Kosmos 482: 1,000-pound Soviet Venus probe could crash to earth after 53 years
The lander module from the Kosmos 482 mission is expected to crash back to earth in May.
Half a century after its launch, Kosmos 482 — the doomed Soviet Venus probe that that never made it beyond Earth orbit — is making headlines again.
The super tough venus lander is making an uncontrolled reentry to the earth in the coming weeks, sparking concerns as scientists do not where it may fall. Designed to survive the brutal conditions of Venus’s atmosphere, parts of the probe could endure the plunge through Earth’s atmosphere and strike the surface.
Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker based in Netherlands, said the lander module from the Kosmos 482 mission could come down in the second week of May.
“Because this lander was built to withstand Venus’s harsh atmosphere, there’s a real chance it could survive reentry intact,” Langbroek noted in a recent blog update. He added that while the overall risk to people is low, it is not zero.
Doomed launch, lingering threat
Launched on March 31, 1972, the mission attempted to deliver a lander to Venus. However, the spacecraft failed to escape Earth’s orbit due to a premature shutdown of its Blok L upper stage, attributed to an incorrectly set timer. Consequently, it was designated as “Kosmos 482,” a common practice for Soviet missions that remained in Earth orbit.
The spacecraft split into four pieces after launch, with two smaller fragments reentering the atmosphere and falling over Ashburton, New Zealand, just two days later. The descent module, weighing approximately 1,091 pound has been orbiting Earth since the mission’s failure.
Considering its mass, “risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact,” Langbroek wrote.