The scientists working within these new institutes made extraordinary breakthroughs in physics, materials science, mathematics, engineering and space exploration.
Not every idea to emerge from the laboratories was a good one, however. The Znamya Project is perhaps an example of when the desire to make scientific progress departs from common sense. The Soviet era plan was to launch a giant mirror into space aboard a satellite, which would be unfurled to catch the suns rays and project a huge beam of light onto the earth’s surface to bring artificial daylight to the USSR at night.
The plan caused outrage amongst biologists and environmentalists, who fretted that the scheme would throw natural cycles off balance. Astronomers voiced concerns that light pollution from dozens of space mirrors would make observation of the universe impossible.
Against expectations, and one year after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the experimental Znamya 2 was finally launched in 1992 aboard Progress-TM-15. After docking at the Mir space station, the 20 metre diameter mirror was deployed and a 5km wide bright spot shone for a few hours as planned across southern France and onwards to western Russia at a speed of 8km an hour.
A follow-up experiment - Znamya 2.5 – was launched in 1999 with a 25m diameter and anticipated 7km wide beam, however the foil mirror was caught on a Mir antenna and torn beyond repair.
Faced with drastically cut budgets compared to Soviet times, and with little political support, the planned Znamya 3 was shelved.
Whether space mirrors will ever again brighten the darkest nights is not known. For now, however, the Znamya project is simply one of history’s more obscure – and most expensive – failures.
Three Soviet Successes
First artificial satellite in orbit, Sputnik 1.
First man in space, Yuri Gagarin.
First crash impact onto the surface of the Moon.
Three Soviet Failures
An Arctic town called Udachny (meaning Fortunate) to be built within a transparent pyramid or sealed glass dome, like a giant snow globe, with controlled weather systems.
Power stations fuelled by steam from the Kamchatka volcanoes.
Siberian permafrost melted by controlled nuclear power.