Soviet Venus Probe Falls After 53 Years

Kosmos 482 was launched by the Soviet Union in 1972 as part of a series of missions aimed at Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system. The spherical lander was wrapped in titanium and weighed more than 1,000 pounds (about 495 kilograms). It was built to survive the extreme heat of a Venusian landing. However, a rocket failure left the spacecraft trapped in Earth's orbit, and most of the vehicle returned to the atmosphere within ten years. The lander itself, about three feet (one metre) across, slowly lost altitude over decades. It became the final piece of the failed mission to fall.

Predicting exactly when and where Kosmos 482 would come down proved difficult. Solar activity, which can heat and expand the upper atmosphere, combined with the spacecraft's worn condition to create great uncertainty in the forecasts. Unlike controlled reentries, in which engineers steer old satellites toward the Pacific Ocean, this descent was completely uncontrolled. Even so, scientists said the chance of anyone being hit by surviving debris was extremely small. As of Saturday morning, the U.S. Space Command had not yet confirmed the spacecraft's final location.