Good news from the Titanic

A stroll to the Syr Daria today shows that the river is completely unfrozen now. This is a real change from the landscape we had in January when we arrived in Baikonur.
The water level is rather high at the moment. This is due to the melted ice coming from the Uzbek mountains. In summer, according to local people, the shallow waters enable to reach by foot the islands in the middle of the river with water up to the hip only.

On the ground, ice crystals are slowly but irreversibly melting at the foot of the reed canes under the tepid sun of March,

and CryoSat-2, despite a launch on April the 8th will not be able to map the last few large ice sheets left along the Syr Daria banks.

We all are waiting for the accurate data Cryosat-2 will provide once in space, but we already strongly suspect a negative balance of ice on the planet which has already triggered alarming signals for some of our polar friends...

However, there is may be one place in Baikonur which is not going to complain about this seasonal warming or for which ice melting is not bad news at all. This place is called the Titanic. Why?
Certainly not because of any kind of icebergs (even if melting) this time...

In Baikonur, the Titanic is the name of the wreck (above) that has been pulled up onto the upper bank of the Syr Daria to become a restaurant and a "Bier garten" during the spring/summer period. It is still closed but should open as soon as the weather conditions will improve, offering to the "Baikonurtsi" a nice place for social events with a gorgeous view on the river and the steppe.
How this ship ended her life at this place? One can only speculate. Earlier, at the time the flow of the river was more stable and the Aral sea was still a sea, she was may be carrying passengers along the river from place to place. The development of the intense irrigation to support cotton and rice cultures has drained the river (and the Aral sea) making these trips impossible today.
A quick look on the web shows that most of the Aral sea has become a cemetery for ships of this kind.

A last remark about the city itself and the river: In fact when the was city developed at this place as from 1955, the engineers started the settlements and then the construction of the city on the right bank. The (natural) idea would have been to build a city over the 2 banks of the Syr Daria. This idea was abandoned due to the non predictable behavior of the river flow. It was decided very early, that the city would grow along the river but on the right bank only.

New Launch Date

ESA portal confirmed today 19/03/2010 the CryoSat-2 new launch date on

• 8th April 2010 at 13h57 UT (15:57 ESTEC/ESOC time, 19:57 Baikonur)
  

This delay from the originally planned 25/02/2010, was mainly due to an optimization of the combustion (ratio of fuel to oxidiser) of the second stage engine. Software modifications had to be made. They have now been tested ans validated. Campaign will resume shortly.

Therefore, the complete team is scheduled back to Baikonur on

• 23rd of March

Detailed information can be read on the ESA web site
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
or Cryosat-2 web site
http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPcryosat.html

Housing in the "new city"

The Real-Estate in Baikonur belongs to the Public sector (Russian State, City Council...?). As no privatisation progammes have taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union, apartments are rent and maintenance is under the responsibility of the local authorities.
No Real-Estate agencies can be see in town. No advertising in the local newspaper supports a private housing market.
Therefore, like in many urban places in Russia, building blocks for habitation look in average, compared to our Western standards, in extremely poor conditions. Particularly for the eldest ones that have been constructed in the early 60 ies, more precisely between 1958 and 1968 at the time the city was still a settlement called "Leninskii settlement".
Here under is an example of a poorly maintained habitation.
Location: on Korolev Avenue, 200m away to Hotel Sputnik.

But of course all habitation blocks are not in these devastated conditions.
Two official companies in Baikonur are in charge of construction and renovation today.
Recently, new habitation blocks have been constructed

Credits: Raphael
while other have been renovated providing to Baikonur inhabitants a better conditions of life.
Location: in the center, on the Abai Avenue, close to the technical school.

It is worth to mention that quiet a few habitation blocks in the center have been ''walled'' to apparently prevent squatting or other kind of illegal habitation. These building left empty may reflect the "relocation" of some inhabitants in more modern constructions combined with a large exodus of people leaving Baikonur in the mid 90 ies?...

Between these extreme, devastated, renovated and walled blocks, the picture below likely represents the average of the habitation in Baikonur.
Location: in the street opposite to the Orthodox Church, East side of the town.

Some higher constructions have been erected in the late 70ies to respond at the time to the growth of the city which was renamed Leninsk in 1968.
Location: "Microrayon" area, in the South/west part of the city.

View on the other side, from the play ground.

This model of construction is fundamentally not very different from what has massively been built in most of the countries of the European Union after 1950. The big difference with the communist countries is likely the maintenance and the renovation process...

But there are also some "cosy" houses in the old center of Baikonur, like on the Arbat for instance

or close to it, near Shubnikov street,

where you may feel that architects also wanted to add a touch of aesthetics to the pure functionality of their construction style. Here a 'glass canopy'' (in wrought iron) over the steps,

and here, some carved or molded ornaments on the facade.

Few other questions may come after the outer appearance, such as:

• Are these apartments nicely configured to accommodate families?
  
• Are there technically better equipped and maintained inside than outside?
  
• how interiors can be decorated to forget these austere facades?
  

May be quiet interesting topics for students in Architecture...

Growing trees in the desert

Growing trees in Baikonur has to be seen as a prowess, The semi desert landscape that surrounds the space city shows that a very limited number of trees species can naturally grow in the extreme conditions of this area.

Therefore, almost all species have been imported in the "new city" and ingenious solutions have been found to resolve problem such as:

• no water in the immediate under ground as well as no much rain
• high temperature in the summer period associated with drought
  
• a limestone clay and sand type of soil which is rather poor in organic elements,
  
• the salt of ancient sea that has contaminated lower geological layers,
  
• freezing temperature which is a killer for bark and the blossoms or young leaves,
• etc...
  

Trees do have a hard life in Baikonur:
Not only from the nature :-)

Only sustained and continuous efforts make the miracle possible: To grow trees in the desert and make the new city "green".
Since a couple of days, many environmental technicians and agents are at work in the Baikonur streets to prepare fort the big seasonal transition.

The first visible action is the pruning. It has started here in the Peace Park for a week already,

or next to the Arbat street where you can observe a more drastic cutting. Note the white colour at the bottom of the trunk. This "white painting substance" is used everywhere to fight against parasites/fungi and to prevent bark cracking during freezing periods (?)

Large quantities of fresh ground are transported to the city by trucks.

This is used to replenish the soil at the foot of the trees bringing essential nutritional elements.
Korolev Prospekt

Burning dead herbs of the past season is a also a widely used technique in Baikonur. This let to think that soils are rather acidic as ashes brings potassium and carbonates that will slightly increase soil pH .
Here, on the Gagarin Avenue, as well as everywhere else in the city, a dense piping system bring the necessary water to the plants in the warm season.

At the same place, dried Camel feces is also widely spread as a natural (and local) fertilizer.

Dead trees are replaced by new plantations properly supported.

At many places, one can also observe the digging of the unfrozen soil, the necessary preparation for new flowerbeds like here under in front of the Science and Cosmos Stela.

All these efforts will for sure pay in a couple a weeks when the season change will definitely make us forgetting the very cold winter. The city will suddenly look like an "oasis in the desert".

A description of the various acclimatized species of trees that can be found in Baikonur parks definitely deserves a dedicated message.

Space and Earth debris

"Baikonur", a weekly local newspaper, gives on page 3 under the heading "Kosmoport", articles related to space activities in general and on the cosmodrome in particular.

On issue dated 26/02/10, this page was dedicated to Space Debris with 2 main articles:.
Who will remove the orbital junk? was the headline of the first article,

followed by: Russia wants to get rid of the space debris for the future generations.

These articles, like media in general, underline the increasing number of space debris over the past years and the associated risks if nothing is done. In addition, the unforeseen spacecraft collision in 2009 between Iridium-33 and decommissioned Kosmos 2251 put into perspective the dramatic increase of unexpected space debris if such accidents are not properly prevented.
Both articles draw the attention on the urgency to tackle seriously with this issue and the proposed ways of investigation. ESA, though it was not namely quoted in the newspaper, is perfectly aware of the danger and has already taken initiative together with other world space Agencies and actors to propose solutions to this complex question. For instance, some of the spacecrafts of the next generation will have to be designed for being de-orbited once their missions are over.
Finally, the Russian newspaper mentions NASA as a key player which has started to perform a mapping of the debris in space larger than 10cm.

In Baikonur city one can see on the ground few rocket debris as showed by the few pictures here after. But let's make it clear: these debris are fortunately not the results of launch failures falling from the sky. Otherwise opening an helmet shop down town would look as a promising business :-)
If our information are correct, they have been brought there and used for different purpose such as for instance to burn waste (as it can be seen by the trace of combustion of the insulation material)
Three large cylinders (ca 2 meters diameters) can be seen on the bank of the Syr Daria river.

It is may be exaggerated to say that they are now part of the landscape, or represent any kind of "open air art"'!

Another large bit can be seen closer to habitations in the North/western part of the city.

Credits: Raphael
A closer view shows burning on the external surface.

Credits: Raphael
Usually, drop zones are well defined and known far before launch. Ad-hoc measures are taken to prevent any impact on inhabited areas, keep populations safe, and remove the debris quickly once they fall on the ground (and even sometimes in seas or oceans).
For CryoSat-2 (CS-2), an agreement has been signed with Turkmenistan for the Dniepr first stage drop zone. This debris will swiftly be collected and disposed by a specialised team after launch. The Payload Fairing(PLF) and the Dniepr second stage will fall in the Indian Ocean.
To be complete, the Space Head Module (SHM) will remain in orbit. Due to the launcher design to free the CS-2 spacecraft in space, the SHM will split in 2 parts: Platform A and Platform B together with the Gas Dynamic Shield... adding then 2 space debris to the NASA register.

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Baikonur City 13/03/2010 - 17:59

Sunday 14th March Postcard

Dear All,
Let's have a look at another aspect of Baikonur, "the reverse side of the medal"as the French would literally say. The city used to be rich (and is still relatively rich) but some areas looks completely abandoned with the progressive withdrawal of the Russians. Some of these empty places carries very expressive art and striking messages. That is what I would like to report today on this postcard.

The picture below is taken in the center of Baikonur, less than 200m from the main market place. The building has apparently burned and is left empty. With a spelling mistake, the slogan on the wall (Zemlja Mucur [for Mucor?]) states: "Earth is dirty" or "Earth is a trash can" . How can we disagree?
Effectively, each morning passing along the Kazakh village of Turyatam thousands of plastic bags lay on the ground or fly with the breeze transforming the wild landscape in a dump. Who cares?

Behind this building, there is another amazing graffiti on the wall:
I have no clue what this poor kid breathes or smokes but it/he doesn't look particularly healthy.

Continuing few meter further, there is a long wall inside the city. Many of the wall elements are painted the same way as the Berlin East side gallery.
Many tags make reference to the RAP (REP? in Russian) or Hip Hop, the typical militant music of the socially devastated western suburbs.
REP eto sila is written below, meaning REP is the strength.

Some of them are more figurative expressing may be youth anxiety or self defense

Finally, Batman (or spiderman) appears to be a positive hero here in Baikonur, while the Hippies "Peace and Love" logo presence seems rather anachronistic not to say completely cryptic at this place.

Leaving the place, 2 kids were asking me:
-Pochemu ty cdelali fotografi? (why did you take pictures?)
I just answered them
-...Souvenir!

Baikonur is for sure a complex place, that is why it is so interesting.

From Russia with love.
Kirill B.

PS:
A Kazakh guy (I saw him twice already) carrying rubble from city to Turyatam.
This also shows the "reverse side of the medal", or simply (hard) life as it is here.