50-year-old Soviet probe to Venus expected to crash back to Earth soon
Soviet space probe venera 4 being prepared for it's flight to venus in 1967. (Photo by: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A piece of a Soviet probe, meant to explore Venus, is expected to crash back to Earth soon.
What they're saying:
According to Marco Langbroek, an amateur satellite watcher and blogger, the Cosmos 482 could reenter Earth around May 10, although he says it's impossible to predict when and where yet.
The reentry can occur anywhere between latitude 52 North and 52 South. According to the Smithsonian, that encompasses a large area as far north as England to as far south as the Falkland Islands off Argentina’s coast.
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"There are many uncertain factors in this though, including that this will be a long shallow reentry trajectory and the age of the object," Langroek wrote.
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"The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero: with a mass of just under 500 kg and 1-meter size, risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact," he added.
The backstory:
According to Langbroek, the object is the lander module from a 1972 failed Soviet Venera mission.
According to Space.com, the probe was meant for Venus but ran into issues during its rocket-assisted toss. Many elements burned up or fell back to earth.
The launch came after the successful launch of Venera 8 to Venus.
The Source: The information in this story comes from Marco Langbroek, an amateur satellite tracker and blogger who has been monitoring the expected reentry of the Soviet-era Cosmos 482 probe, as well as reporting from Space.com on the probe's mission history and technical issues. Additional geographic context about the potential reentry zone was provided by the Smithsonian. This story was reported from Los Angeles.