Kosmos 482 has been trapped in the Earth’s orbit for 53 years, but its wandering journey is ending. The unsuccessful Venus mission is expected to resume through the atmosphere in a dramatic decline towards the planet of his home, where it can retain or spread its bits at an unknown location on both sides of the axon.
The Soviet-era’s spacecraft will sink for some time from 8 to 12 May through the Earth’s atmosphere. So far, the exact location of Cosmos 482 will crash on Earth is still unknown, with an initial estimate that is spread over large parts of the world on either side of the equator. It is also not clear whether the spacecraft will remain in a piece or if it is separated during reventer, the debris bits will rain.
Kosmos 482 Kazakhstan is aware of Baikonur Cosmodrome Spaceport on 31 March 1972. The mission was an attempt to reach Venus by the Soviet Space Program, but it failed to achieve enough velocity to enter a transfer trajectory towards the scorching hot planet. An engine was burnt as a result of a malfunction that was not enough to reach the orbit of Venus, according to it NASASince then, the spacecraft has been trapped in an elliptical orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft entered a higher orbit measuring 130 from 6,089 miles (210 9,800 km).
Astrophotographer Ralf Vandebergh recently captured images of Kosmos 482 in space before its approximate lineage, and appeared as parachutes deployed from spacecraft. “Nothing is certain at this point,” Wandeberg told Gizmodo in an email. “In 2014 I had the first sign of this in my images, but I did not think seriously about this possibility. But when I processed the 2024 images taken after 10 years and saw the same thing, I felt that I needed to report this possibility.”
#Cosmos482 Pay attention to parachute probability. Although still speculation as mentioned earlier, technically images are correct. There are no tracking issues, there are scope issues and I do not expect a similar atmosphere effect in 10 years separated images, if it will happen. pic.twitter.com/dicmzqny0z
– Ralph Wandeberg (@ralfvandebergh) May 6, 2025
Even if the exposed parachute of the spacecraft hangs in space, it is unlikely that it will still do its work to slow down the descent towards the Earth of Cosmos.
After failing to reach Venus, the spacecraft broke into four separate pieces, of which two small pieces resumed on Ashburton, New Zealand, two days after its launch. The remaining two pieces are a carrier bus and a lander probe, which simultaneously form a spherical pressure vessel weighing more than 1,000 pounds (495 kg).
Today, it is difficult to determine that the remaining parts of the heat resistant spacecraft will re -establish the Earth’s atmosphere. Its current orbit indicates that it should be anywhere between 52 degrees north and 52 degrees south, according to tracker marco language, a satellite tracker located in Leden, Netherlands. It barely reduces the United States, South America, Africa and most of the Arctic circles in the South and Asia South in the region. The landing zone of the spacecraft will become more pronounced as it reaches its domed reverentry.
Another question is how much it will survive the heat of atmospheric reverentry. “As it is a lander designed to be passed through the Venus environment, it is possible that it will remain intact through the Earth’s atmosphere, and remain intact.” wrote In a blog update.
Langbroek suggests a speed of effect of about 150 mph (242 kilometers per hour). If the lander does not separate or does not burn during large -scale reverentry. According to Langbroke, the kinetic energy in effect is similar to a piece of meteorite 15– to 21-inch-lumb (40-saint).
Since our planet is mostly made up of water, the spacecraft will probably end under the floor of an ocean. The possibility of affecting an inhabited area, however, is not zero, so it especially produces some forms of risk because its re -date and location remains uncertain.
