On a level with the UK's "Beagle" effort.
Come to think of it, the Soviet Union and Blighty also both managed to seriously blow out nuclear reactors.
More in common than one would at first think.
A crowdsourcing effort by Russian space enthusiasts appears to have found the remains of the first probe to successfully land on Mars, using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The Mars 3 mission, consisting of a satellite and landing vehicle, was sent to the Red Planet by the then-Soviet Union in 1971 and …
I think Windscale was actually considerably smaller than Chernobyl, Fukushima or Kyshtym. Depends how you rate the severity.
As far as I know there were no direct fatalities unlike SL-1 meltdown and there have been at least two nuclear stuff related fatalities at Los-Alamos (both in the US) so it's more on par with 3-mile (also US).
So no, the radioactive woopsy club is not an exclusive Anglo-Russo monopoly.
Boffin icon because you must wear goggles, the goggles will save you.
I remember a TV program about this the other year. The lead scientist was quite rightly pissed off because his political masters had allowed the accident to be blamed on the scientists, when in reality they were being told to advance their experiments too quickly. (We had to keep up in the atom bomb race.)
His description of the politicians has always stuck in my mind: "shower of bastards."
Atom-bomb logo for obvious reasons.
That was found on the MOON, not Mars.
I believe the US Airforce explained it as a simple navigation error on the way back from bombing Hamburg - Should have gone to SpecSavers????
Re the Russian lander - any sign of tracks left by the Martian Tripods yet?? We all know they are the reason all the earlier probes failed so mysteriously.
Cydonia was pareidolia at it's finest, they've had high resolution scans of that region for some time now, nothing but rocks after all! There is however a smiley face in Galle Crater!
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/craters/PIA01676.html
The NASA or Wikipedia page has some good comparison images of the Cydonia Mesa:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mgs_cydonia.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_%28region_of_Mars%29
Unfortunately searching for "Cydonia" on Google very quickly leads you into the weirder parts of the internet where Richard Hoagland is king.
Clearly depicts millions of Grasshopper like beings culling each other!
That's why there are none left now, after seeing where their new invader had crashed in from; the thought of becoming part of a culture that had to queue three days for a loaf of bread made them self destruct.
I would love for this to happen.
XKCD 695 put a lump in my throat.
One day we will have a museum on Mars, chronicling our efforts to explore it.
School children will be in awe of the antiquated technology.
'Why didn't they simply use fusion drive rockets?' they will inquire of Alfred the venerable tour guide.