Soviet Venus Probe Crashes Back After 53 Years
A Soviet-era spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 plunged back to Earth on Saturday, ending more than half a century of unintended orbit around the planet. The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) network confirmed the uncontrolled reentry after analysing radar data and observing that the craft no longer appeared on its expected orbits. The space debris office of the European Space Agency (ESA) reported that the spacecraft had reentered after failing to pass over a German radar station as scheduled. Officials said it was not immediately clear where Kosmos 482 came down, or how much of the half-ton vehicle survived the fiery descent through the atmosphere.
Kosmos 482 was launched by the Soviet Union in 1972 as part of an ambitious series of missions aimed at Venus, the solar system's hottest planet. The spherical lander, encased in titanium and weighing more than 1,000 pounds (about 495 kilograms) , was engineered to withstand the extreme heat of a Venusian landing. However, a rocket malfunction stranded the spacecraft in orbit around Earth, and most of the vehicle returned to the atmosphere within a decade. The lander itself, roughly three feet (one metre) across, proved more resilient: gradually losing altitude over decades, it became the final piece of the failed mission to fall. Scientists noted that its rugged construction made it more likely than typical debris to survive reentry, drawing extra attention from both government and private space trackers.
Pinpointing 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 deteriorated condition to introduce significant uncertainty into the forecasts. Unlike controlled reentries, in which flight controllers steer dying satellites toward the Pacific Ocean or other vast bodies of water, this descent was entirely uncontrolled. Even so, scientists stressed that the chances of anyone being struck by surviving debris were extremely small. As of Saturday morning, the U.S. Space Command— which routinely monitors dozens of reentries each month— had yet to confirm the spacecraft's final whereabouts as it continued to analyse orbital data.