Istra High Voltage Research Center

Istra Research Center
Near Istra, Istrinsky District, Moscow Oblast in Russia
Coordinates 55°55′26.15″N 36°49′10.97″E / 55.9239306°N 36.8197139°E / 55.9239306; 36.8197139
Type Energy Weapon testing, mixed use
Site information
Operator Soviet Union
Status Mostly Inactive
Site history
In use 1970s – 1991

The Istra High Voltage Research Center, (HVRC) also dubbed The High Voltage Marx and Tesla Generators Research Facility, was a Soviet operated testing facility built in the 1970s outside the town of Istra, 40 kilometers west of Moscow and operated by the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

Description

The facility is notable for containing what is believed to be the world's largest Marx generator which was originally created to help test lightning insulation in military aircraft. The facility has several massive Tesla Coils on the facility grounds, some of which range over 20 stories in height. Combined these create what the Soviets nicknamed a "lightning machine."[1]

In all the facility contains a 3 Megawatt capacity transformer cascade, a 9 Megawatt Pulsed Voltage Generator (PVG), measuring 39.3 meters high, capable of creating 150-meter artificial lightning and a 2.25 Megawatt constant voltage unit.[2]

History

Originally built sometime in the 1970s the facility was at first used for a mix of military and scientific testing being maintained by the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

At one point the facility housed a massive ovular dome named Allure. The building was used as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons testing facility and stationary simulator before it was demolished in January 1985 after the buildings roof collapsed due to the weight of excessive snowfall. This resulted in the construction supervisor on the dome project being terminated from his job and replaced with Communist Party member Boris Yeltsin, who later would serve as the first President of the Russian Federation.[3]

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the facility became mostly inactive. Only being used on occasion for private-sector testing. Including being used to test the lightning strike resistance of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in 2011.[4]

The Marx generator is rarely turned on today with the last recorded incident of it being used occurring in August 2014.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Electrifying: Giant futuristic 'Tesla Tower' in abandoned woods near Moscow (PHOTOS, VIDEO)". RT International. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  2. ↑ "The Soviet Lightning Machine Abandoned in a Russian Forest". Atlas Obscura. 2014-07-10. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  3. ↑ "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  4. ↑ "DailyTech - Pictured: Drone Survives Flyover of Russia's Largest Artificial Lightning Generator". www.dailytech.com. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  5. ↑ "Abandoned Marx Generator". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
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