After 53 years, the failed Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth

The 53 -year -old Venus probe, who failed to escape from the low -Earth orbit, is expected to re -enter in the coming weeks. Parts of the spacecraft represented by steadfastness are designed, as they can escape landing and breakdown on Earth.

The Lander unit of an ancient Soviet spacecraft is expected to restore the Earth’s atmosphere during the second week of May, according to Marco Langbrok, a satellite follower in Leiden, the Netherlands. “Since this is the landing that was designed to survive through the atmosphere to update. “The risks concerned are not particularly high, but not zero.”

Kosmos 482 was launched on March 31, 1972 from Baikonur Cosmodrom Space in Kazakhstan. The task was an attempt by the Soviet space program to reach Venus, but it failed to get enough speed to enter the transport path towards the burning planet. A malfunction of the burning of an engine was not sufficient to reach the orpse of Venus and left the spacecraft in an eloquent Earth orbit, according to Nassa. The spacecraft separated into four different pieces, as it restores smaller shrapnel to Ashboreton, New Zealand, after two days of launch. Meanwhile, two remaining pieces, believed to be the load and the unit of the separate upper phase, entered a top orbit of 130 in 6,089 miles (210 in 9800 km).

The failed task consisted of a pregnant bus and a cradle, which together forms a spherical pressure bowl weighing more than 1000 pounds (495 kilograms). Looking at its bloc, “the risks are similar to those in the influence of the meteorite”, Langberwick wrote.

As of now, it is difficult to determine the exact date of the spacecraft. Langbroek estimates that the re -entry will take place on May 10, but it will become a more clear history with the approach of the re -entry approach. It is difficult to set a precise date because the sun, now in its active phase, is heating and expanding the atmosphere of the Earth; It creates more clouds in the atmosphere on orbits, which leads to the re -insertion soon.

It is also difficult to determine where the spacecraft remains on Earth, as this depends on the time of re -air and separates. In general, the chances of the spacecraft wreckage that lands in a low -inhabited area, with a greater possibility of falling into a distant part of the ocean. However, unspecified re -entry operations constitute a small risk that should not be ignored or ignored.