Scavenging Russia’s Rocket Graveyard Is Dangerous and Profitable

Some of the pics I took in that place (in the mountains & taiga near Lake Teletskoe): http://i.imgur.com/2DwEDg5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3ISH2C9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1ymYIbk.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Vl1pmIz.jpg

BTW asked our guide if any of his acquaintances were scavenging this stuff, he said smth like "some did... all of them are already dead"

Probably to scare you out :) These seem to be the Souyz debris (green/gray painting), not too dangerous I imagine. Proton-M remains are completely different story though.

These particular pieces may not be dangerous, but some other pieces people could find could be with a higher level of contamination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsymmetrical_dimethylhydrazin...

Wouldn't the harmful stuff eventually dissipate? How long would one have to wait to safely scavenge a booster sitting in the open?

It's not possible to safely scavenge a booster sitting in the open, because by the time it could be dissipated it will long be scavenged unsafely by someone else.

Maybe he read "Roadside picnic" novel recently and mixed reality with fantasy.

Thank you! That reading left me hungry for pictures.

Altai Territory, Russia: https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/Books/Satellites/64

Kazakhstan: https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/Books/Satellites/63 https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/Books/Satellites/62 https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/Books/Satellites/61

The photos taken inside the Buran Project hangar are peak abandoned-pr0n: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Buran+Project/@45.94048,63... . Pretty interesting to see an actual space shuttle abandoned among all that '80s electronics and scattered paper-work.

These crazy people went and made a youtube video about it in 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q7ZVXOU3kM

So Roadside Picnic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic) vel Stalker is a documentary after all?

Ha! I was thinking that as well.

it was inspired by the Japan Kwantung Army vast fortifications in Manchuria where the older brother served in the years after WWII. There are a lot of other places in Russia which do feel like Stalker though.

There's no Google maps aerial link in the article which is too bad... because it's mesmerizing & illustrates how remote the location is: https://goo.gl/maps/22sBrQ26abQ2

Looks like it's roughly as far from Tehran as Los Angeles to North Dakota, and as far north from Kabul as Minneapolis to Houston.

Don't forget to check out the "street views": https://www.google.com/maps/@45.9200912,63.3389296,3a,75y,87...

Related: Documentary about individuals that go hunting scrap in active us military target ranges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4pFat3VTkI

Gave up on the article after an annoying popup refused to close.

http://hn.premii.com/#/article/17360420