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’Rocket falls’ have no impact on Siberian environment

About 2,500 tons of space junk, part of which has already been removed

GORNO-ALTAISK, Republic of Altai, June 23 (Itar-Tass) — Participants in a scientific seminar held in the Chemal village, the Republic of Altai, believe that the falls of used stages of carrier rockets in the Siberia have no significant impact on the local environment and will have no unfavorable consequences for the health of local people.

The seminar was devoted specially to environmental safety in Siberian regions where fragments of worked out rockets launched from Baikonur have been falling down for more than 40 years, the press service of the Altai reserve whose employees attended the seminar told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

There for rocket fall areas in Altai. About 2,500 tons of space junk, part of which has already been removed, has accumulated in the republic over these years.

Experts of the Center of operation of facilities of ground space infrastructure, the Institute of Water and Environmental Problems of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Moscow State University named after Lomonosov and the Altai regional Institute of Ecology presented their findings on ecological monitoring of environment in the rocket fall areas and distribution of fragments of separating parts of rocket carriers in the Republic of Altai.

Employees of the Institute of Ecology of Plants and Animals of the Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences shared experience in using biological indicators for environmental monitoring in the fall areas while experts from the Department of Natural Resources of the Tomsk region reported how they explained the significance of space activities to the Altai population.

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