Published: 7 November, 2008, 13:13
Edited: 7 November, 2008, 13:13
Residents of a Russian Republic of Altai blighted by falling debris from space rockets say they’ve had enough of being used as a dumping ground and fear it is damaging their health.
If a rocket launch is successful, it is only the empty fuel tanks which find their way to the steppe below. However, if the device explodes either before take off, or immediately after, the consequence is millions of bits of metal, of varying shapes and sizes, being dispersed as far as 1500 km away.
But now Nina Manikova, the deputy-head of the Ust-Kanskoy region in Altay, has told RIA Novosti that many residents blame their health problems on the space debris. The number of oncology patients in the region is 15 times higher than the national average.
Local residents also report strange vegetation on their land. In 2000, after a scheduled rocket launch, there were reports of “grass, gigantic in size” growing in the area. The Russian daily ‘Izvestia’ described the drastic effects: “The grass caused hands to burn if picked up. When dried, it caused the whole body to itch. Calves who ate the grass died”.
However, representatives of the Baikonur launch facility say the debris poses no threat to public health or the environment, with only benign metal scraps from rocket carriers usually reaching inhabited areas.
In the case of an explosion, the most dangerous parts of the rockets' motors fall into a specially designated waste site, where they are disposed of in accordance with international agreements.
The probability of toxic rocket fuel reaching Altay is, according to the Russian space association RosKosmos, incredibly low – one in a hundred thousand. Moreover, the remaining fuel explodes, thereby losing its toxic properties, instead of being dispersed into the surrounding environment.
RosKosmos believes the problems with public health in the area are due to the large amount of harmful production plants in the Altay region. However, a spokesman told ‘Isvestia’ that solving the chemical pollution problem in the area would be much more difficult than simply blaming space workers.
This year alone, there have been instances of cosmic debris landing on people's homes. One case received widespread public attention, when the remains of the carrier rocket ‘Proton-M’ landed on a peasant's shed.
Despite the fact nobody got hurt, the farm worker demanded compensation from RosKosmos. Compensation was, however, refused.
On another occasion, a rocket fragment landed in the courtyard of a local resident in 2005. That time the resident is reported to have received compensation of 10,000 roubles (roughly $350).
From the era of Soviet space expansion in the 1960s, the residents of Altay have actively used rocket debris within their housekeeping, as rocket fragments were so frequently found on local soil.
The sturdy metal used in rocket building has proved to be useful in making house roofs, garages and sheep-pens. Some craftsmen even adapted them to make tables and beds. There have been instances of knives being made out of rocket sheeting and then being used to slaughter sheep.