Kosmos 954 (Russian: Космос 954) was a reconnaissance satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1977. A malfunction prevented safe separation of its onboard nuclear reactor ; when the satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere the following year, it scattered radioactive debris over northern Canada , some of the debris landing in the ...

Finally, on January 24, 1978, the unthinkable, inevitable happened — Kosmos 954 fell to Earth. The Soviet theory that the nuclear reactor would burn up harmlessly during reentry was put to the test in the worst way with a fully operating nuclear reactor containing 50 kg of highly radioactive, dangerous Uranium-235.

2024年4月15日 · Kosmos 954 launched on 18 September 1977 from Baikonur Cosmodrome attached to a Tsyklon-2 rocket. The launch, usually the most dangerous part, was a success, and the satellite was soon orbiting around the earth once every 89.5 minutes.

COSMOS 954 was generally referred to in -Western commentary as a "Russian spy satellite," designed to track by "radar the movements of American Navy ships and submarines." The French, in particular, singled out for criticism the secrecy suriuunding Soviet space programs.

2022年11月14日 · On Jan. 24, 1978, a Soviet nuclear satellite called Kosmos 954 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded over northern Canada. Radioactive debris was spread across the eastern part of the...

On 24 January Cosmos 954 crashed in the ice and snow near Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. This satellite was one of a series scanning the oceans by radar, seeking out large surface ships.

2019年9月3日 · On 24 January 1978, COSMOS 954, a Soviet nuclear-powered surveillance satellite, crashed in the Northwest Territories. The crash scattered an enormous amount of radioactivity over a 124,000 square kilometre area in Canada's north, stretching southward from Great Slave Lake into northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

2015年11月23日 · In late 1977, a Soviet RORSAT, designated Kosmos 954, began behaving erratically shortly after launch. Ground controllers struggled to control the spacecraft and the reactor-ejection...

We do not know why Cosmos 954 began to tumble. It may have depleted its supply of attitude control gas or it may have, as stated by TASS, undergone a fast depressurization due to a collision "with some other object of natural or artificial origin."

2020年5月4日 · Cosmos 954 (also spelled “Kosmos 954”) was launched on 18 September 1977 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It orbited the earth between 259 and 277 kilometers every 89.5 minutes. On board was a liquid sodium–potassium thermionic converter driven by a nuclear reactor containing around 50 kilograms of uranium-235.