Jennifer Huynh - Russian rocket stage with toxic fuel to fall in Canadian Arctic

Summary: Soldiers prepare to destroy a ballistic missile in the yard of the largest former Soviet military rocket base in Vakulenchuk, Ukraine. Another Russian rocket stage likely to be holding highly toxic fuel is slated to splash down in an environmentally sensitive area of the Canadian Arctic on Wednesday. Documents on the website of the European Space Agency say the Cold-War-era missile repurposed for satellites is to lift off from a Russian launching pad. It will drop its second stage into Baffin Bay, outside Canada's territorial waters, but within ocean areas it claims to regulate and control.

Analysis: The launch vessel, a former intercontinental ballistic missile, is powered by hydrazine, which is a fuel so toxic and carcinogenic that almost every space program in the world, including Russia's, no longer uses it. The spent rocket stage is expected to contain up to a tonne of unused hydrazine and is expected to fall into the North Water Polynya, one of the most productive and biodiverse areas of the Arctic and heavily used by Inuit hunters. The waters are considered so important to mammals such as walrus and whales that Inuit from Canada and Greenland seek to manage it as a protected area. Although the rocket is Russian, the launch is a commercial service paid for by the European Space Agency. The ESA prides itself on being the most environmentally friendly space agency in the world, one of the ironies here is that the satellite is a cutting-edge climate change monitoring satellite, and it's of central importance for environmental monitoring. Agency officials have said that unused fuel is burned up on re-entry, but studies done at launch sites in Russia suggest some fuel does reach the surface. Previous launches have drawn wide protests. The federal government has filed diplomatic protests with Russia and the government of Nunavut has argued the launches put Inuit at needless risk. The Inuit Circumpolar Commission has also objected in the past to possible contamination of pristine waters. The federal government did not immediately say if it has filed a protest over the upcoming launch. These turn of events could be related to the Environmental Movement in the United States during the 1980s when people protested environmental abuse by the government.


Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/russian-rocket-stage-with-toxic-fuel-to-fall-in-canadian-arctic-1.3898459