Part of Soviet-era spacecraft to crash to Earth this weekend
10 May 2025, 09:31 | Updated: 10 May 2025, 17:53
Part of a Soviet spacecraft that took off for Venus more than 50 years ago is expected to crash back down to Earth this weekend, but experts are still unsure of where it will land.
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Kosmos 482 launched on a Soyuz rocket a few days after the Venera 8 atmospheric probe in 1972.
It was intended to reach Venus, but it became stranded in Earth’s orbit after a premature engine cutoff during its launch phase and broke into four pieces.
Now part of the spacecraft is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere between May 8 and 11 - after 53 years in space.
While de-orbited satellites normally burn up in the planet’s atmosphere, Kosmos 482 was designed to survive the extreme conditions of Venus’s dense and hot atmosphere.
Kosmos 482 has now landed back on earth but it is unclear if any debris survived its descent from orbit.
Where will it re-enter?
The orbital inclination of 52 degrees means the craft could re-enter anywhere between 52°N and 52°S latitude.
This re-entry zone covers basically most of the world, excluding far northern areas such as northern Canada and Scandinavia, and far southern regions such as Antarctica.
However, statistical models suggest most debris from uncontrolled re-entries falls into oceans or sparsely populated regions.
Estimates to work out the location and timing of the exact re-entry are to improve as it approaches.
Probability that the re-entry will be over water is high.
Will it be visible during re-entry?
In the extremely rare chance that re-entry occurs over your region, the object should resemble a very bright and slow meteor, probably showing some fragmentation.
No official statements have been issued by Russian authorities regarding Kosmos 482’s re-entry.
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