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Soviet nuclear satellite crashes in Canadian North
Broadcast Date: Jan. 28, 1978
On Jan. 24, 1978, a fireball streaks across the skies over the Northwest Territories. Cosmos 954, a Soviet satellite, crashes near Great Slave Lake, scattering radioactive waste across a 124,000 square kilometre swath of the Northwest Territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Ottawa, there are urgent questions for Prime Minister Trudeau: Why wasn't there more warning? Were the Americans holding back information? And who will clean up the mess? CBC Radio's The House examines the political fallout from Cosmos 954.Soviet nuclear satellite crashes in Canadian North
• Cosmos 954, a maritime surveillance satellite, was launched on Sept. 18, 1977. Norad computers noticed decay in its orbit almost immediately. It was powered by a tiny nuclear reactor. Because of the radiation risk, the Soviets soon admitted the satellite was out of control, but gave few other details. The satellite was designed to eject its reactor core into a higher orbit in case of emergency, but this feature malfunctioned.• A joint Canada-U.S. cleanup effort, dubbed Operation Morning Light, ran until October 1978, but just 0.1 per cent of the satellite's power source was recovered. Canada asked the Soviet Union to pay the estimated $15-million tab; eventually it paid less than half.
• The crash is credited with drawing international attention to the use of radioactive materials in space.
• Skylab, the giant piece of space junk mentioned in this clip, was America's first experimental space station. Three-person crews lived aboard Skylab for a total of 171 days, and conducted nearly 300 experiments before the station was abandoned. On July 11, 1979, Skylab crashed to earth, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.
• You can watch a 1968 CBC Television clip about Norad's role in tracking space junk.
Soviet nuclear satellite crashes in Canadian North
Medium: Radio
Program: The House
Broadcast Date: Jan. 28, 1978
Guest(s): Joe Clark, Barney Danson, Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Host: Marguerite McDonald
Duration: 9:45
Photo: Department of National Defence
Last updated:
Feb. 29, 2008
Television
3:00
Nov. 29, 1965
The second satellite in the "Alouette" series was sent into orbit today, confirming the success and ingenuity of Canada's top scientists.
Television
5:07
The world is waiting to learn where a large research satellite will re-enter the planet's atmosphere in July 1979.
Soviet nuclear satellite crashes in Canadian North.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Feb. 29, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 15, 2012.]