Unsolved mystery of Soviet intelligence

54
In the deaf forests of Latvia, not far from the place where the multicolored waters of the Baltic and the Gulf of Riga meet, there is a unique man-made object, which during the times of the USSR was completely classified and was absent on any maps. And for good reason ...

Unsolved mystery of Soviet intelligence


1. We must pay tribute to the skill of Soviet intelligence. More than 20 years have passed since the asterisk object (aka Ventspils-8, aka HF51429, aka 649, a separate space radio intelligence station) was transferred to Latvia, and its purpose is still different legends, sometimes - contradictory.



2. The main - and the most secret - part of the object were three radars - with reflectors with a diameter of 12, 16 and 32 meters, respectively. This equipment allowed us to search for objects in space to remove radio and electronic information from them, as well as to listen to telephone calls and radio communications of potential opponents. All data flowed to the Center - the headquarters of the GRU. The literature on this object most often mentions the overhearing of the US State Department and the NATO submarine base in Norway, but surely this is not complete information, and perhaps even a desa, launched to divert talk from the true capabilities of this technology.
Be that as it may, the part functioned successfully from the beginning of the seventies to the beginning of the nineties. There was a protected perimeter around the technical zone, a military town with kindergartens, a school, etc. was located nearby. More than 2000 people lived in the garrison - the military and their families, technical specialists, GRU and KGB officers.



3. After the withdrawal of the Soviet contingent from having gained the sovereignty of Latvia, the military town quickly turned into a ghost town. Marauders plundered everything - not only metal pipes and railings, but even window frames. However, the locals dismantled the abandoned military camps in our Transbaikalia more thoroughly - brick by brick, on concrete slabs ... but we will not be distracted from the topic.



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5. In the abandoned pyatietazhkah - signs (or ghosts?) Once prosperous Soviet life. When we flew into space, we went in order, in a single impulse we rejoiced at the little, and pasted the wallpaper on the fresh newspapers that wrote about it.



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8. The town and the antennas were connected by an underground tunnel - now the entrance to it is walled up, but more recently any curious tourist could get into it.

And here he is, the very "Saturn". 47 height meters. Mirror 32 meter. Weight over 600 tons. At the time of construction - the largest radar of this type in Europe. And now - the eighth in the world. Perhaps among all the post-Soviet expansion, its existence in time and space can be characterized as prosperous.



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14. Judge for yourself.

Leaving, our military took with them the smallest 8 meter radar, and thoroughly ruined the rest of the equipment. Cement was poured into mechanisms, nails were hammered into wiring, large cables were cut with axes. Acid was poured into all electronic devices. As a result, the Letts received a pile of very impressive in appearance, but completely dead iron. Hot national sentiment almost led to the disruption of telescopes, but in the end it was decided to transfer them to the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

Honestly, for many it looked like a mockery. What can scientific do with a pile of scrap metal? But the Latvian scientists managed with the help of improvised tools, Soviet books (they all studied in some Soviet universities!) And such and such mothers partially restore the functionality of the radars. So the Soviet "Saturn" in the "citizen" became the Latvian radio telescope RT-32, and the secret Soviet object "Zvezdochka" turned into the Ventspils International Center for Radio Astronomy (aka VIRAC). And the telescope soon began to really work — for example, 16 in February, 2013, spotted and tracked the passage of the asteroid D14.



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18. Until recently, guided tours were conducted inside the telescope. But with the acceleration of the radar reconstruction (for example, a fully restored reflector was replaced at the 2 a month ago), and the replacement of the Soviet legacy with modern American and European equipment, all excursions are temporarily stopped.



19. VIRAC director Valdis Avotins answered evasively when asked when they would resume. According to him, the reconstruction of the RT-32 is planned to be completed in April of the 2016 year, after which the telescope will become part of a large scientific project, having entered the pan-European radio astronomy network EVN. That is, the excursions will probably be conducted, but most likely now you can only look at the telescope from the outside.



20. After the completion of the reconstruction, Latvian scientists expect to learn more about the cosmos - galaxies, comets, asteroids, closer to the mystery of the origin of life.



It is possible that the RT-32 will have new dual-purpose tasks. But from a scientific point of view, it is in any case better than destruction and oblivion.
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54 comments
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  1. +9
    13 September 2015 06: 21
    Grandiose constructions. But I can’t say anything about the appointment. It seems like something like that was shown on Channel 1 in the Mysteries of Forgotten Victories. It seems somewhere in the Sary-Shagan area. But it was said that it was a radio telescope.
    1. +6
      13 September 2015 10: 55
      Latvian scientists managed with the help of improvised tools, Soviet books (everyone studied at the same Soviet universities!) and such and such a mother to partially restore the functionality of the radars. So the Soviet "Saturn" in the "citizen" became the Latvian RT-32 radio telescope, and the secret Soviet object "Zvezdochka" turned into the Ventspils International Center for Radio Astronomy (aka VIRAC). And the telescope soon began to actually work - for example, on February 16, 2013, it spotted and tracked the passage of the asteroid D14.


      It is much better than oblivion and death from rust. Let them enjoy it. Space exploration is an international affair.
      1. +30
        13 September 2015 13: 45
        Maybe you're right ... But for some reason I feel sorry that the warriors regretted half a ton of dynamite.
      2. 0
        16 September 2015 20: 39
        something tells me that now he will listen to our talks ...
    2. +1
      13 September 2015 17: 12
      In the Zelenchuk Observatory there is such a mirror, a little higher from the RATAN-600 along the gorge, but the mechanism is different.
  2. +7
    13 September 2015 07: 21
    You can be stunned, this is a colossus, I would love to go on an excursion.
    1. +7
      13 September 2015 10: 36
      If you just look, the RT-64 radio telescope in Kalyazin is more interesting.
  3. +37
    13 September 2015 07: 49
    It’s a pity, ours didn’t blow up, now they will restore and will work against us.
    1. +18
      13 September 2015 08: 58
      But from a scientific point of view, it is in any case better than destruction and oblivion.

      And from a military point of view, poorly destroyed.
      1. +1
        13 September 2015 19: 40
        It’s a pity they didn’t blow up, say ... so there was a locator (Daryal or Dnipro) nearby in Skrunda, too, by the way, the military didn’t blow up, but the local "managers" corrected it and blew it up with such fanfare ... oh, what can I say ...
      2. 0
        13 September 2015 19: 40
        It’s a pity they didn’t blow up, say ... so there was a locator (Daryal or Dnipro) nearby in Skrunda, too, by the way, the military didn’t blow up, but the local "managers" corrected it and blew it up with such fanfare ... oh, what can I say ...
  4. +6
    13 September 2015 08: 14
    Latvian scientists are synonymous with "British scientists".
    1. +14
      13 September 2015 14: 23
      Do not smack nonsense! Yes, all serious scientists come from Scoop and have almost died out, but there are still. In our RTU there was a teacher. Always a little crumpled walked in an old Soviet suit. He died in 2007. He taught microcircuitry - Siemens wanted to buy his microcircuit for unrealistic loot. And he gave everything to the department. 3 years the department ate money.
  5. gcn
    +48
    13 September 2015 08: 22
    If the Soviet Union showed more to its citizens what they really achieved without clogging it with propaganda, everyone would be bored, maybe people would not look with envy at the neighbor in new jeans, etc.
  6. +9
    13 September 2015 08: 30
    Military unit 51429-system "Zvezda" OSNAZ GRU. We had more modest - "LIRI" - laboratories for the study of radio emissions. Everything was for the defense of the Motherland!
  7. 0
    13 September 2015 08: 51
    After the reconstruction is completed, Latvian scientists expect to learn more about space - galaxies, comets, asteroids, to approach the secret of the origin of life.... are there also scientists? Not everyone fell to the West ..?
    1. +3
      13 September 2015 14: 25
      And why do you think that here is different than in Russia? In Russia, everything is dumped? Here, even stupid parasites from science live well on grants. Only now the base is dead - yes, after it, west to it.
    2. 0
      15 September 2015 22: 10
      Quote: parusnik
      Latvian scientists expect to learn more about space - galaxies

      Wikipedia help them. laughing
  8. +2
    13 September 2015 08: 59
    uizik SU Today, 08:30
    (H / W 51429) 649 OTD. SPACE RADIO EMISSION RELEASE (VENTSPILS)
    ..from here.http: //sdelanounas.ru/blogs/20056/
  9. +3
    13 September 2015 09: 03
    And why the monkey Cosmos?
  10. +5
    13 September 2015 09: 08
    If you look at these photos, you don’t particularly believe that there is European and American equipment there. Everything is rusted. Well, and in what hands this installation will fall is not difficult to guess
    1. 0
      15 September 2015 22: 11
      Quote: APASUS
      not particularly believe that there is a European and American equipment. Everything is rusted

      This is camouflage like that.
  11. +25
    13 September 2015 09: 24
    It’s a pity they didn’t blow it up. You can’t leave anything to the enemy.
    1. +8
      13 September 2015 13: 07
      grigorii
      It’s a pity they didn’t blow it up. You can’t leave anything to the enemy.

      ..to blow up and now it’s not too late ... but whether this is necessary or not ... the question, of course, is interesting!
      Remember the object in Shkolnoye, Crimea ... the former southern control center of the orbital group (let's call it the way it was during the Soviet era) ... Didn't blow up ... handed it over to the Ukrainian "space explorers" ... and ruins ... But not quite ... They did not have time to completely destroy. Now it is being restored ... and this is easier than building a new one ...
      So it will be with "Zvezdochka" in Latvia ... we will restore it! We will continue to study ... how it ... oh yes ... radio emission from space!
      1. 0
        15 September 2015 22: 15
        Quote: KazaK Bo
        Remember the object in Shkolny, Crimea

        I remember an object in Jusaly, south of Baikonur.
        Only there will be larger plates, and a larger number.
        It is good that the Kazakhs got brothers, not civilized homoeuropeans.
  12. +6
    13 September 2015 12: 03
    Yes, once (with children) they dreamed about stars, other worlds, and my daughter already did not have Astronomy at school ...
  13. 0
    13 September 2015 12: 09
    Somewhere in the orbit of the earth, the death star unfinished by the Americans should be hidden :))))))))))))))))
  14. +2
    13 September 2015 12: 23
    Quote: igordok
    And from a military point of view, poorly destroyed.

    Not so weakly - they left in 1991 - they will restore only in 2016 - they could not restore 25 years ...
    1. +4
      13 September 2015 12: 56
      In 1941 our troops left Hanko. It was not possible to take out the TM-3-12 and TM-1-180 transporters. And they had to be destroyed with improvised means. In terms of complexity, they were not much inferior to these antenna devices. So the Finns restored these batteries in a year. Electronics is another matter. There is nothing to compare. Who is interested in the details there is a book on the Internet; Bragin "guns on rails." learn about railway artillery. By the way, one transporter of this battery is in Moscow on Poklonnaya Gora.
    2. +2
      13 September 2015 12: 59
      They didn’t restore until the USA started a war here. But they didn’t completely destroy it, perhaps hoping for a return?
  15. +3
    13 September 2015 12: 59
    I agree with gcn, civilians did not know the power of the USSR, they thought that only TVs measured development.
  16. 0
    13 September 2015 13: 09
    Not only did they go into a "new" life without debts, they also grabbed everything, taught them for free, again --- where would they not be dependent without Russia? Then now they play scarecrows, having received everything for free. The collection of money should be for which they were ransomed. Not on the topic, but close. I learned (now) about abandoned military camps in Transbaikalia. There were old stories about the fact that in Siberia, in the Far East, on abandoned large buildings, on abandoned towns, to pieces of roads. We thought --- had something to do with the prisoners. Those people who told their parents --- are gone.
    Many THANKS! I liked the article.
  17. 0
    13 September 2015 13: 23
    As for life --- other stars and galaxies --- listen not in the radio, but in the TORSION waves, but in the RADIO it is more useful to listen to VENERA, MARS and JUPITER --- I think so.
  18. 0
    13 September 2015 13: 51
    So in the USSR, one of the first to use cellular communications in ambulance. Moreover, the phones were very good, in lightness and range ahead of their foreign counterparts. Here is an article on the development of cell phones.
    ***
    Kupriyanovich did not stop there: in 1958 he introduced a device weighing 500 g, in 1961 the world saw a device weighing only 70 g. Its radius of operation was 80 km. Work was carried out at the Voronezh Scientific Research Institute of Communications (VNIIS).
    The development of Kupriyanovich was adopted by the Bulgarians. As a result, at the Moscow exhibition "Inforga-65" there was a Bulgarian mobile communication kit: a base station with 12 numbers and a telephone. The dimensions of the phone roughly corresponded to the handset. *** http://kak-eto-sdelano.ru/istoriya-sotovogo-telefona/
    1. +2
      14 September 2015 12: 38
      nothing that is still NOT !!! apparatus weighing in 70gram and range 80 km belay belay fool !!!
      For some reason, instead of such a light and long-range ( wink feel ) used "Altai" (brick by weight and volume) with a short range.
  19. +2
    13 September 2015 14: 10
    "But with the acceleration of the pace of the reconstruction of the radar (for example, 2 months ago they put in place a fully restored reflector), and the replacement of the Soviet legacy with modern American and European equipment, all excursions are temporarily suspended."
    How America will help Latvia to study comets and asteroids. Soon all excursions will be covered up, the Americans will sit on constant duty and it will finally become clear to everyone what secrets they will get.
    PS One hope. The GRU is not that office that would just be picked up and left. They knew that they would restore, which means that someone needs it.
    1. +2
      13 September 2015 14: 27
      "Bugs" in the foundation?
      1. 0
        13 September 2015 14: 53
        Quote: IrbenWolf
        "Bugs" in the foundation?

        In modern conditions, the foundation itself can be a big "bug".
        That's about the construction of the US Embassy in Moscow.
        “We talked about devices equipped with“ eternal ”batteries, which were constantly recharged due to the“ breathing ”of the house itself - the movement of water vapor in the plaster.

        The pinnacle of all was considered the very structure of the building - the "eight-story microphone". It was announced that the radiation of the corresponding frequency directed at it is modulated (changed) by some special structural elements that are capable of capturing sound vibrations that occur during a conversation. Thus, the radiation reflected from the building in a modified form carries with it information about what was said inside. It was suspected that the radiation receivers were located in the church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzic, standing across the road. In the conversations of American experts, she often figured as "the temple of the Virgin on telemetry."
        1. 0
          13 September 2015 15: 20
          Well, I, as it were, hinted at it.
      2. +2
        13 September 2015 14: 59
        Quote: IrbenWolf
        "Bugs" in the foundation?



        Yes ! Nibble concrete and iron reinforcement laughing
      3. -1
        13 September 2015 16: 49
        Quote: IrbenWolf
        "Bugs" in the foundation?

        Such "bugs" are usually in the minds of "urya-patriots"! hi
        1. 0
          13 September 2015 22: 27
          Quote: Bayonet
          Such "bugs" are usually in the minds of "urya-patriots"!

          Here, already started to work laughing
  20. 0
    13 September 2015 14: 53
    Quote: IrbenWolf
    "Bugs" in the foundation?

    Bugs on all Christmas trees, in all bird's nests, hollows, in all burrows and anthills !!! I really hope and wish that Our intelligence could find out everything that Russia needs!
    In another article, one disorder, as the CIA overheard ours, in the XNUMXth century.
  21. +1
    13 September 2015 15: 59
    The structure referred to in the article is one of the elements of the P400 long-range space communication system and it was not and does not represent anything particularly mysterious. More details on the website https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/П-400. Therefore, making sensations on "dummies" is not an awful greyhound
    1. 0
      13 September 2015 16: 54
      Quote: gregor6549
      The construction in question in the article is one of the elements of the P400 long-range space communications system and it was not and is not particularly mysterious.

      This is understandable to the horse! smile But how mysteriously described, and eavesdropping on the enemy's telephone conversations is generally a masterpiece and a balm for the souls of "ur-patriots" trembling with pride! hi
  22. 0
    13 September 2015 19: 49
    Sad ... Technique in the hands of a savage.
  23. +3
    13 September 2015 22: 20
    They were surprised! Take a trip to Baikonur - enough for the rest of your life.
  24. 0
    13 September 2015 22: 32
    Quote: KRIG55
    They were surprised! Take a trip to Baikonur - enough for the rest of your life.

    Or on Sary-Shagan
  25. -1
    13 September 2015 22: 35
    sorry, sorry for the savages ..
  26. -1
    14 September 2015 08: 11
    in nature, savages cannot even paint
  27. -1
    14 September 2015 14: 22
    It’s bad that they didn’t. Sramers are probably hanging around there right now.
  28. 0
    15 September 2015 14: 59
    -This is what needs to be done to classify something like that ... It sticks out of the woods - you can see the blind! smile
  29. 0
    15 September 2015 21: 46
    let the Balts protect technology. it will come in handy when we get back.
  30. 0
    15 September 2015 22: 26
    near the village of Kromy, Oryol Oblast, there is something similar.
  31. Wad
    0
    13 December 2016 09: 41
    As the Japanese would say, this is the 17th century. These are the receiving antennas of the GHz range 50 years ago. So this is just an antenna, and ten more five-story buildings were attached to it and 1000 soldiers. And now all this fits in your pocket.

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