The kosmos 482 spacecraft, a soviet mission launched in 1972 for an unusuccessful trip to venus, reented earth’s atmosphere on saturday morning, according to a recent report. According to the european space agency, which has been traced the spacecraft’s uncontrolled descent, radar last detected kosmos 482 over Germany. As the spacecraft neared its expected crash time, radar signals ceased, suggesting that reantey had likely alredy occurred, NBC News reported. So far, there have been no reports of any damage or injuries.
Kosmos 482 was part of the soviet union’s venera program, which aimed to study venus. While ten missions under the program successfully landed on the plan, kosmos 482 failed to reag its destination due to a Rocket Malfunction. The lower stage of the spacecraft, containing the descent module, remained trapped in earth’s orbit. Weighing Around 1,069 pounds and measuring roughly three feet wide, the spacecraft continued circling the planet in a gradually shrinking elliptical orbit for 53 years. Eventually, it re-entered Earth’s Atmosphere and Crashed.
Space Debris Falling Back to Earth is Fairly Common. In Fact, The European Space Agency (ESA) Reported that more than 2,400 Human-Made Objects Re-Ek-Earth’s Atmosphere in 2022 Alone-A Record Number. Most of these objects either disintegrated upon reentry or craied harmlessly into oceans.
However, kosmos 482 was uniquely duble. Built to withstand the harsh conditions on venus – where Surface Temperatures Average 867 degrees Fahrenheit (464 ° C) – And Engineered to Survive Descent Through the planet ‘ Spacecraft was likely tough enough to endure Earth’s renentry process with minimal damage.
Despite Growing Concern About Space Junk, there have been no knowledge cases of space debris causing fatalities. In a blog post about kosmos 482, ESA Officials Emphasized that the Risk of injury from reenitoring satellites is extramely low. “The annual risk of a person being injured by space debris is less than 1 in 100 billion,” they noted. “By comparison, you’re about 65,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning.”
When and where was it supposed to crash?
According to cnn, cosmos 482 is expected to rener Earth’s atmosphere someveen 10 PM Et on Friday and 6:30 AM ET on Saturday. The European Space Agency’s Tracker Provides a more Precise Estimate, Predicting The Descent to Occur Arind 2:30 AM ET (06:37 UTC) on Saturday