Rocket Wastelands in Kazakhstan: Scientific Authoritarianism and the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Kopack, Robert

doi:10.1080/24694452.2018.1507817

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Dubuisson (2020) argues that environmental protection discourse is a responsibility discourse, and 'any conceptualisation of "land and environmental protection" is a multiply discursive perspective in which different models of responsibility are invoked' (p. 10). However, as the SU does not exist anymore, any attempts to blame it lose their value, especially, when considering that modern Kazakhstan continues to pursue similar approaches to nature (Kopack, 2019). Unsurprisingly, with regards to climate change we have not observed any explicit blame allocation (similar arguments can be seen in Poberezhskaya & Danilova, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Kazakhstan’s climate change policy: reflecting national strength, green economy aspirations and international agenda

Poberezhskaya

Bychkova

2021

Post-Communist Economies

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This article looks at how Kazakhstan's heavy dependence on fossil fuels and its political context shape national discourse on climate change. Based on extensive analysis of the country's strategic documents and expert interviews, we argue that although Kazakhstan's economy relies on fossil fuels, the government is keen to promote sustainable development to attract international investments and advance its image as a 'strong state' for the domestic audience, and as a progressive and reliable partner for the international audience. Whilst there is little evidence of 'post-colonial' rhetoric appearing in Kazakhstan's official climate change discourse, the state's past is evident in its instrumental approach to environmental issues which in turn translates into inconsistencies in its climate change policy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Kazakhstan’s climate change policy: reflecting national strength, green economy aspirations and international agenda

Poberezhskaya

Bychkova

2021

Post-Communist Economies

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“…Ecological damage from toxic precipitation over the past fifty years (out of thirty known fall zones) reaches 3,000 square kilometers and covers part of the Karaganda, Pavlodar, Akmola, and East Kazakhstan regions (Baikonur Agreement, 2005). Due to over 2,000 total launches and estimates, more than 27,000 square miles of land was described by international observers as "areas of environmental crisis or "zones of environmental disaster" (UNDP, 2004, 51) (Kopack, 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of an Accidental Carrier Rocket Crash on Soil and Vegetation Cover

Maikanov¹,

Auteleyeva²,

Zhubatov³

et al. 2022

J. Ecol. Eng.

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The dynamics of the consequences of the Proton-M carrier rocket crash on the soil and vegetation cover in the area where its parts fell were studied in 2007-2014. Analytical methods such as liquid chromatography with electrochemical and spectrophotometric detection were used. In 2007, four soil detoxifications were performed. A second study in 2009 showed a sharp increase in the area of contamination of plants by UDMH (unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) and NDMA (N-Nitrosodimethylamine). In 2010, the situation shifted in the opposite direction. Toxicants in plants were absent for three years (2010-2012) but reappeared in 2013 and 2014. The accidental crash of the Proton-M carrier rocket led to the destruction of the soil and vegetation cover, ignition of vegetation, and soil contamination. In the area where the rocket parts fell, the UDMH content in the soil was 1.4-5,200 times higher than the threshold limit value. The fall of the carrier rocket increased the area of soil contamination with UDMH to 3,600 m 2 , with NDMA to 917 m 2 , and with nitrate ions to 8,314 m 2 . The reappearance of heptyl and nitrous compounds in plants and soil was detected four years after repeated detoxification of the soil.

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“…In the coming decades, far more people are likely to experience novel forms of place making in digital outer space than on the elite space flights imagined by wealthy space exploration entrepreneurs. Recent work by political geographers demonstrates that desires for material investments in space exploration produce contested environmental geopolitics involving toxic geographies of rocket launch sites and falling debris in vulnerable environments and communities (Klinger, 2019; Kopack, 2019). The colonial logics and desires in the scientific and political cultures of space exploration merit sustained critical attention (see Cosgrove, 1994; Dittmer, 2007; Messeri, 2016).…”

Section: Feminist Digital Geographies and Digital Naturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonscalability and generating digital outer space natures inNo Man’s Sky

Tait

Nelson

2021

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

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This article examines the generation of digital outer space natures in the space exploration game, No Man’s Sky. Using procedural generation, No Man’s Sky offers nearly infinite planets, flora, and fauna on the fly. With the rapid development of gaming technology and tools, game developers and others are attempting to diversify the representation of various forms of nature in gaming content and to expand the use of games in behavioral change, education, conservation, and other fields. Many scholars argue that games offer promising ways for various publics to understand their place and their interconnectedness with microbes, ecosystems, planet Earth, and beyond. We examine how No Man’s Sky struggled to coproduce digital outer space natures at the two scalar extremes of the vast expanse of outer space and of the embodied player relating within complex biomes. Our results from an in-depth, qualitative analysis of the initial version of the game, of player world-building experiences in No Man’s Sky, and of subsequent developer modifications to the game demonstrate that nonscalability theory is useful for studying what digital outer space natures do in games. We also argue that nonscalability theory would benefit from a more robust engagement with the digital. No Man’s Sky was initially scalable to such an extreme that it made players into objects without an origin story, broader purpose or way to build meaningful relations in the game. For a brief period, this game undermined players’ interplanetary colonial imaginaries. Subsequent updates to the game introduced a limited scope of nonscalability, but only to the extent of satisfying gamers’ desires to become more impactful agents of exploration. We see great potential for analyzing the role of innovations in computing and game design in linking multiscalar digital, outer, and earth spaces, which as other scholars have shown, bear significantly on our understanding of multiple worlds and natures.

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Rocket Wastelands in Kazakhstan: Scientific Authoritarianism and the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

Kazakhstan’s climate change policy: reflecting national strength, green economy aspirations and international agenda

Kazakhstan’s climate change policy: reflecting national strength, green economy aspirations and international agenda

The Effect of an Accidental Carrier Rocket Crash on Soil and Vegetation Cover

Nonscalability and generating digital outer space natures inNo Man’s Sky

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