A spacecraft from the USSR era, which had to reach Venus in the 1970s, will collapse uncontrolled on Earth in the coming days. What the experts say
The land, seen from the international space station. Photo: NASA Photo / Alamy / Profimedia
Kosmos 482 weighs 500 kilograms and orbits the Earth for decades, after failing in its mission due to a missile failure, writes The Guardian.
A spatial ship in the Soviet era, which had to land on Venus in the 1970s, is going to plunge uncontrollably on Earth soon, say specialists.
According to experts in pursuit of spatial waste, it is too early to know where it could land the metal of half a ton or how much of it will survive the reintegration into the atmosphere.
The Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek foreshadows that the failed spacecraft will return to the atmosphere around May 10. He estimates that it will collapse at a speed of 242 km/h, if it will remain intact.
“Although (the situation) is not without risks, we should not be too worried,” said Langbroek, quoted by The Guardian.
The object is relatively small and, even if it does not break, “the risk is similar to that of falling by chance, which happens several times every year. The risk of being hit by a lightning bolt is higher,” he said.
The chance that the spacecraft truly hit someone or something is small, he added, “but it cannot be completely excluded.”
A mission on Venus
The Soviet Union launched the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 in 1972, as part of a series of missions to study the planet Venus.
But this has never been able to get out of the Earth's orbit because of a missile failure.
Mostly disintegrated within a decade. But Langbroek and others believe that the landing capsule itself – a spherical object with a diameter of about one meter – has spinned around the Earth on a very elliptical orbit over the last 53 years, gradually decreasing.
It is very possible that the spacecraft of almost 500 kilograms will survive the reintegration into the atmosphere.
It was built to withstand a descent through the dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide of the planet Venus, Langbroek from the Delft Technology University of the Netherlands said.
Where will the ship fall? It is hard to anticipate
Experts doubt that the parachuting system would work after so many years. Also, the thermal shield could be compromised after all the orbit.
Specialists have estimated that it would be better if the thermal shield gives up, which would make the spacecraft burn during its re -entering in the atmosphere. But if the thermal shield resists, “it will meet intact and we will have a half-toned metal object that will fall from heaven,” said Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian center for astrophysics.
The place where the spacecraft will fall is hard to anticipate.
But because most of the planet is made up of water, “there are great chances to reach an ocean,” Langbroek said.
Other similar incidents have recently taken place.
In 2022, a Chinese Booster rocket returned uncontrolled to Earth, and in 2018, the Tiangg-1 space station returned to the Earth's atmosphere above the South Pacific.
