The Unstable Ground of the Russian Space Program

Peter Zine: In Russia, you've got that mushy, marshy top over what is ultimately permafrost somewhere between five and 30 feet under the surface. He says it's very difficult to build artificial infrastructure on this spongy ground. So they have to wait for everything to freeze solid in the depths of the Siberian winter before digging berms across them. Peter Zine: We should all kind of pencil in that materials coming out of former Soviet space just aren't going to be there for the foreseeable future.