53 years after its launch, this Soviet spacecraft is about to collapse to Earth

The Soviet space program had a lot of hope in the Cosmos 482 mission when it was launched in March 1972. The task included a attacking to Venus. The spacecraft did not get it out of the Earth’s orbit – and now it will return to the house, but not in a good way.

The Lander probe is expected to return on May 10. Do you should be worried?

“Since the probe is designed to bear the entry to the atmosphere of Venus, it is possible that the probe (or parts of it) survive from re -entering the ground and reaching the surface,” NASA said.

Also known as Kosmos 482, the Lander probe weighing more than 1000 pounds at all and stored with tools designed to study the hell of the second planet of the sun.

The task struck an approximate patch after reaching the Earth’s orbit and separation into four pieces, two quickly faded from the orbit. The Lander probe and the engine unit in the upper stage went to a higher orbit. NASA said: “The holidays are believed to burn an engine that did not achieve enough speed to transport the flower and leave the load in this elliptical Earth orbit,” NASA said.

The Lander probe was on a long and slow -to -ground road for decades, and the time for reunification here is almost. The potential re -entry window extends from 7 to 13 May. We have no time or accurate location. Cosmos 482 will have an unlikely subject to control, so it will be difficult to predict its path.

Water covers about 71 % of the surface of the Earth, so any 482 pieces survive the re -entry into the fiery atmosphere has a good opportunity to land in the ocean. However, there is a possibility that the debris will end on the ground.

This is not a reason for panic. Science teacher Marco Langberquick Cosmos 482 follows and publishes Re -entering expectations On his blog. “The risks involved are not especially high, but not zero,” said the risks are similar to those that affect the meteorite.

The launch of 1972 may seem like our ancient history now. At that time, Richard Nixon was president, the last photo show was great in cinemas, and everything in the family was a great success on the TV, and she did not even want to know how cheap house ($ 27,400). but Spacecraft The satellites continue to rise. In late April, Amazon launched 27 satellites As part of the Project Kuper, which will provide wide satellite and compete with Starlink from Elon Musk. However, Kuiper satellites are designed The atmosphere of the earth was burned After their duties are over.

So, continue and watch the Cosmos 482 trip, but do not reserve an underground warehouse because of this.