What you see in the pictures here is one of the most powerful generators of high voltage electrical impulses built during the Soviet era. This installation, which is actually an implementation of the so-called Marx Generator, is capable of generating 6 megavolt pulses and creating electrical discharges up to 200 meters long. Built in the 1970s, this generator is designed for testing insulation strength, aircraft lightning protection, and research into electromagnetic pulse-based weapon systems. But after the collapse of the USSR, the facility was abandoned and left to rust in the open air for a long time.
Video and description under the cut, let's see …
The generator is capable of generating high voltage pulses with a duration of about 100 microseconds. But during these microseconds, the instantaneous power of the pulse exceeds the total power of all Russian power plants, including nuclear ones.
Now the high-voltage pulse generator is at the disposal of the High Voltage Research Center of the All-Russian Electrotechnical Institute named after V. I. Lenin (FGUP VEI). And in recent years, the researchers of the center have made extremely rare inclusions of the installation, which is explained by the rather high cost of energy required to generate a high-voltage pulse. On the site of VNITs VEI it is called "A universal complex for testing and researching equipment for resistance to pulsed electromagnetic fields of natural and artificial origin."
Judging by the information posted on the official website of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise VEI, anyone who is able to pay for the electricity spent on this and who needs to carry out tests of aircraft, vehicles and industrial equipment confirmed by the relevant certificates can use the capabilities of the high-voltage pulse generator. In addition, the management of FSUE VEI expects that the proof of the generator's performance will attract the attention of potential customers who will be able to finance the reconstruction and further modernization of this incredible installation.
Promotional video:
That was the thing:
And there is such a ring:
There is a small hangar inside the ring, with some kind of cunning installation. One wall of the hangar is glass, and many antennas emerge from it, forming a huge sail:
This is how this thing looks inside:
And this is how it was …
The incident, which will be discussed today, became part of the history of Istra back in 1985. It was then that an incident occurred that changed the entire city - at least its appearance. We managed to talk with a person who witnessed the events of almost 30 years ago, when on January 25, a grandiose structure in the form of a dome with a diameter of 234 meters and a height of 112.3 meters disappeared forever from the Istra landscape. The giant dome, according to the recollections of many, attracted the eyes day and night, was the favorite brainchild of the flagship of Istra science VNITs VEI, as well as the pride and hope of the entire defense industry. This is evidenced by the yellowed pages of scientific and popular magazines of that time. Although everything related to the dome is still shrouded in mystery, it is only known that it was intended for experiments in the field of high-voltage tests. After,how an ambitious project failed in the literal sense of the word, besides the official conclusion, there were many versions and rumors. Today, years later, a person, in front of whom the described events took place, shared his memories with Istra. RF. This is what our interlocutor, at that time an ordinary employee of VEI, said. - January 25. Morning. It's dark as night. I go to work.
Heavy wet snow is falling - it was this detail of the story that formed the basis for one of the subsequent versions of the collapse of the dome. But that distant morning began for our heroine as usual - an early train, a deserted checkpoint. - At 7.30 I cross the checkpoint, and suddenly there is a terrible roar. Then they wrote that it fell quietly, but I still remember how it happened. It was scary. At the checkpoint everyone froze: I and the watchman. I somehow reached the main building, and our elevator girl, Lyubov Mikhailovna, who came before everyone else, was lying on the floor, grabbed the battery, covered her head and shouted: "Father, what is it, the war has probably begun!"
At first we did not understand at all what the matter was. Then the bosses began to gather, the director came. When dawn broke, we went to the window, and the dome could be seen from the windows of VEI, everyone was simply stunned: this giant of iron folded inward like a rag. The iron sagged in folds like a huge amount of cloth. Of course, the most frightened at first was that there might be employees. They thought that people had died. But it turned out that they did not have time to come to the object. Thank God there was no one inside. There was only equipment that tore the foundation pit inside the dome … It was a tragedy for everyone. And for those who worked there, and for those who were not related to this dome. We had real mourning. Even in the dining room, everyone stood in line that day and ate with stone faces. Subsequently, there was a commission that investigated the reasons, but for us mere mortalsnothing was said about it.
There was a lot of talk among people, they were inclined to believe that the reason was heavy snowfall. Several decades have passed since then, our interlocutor has not worked at VEI for a long time, but the events of that day engraved in my memory for life. Although this story was overgrown with rumors, as it turned out, most of them have no basis: no one died during the fall - there was no guard or watchman inside. And the only victim can be considered one of the construction designers who arrived at the site of the collapse, who really had a heart attack.