 65,000 times more likely to be reached by lightning In addition, being an object that probably arrives as one piece, the risks are concentrated and therefore are lower than those created by the reentry of a rocket, which disperses multiple objects of metric size over a large area. Let’s take advantage of science. The almost spherical and smooth form of the Kosmos 482 makes it an ideal object to measure atmospheric density into very low orbits. Every time its elliptical orbit passes through perigee (the point closest to Earth), loses height due to atmospheric drag. This “accidental experiment”, which is being registered live by ESA, will provide valuable data on this type of event so far of the reentry. Perhaps a cold war ship shows us some lesson on how to reduce the problem of space garbage. Images | THAT In Xataka | There is an old Soviet probe about to fall on earth. The disturbing thing is that it was designed to resist hell

There is an old Soviet probe about to fall on earth. The disturbing thing is that it was designed to resist hell

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A piece of Soviet spatial history, the Kosmos 482 probe, is about to conclude its very long 53 -year -old odyssey. And in the most disturbing way possible: falling on us. Context. Launched on March 31, 1972, this Soviet ship was destined Venus, but A failure after its launch left it stranded In the Earth’s orbit. 53 years later, its final decrease is imminent: it is expected to be re -entered into the atmosphere around May 10. The probe does not contain nuclear materials, and the risk of properties or people is low … but it is not null. And you don’t want an object of half a ton that falls from the sky to hit you. Kosmos 482. Twin sister of the successful Venera 8 mission, she was launched only four days later, but unlike the first, she failed to land in Venus. The upper Blok-Nvl stage of the Molniya rocket that transported the Kosmos 482 went out prematurely, leaving the probe trapped in a very high elliptical terrestrial orbit (initially 206 x 9,800 km high). Faithful to the secretism of the time, The Soviet Union never admitted the ruling And he simply baptized the mission with the generic designation “Kosmos 482”. After three days, several fragments that had separated from the ship rented over New Zealand, where some remains were even recovered, such as cylindrical fuel deposits. Other objects associated with the mission rented in 1981 and 1983. Designed for Venusian hell. The object that has resisted all this time is the mission descent capsule, aimed at landing in Venus. It is estimated that this sphere has an approximate diameter of one meter and a mass of about 500 kilograms. Here comes the interesting thing: this capsule was designed to survive the infernal atmosphere of Venus, a planet whose average temperature on the surface is 464 ° C. As he points out Satellite analyst Marco Langbroekit is possible that relatively whole to the reentry of the Earth’s atmosphere, although the reentry trajectory and the seniority of the capsule reduce the possibility that it is intact at the time of the impact With the parachute deployed? The imminent reentry has intensified the follow -up by satellite observers. The amateur astronomer Ralf Vandebergh has achieved telescopic images of the object in which it seems to have a parachute. “There is a compact ball, but several frames show a weak elongated structure on a particular side of the ball,” He said to Space.com. In addition, the object could be tumbos, so it is only visible at times. How to follow the reentry. Kosmos 482 Orbit the Earth every 90 minutes in a inclination of 52 degrees. This means that the reentry can occur anywhere between latitudes 52 ° North and 52 ° South. The space -track estimated reentry window and analysts such as Langbroek focuses on May 10, 2025, with an uncertainty of 2 or 3 days that will be reduced as the moment approaches. The ship will make a series of visible passes from the northern hemisphere at dawn just around the planned reentry dates. Sites like Heavens-Above already include predictions of visible passes for Kosmos 482. When the man walked on the moon. The fall of Kosmos 482 is a tangible reminder of the golden era of space exploration and the intense race towards Venus, which followed the lunar race. This 1972 relic (the last year in which man walked on the moon), will return to a radically different world, increasingly congested by thousands of active satellites and a growing amount of space garbage. Image | POT In Xataka | Unable to solve the problem of garbage on earth, humanity has generated one more: space garbage

In the Norwegian cold war he devised a plan underground to detain the Soviet. Invasion to Ukraine has reactivated it

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The story took place at some point in The cold war. The plan started from a premise: how to contain a more than likely Soviet naval attack by one of the key maritime corridors in the Arctic Ocean? Thus the Term Bear Gap and a plan that germinated in a series of underground constructions with which Norway would put its grain of sand. Today, and after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, these secret constructions have reactivated. The origin of the bases. As we said, during the Cold War, the strategic location of Norway, close to the then Soviet Union, carried out the country to carry out a plan: build approximately 3,000 underground facilities destined to protect aircraft, submarines and troops both Norwegians and allies before a possible attack by Moscowand thus placate the offensive. Many of these structures, camouflaged in mountains and fjords, remained in secret even for the local population. Among them, the Bardufoss Air Base and the Naval Base of Olavsvernauthentic fortified complexes excavated in rock which had hangars, command centers, maintenance areas, fuel storage and underground exits designed to resist nuclear attacks. The reactivation. As I counted The BBC weekenddecades after the collapse of the USSR, Norway has decided to reactivate Bardufoss and Olavsvern due to the deterioration of regional security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increased activity Russian military in the Arctic since the mid -2000s. The Bardufoss Air Base, opened in 1938 and Used by Germans During World War II to protect TIRPITZ battleshipwas adapted in the postwar to protect combat planes against a possible Soviet offensive. Today, modernized and equipped to accommodate F-35 Lightning IIits main function is guarantee survival of these aircraft before threats such as kamikaze drones, whose effectiveness It has been tested In the Ukrainian conflict. Unlike improvised solutions in battlefields, such as networks or tire covers, Bardufoss offers real protection thanks to their hardened shelters under the mountain. One of the underground bases used in the past by the United States Olavsvern and its importance. It We explained recently. The Naval Base of Olavsvern, built from the 50s With strong financial support from NATO, it was conceived to control The so -called Bear Gapa vital maritime step between the Norwegian coast, the island of the bear and Svalbard, where they traditionally travel Russian submarines towards the Atlantic. Olavsvern has an underground port with direct exit to the sea, dry dock, control center and large logistics facilities, protected by thick layers of Gabbro and a monumental anti-explosion door. Although Its closure in 2009 and its subsequent private sale (in A controversial operation that even allowed access to Russian vessels), in 2020 the company Wilnor Governmental Services, linked to the Norwegian Defense Ministry, He regained his control And he began his rehabilitation. Currently, the base has once again received active military presence and, As we countthe United States Navy has shown great interest in using it for its nuclear submarines. Bear Gap. It is of a strategic term used to describe that maritime corridor between the coast of Norway, the Bear Island (Bear Island) and the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. The area is considered a key step or natural strangulation (Chokepoint) where Russian submarines and warships that seek to leave from the base of the fleet of northern Russia, located on the Kola Peninsula, towards the North Atlantic. During the cold war and even today, NATO considers this corridor a Critical point to monitordetect and, if necessary, block Russian naval forces, since it is one of the most accessible routes that connects the Barents Sea with the Atlantic. Hence, bases such as Olavsvern and other Norwegian facilities in the Arctic have so much strategic importance. Controlling or monitoring this step is essential to prevent Russian submarines with strategic (nuclear or conventional) missiles can operate freely in the Atlantic. The Arctic Resurgence. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, the reactivation of these bases is part of a broader trend. Russia He has reopened nearly 50 military facilities Arctic of the Soviet era, while countries like Sweden They have reactivated its underground naval base of Muskö and China has built New underground complexes For submarines and command centers. They will, meanwhile, too has followed this path with his “Missile City” In the Persian Gulf. Norway, aware of the intensification of Russian military exercises in the Arctic and their renewed interest in exploiting natural resources in the region, has resumed its defensive logic of dispersion and protection undergroundnot only for its strength, but also as an essential point of support for NATO. Utility and limitations of bunkers. It is the last of the legs to be treated. Despite their apparent strategic value, experts warn that Reactivate old bunkers presents Important challenges. Many have been dismantled, flooded or present degraded structures, making their modernization expensive and complex. In addition, the truth is that facilities such as Olavsvern have already been identified by satellites as a potential objective for decades, reducing any type of surprise factor. Thus, analysts also agree that underground facilities are still One of the best defenses Faced with modern aerial threats, including guided missiles, provided that their vulnerabilities are correctly updated. Norway seems to bet on resilience and deterrence, accepting that, given strategic uncertainty, underground security remains a prudent and effective option, especially in a region where Russia seems determined to project all its can. Image | Rawpixel, Marine In Xataka | The US plan B in the Arctic is an underwater cave in Norway. The only drawback is that it is not for sale In Xataka | Trump wants to keep Greenland. There are two countries for which it would be a serious problem: China and Russia

The US believes to have a “treasure” with the rare earths of Ukraine. Everything is born from a outdated Soviet report 50 years ago

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Today, Friday, February 28, Presidents Volodymir Zelensky and Donald Trump They will meet in Washington to discuss and sign the agreement on the mineral resources of Ukraine. This alliance will give the United States a control over the country’s natural resources, a measure that Trump has promoted These last days. However, estimates on this aspect are based on reports of the former USSR for more than 50 years ago. The famous “rare earths”. I think we have heard of the “rare earths” these days and, in this same medium, We have deepened the subject Exposing the arguments of two energy experts, which have confirmed that talking about “rare earths” is a mistake. However, the global S&P medium He has been able to demonstrate Where does that speculation come from, it has only had to dust off some old documents of the former Soviet Union. More than 50 years ago. The geological report of the Soviet era that is using Ukraine to evaluate its “rare earth” deposits focuses on an exploration made between 1960 and 1990. It is true that the technology of the moment and the methods were very different from the current ones. According to experts Consulted by S&P Globalthe data used to estimate mineral resources have not been updated since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. In addition, some of the deposits are in areas of difficult access and require more advanced technologies for extraction, as is the case of Novopoltavske, located in the Zaporizhia region, due to hydrogeological mining conditions. This mine, according to the report, contains phosphates, rare earths and niobium. On the other hand, currently, you cannot access the territories occupied by Russia, as in the Donetsk region, where the Azovske and Mazurivske quarries are located. Were these deposits exploited in the USSR? According to the report with more than five decades, they knew about them and explored them, but were not completely exploited on a large scale. The impediments went through a lack of structure, the complexity to access the deposits and technological limitations of the time. After the dissolution of the USSR, the mining projects in the Ukraine area stagnated and no attempted development was made in a postsoviet era. What will happen today? United States and Ukraine They will sign a treaty For a Ukraine reconstruction fund, partially financed with the income of its mineral reserves. Ukraine has agreed to contribute 50% of its future income derived from critical mineral mining such as cobalt, lithium, titanium and rare earths. In return, United States It would help develop The mining infrastructure necessary to extract these resources, but analysts consider that real benefits could take many years to materialize. In addition, the US will be co -owner of the Fund to the extent allowed by its legislation and promises long -term financial commitment, but the agreement It does not specify amounts, deadlines or details about the management of the fund, which generates uncertainty about its real implementation. However, there is a key fact that has been overlooked: currently, Ukraine does not produce rare earths at the commercial level. Although it has reservations, the infrastructure necessary to extract them still does not exist. According to the United States Geological Service, Ukraine has Scandio depositsone of the 17 elements of rare earths, but its large -scale extraction has not begun. Is it really so essential for the US? We have already told. On the one hand, Trump seeks to lead global mineral resources and impose himself on China. On the other hand, analysts They have mentioned that Ukraine should produce 20% of the world’s rare land for more than 150 years to reach the 500,000 million dollars of value that Trump has mentioned. In addition, as indicated in the report, the value of deposits may not justify the investment in its extraction, which makes Trump’s interest not completely clear from an economic perspective. To this is added the lack of clarity On the previous help of the US: Trump has mentioned between 300,000 and 350,000 million dollars, but the Kiel Institute has estimated that the real figure is 119,000 million. It should be remembered that Ukraine has a notable production of other strategic minerals. Before the war, Galio produced, used in semiconductors and biomedical applications, and contributed 2% of the world’s bromine production, essential in flame retarders. In addition, it produced ilmenite, a key mineral concentrate for obtaining titanium, a metal with military applications. However, the war has stopped the production of manganese and alumina, fundamental for the manufacture of steel and aluminum. And about the occupied territory? Access to mineral deposits in territory occupied by Russia depends on an eventual resolution of the conflict, adding another layer of uncertainty to the agreement. It also follows a key issue in the air: Zelensky sought to include security guarantees for Ukraine, but The agreement does not explicitly mention them. Although the text says that the US will support “Ukraine efforts to obtain security guarantees,” does not establish specific commitments or defense mechanisms in case of aggression. Without them, the real impact of the treaty remains uncertain. Trump and Putin. All this conflict is even more complicated if we add the layer of the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who have talked again, and the Russian leader even has offered preferential access to the natural resources of your country, showing willing to negotiate the end of the conflict. Despite these “advances”, the possible concessions that Trump could accept, such as Ukraine renounces NATO, they worry both kyiv and Europe. They fear that these agreements can make safety in the region even more unstable. And the cake wid. The agreement Mention explicitly That future negotiations on the fund should avoid conflicts with the process of adhesion of Ukraine to the European Union, a striking point given Washington’s growing antagonism towards Brussels. However, Zelensky wants to avoid that the agreement interferes with its ambitions in European integration. Everything remains to be seen at today’s meeting. Image … Read more

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