After 53 Years, a Failed Soviet Venus Spacecraft Is Crashing Back to Earth 27
Kosmos 482, a failed Soviet Venus probe, is expected to make an uncontrolled reentry in mid-May after orbiting Earth for 53 years. Gizmodo reports: The lander module from an old Soviet spacecraft is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere during the second week of May, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker based in Leiden, the Netherlands. "As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact," Langbroek wrote in a blog update. "The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero."
Kosmos 482 launched on March 31, 1972 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan. The mission was an attempt by the Soviet space program to reach Venus, but it failed to gain enough velocity to enter a transfer trajectory toward the scorching-hot planet. A malfunction resulted in an engine burn that wasn't sufficient to reach Venus' orbit and left the spacecraft in an elliptical Earth orbit, according to NASA. The spacecraft broke apart into four different pieces, with two of the smaller fragments reentering over Ashburton, New Zealand, two days after launch. Meanwhile, two remaining pieces, believed to be the payload and the detached upper-stage engine unit, entered a higher orbit measuring 130 by 6,089 miles (210 by 9,800 kilometers).
The failed mission consisted of a carrier bus and a lander probe, which together form a spherical pressure vessel weighing more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms). Considering its mass, "risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact," Langbroek wrote. As of now, it's hard to determine exactly when the spacecraft will reenter. Langbroek estimates that the reentry will take place on May 10, but a more precise date will get clearer as the reentry date nears.
Kosmos 482 launched on March 31, 1972 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan. The mission was an attempt by the Soviet space program to reach Venus, but it failed to gain enough velocity to enter a transfer trajectory toward the scorching-hot planet. A malfunction resulted in an engine burn that wasn't sufficient to reach Venus' orbit and left the spacecraft in an elliptical Earth orbit, according to NASA. The spacecraft broke apart into four different pieces, with two of the smaller fragments reentering over Ashburton, New Zealand, two days after launch. Meanwhile, two remaining pieces, believed to be the payload and the detached upper-stage engine unit, entered a higher orbit measuring 130 by 6,089 miles (210 by 9,800 kilometers).
The failed mission consisted of a carrier bus and a lander probe, which together form a spherical pressure vessel weighing more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms). Considering its mass, "risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact," Langbroek wrote. As of now, it's hard to determine exactly when the spacecraft will reenter. Langbroek estimates that the reentry will take place on May 10, but a more precise date will get clearer as the reentry date nears.
Send Putin (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe we could get Musk to take Putin to "Occupy Mars" - killing two birds with one stone. Or both Putin AND Trump - three birds, one stone!
Re:Send Putin (Score:4, Informative)
He stole democracy from his own people, disrupts ours and other Western nation's elections, and invades European democracies but he's a good guy, right?
Re: (Score:2)
Not really;Yeltsin did that, (with out support an encouragement) but he was a drunk who did not really want to be in power so he more or less handed Putin the keys.
Russia was a constitutional republic where when the legislature fails to do what the executive wants the executive has the military shell it.
That Russia was a democracy was a farce before Putin took power. Saying Putin stole democracy is giving him to much credit.
Re: (Score:3)
We're headed for Venus, but still we stand strong (Score:3)
53 years. And it was built to land on Venus, so it is almost certainly going to survive re-entry. There is a ~11/9 chance that it will water in the ocean, and it might survive that, too. Well, as much as a dead probe can survive, anyway. The parachute will probably not open, and most of the ocean is deep enough that the probe might not withstand the pressure.
This is exciting. Maybe they will collect it and display it in a museum? If they can find it. It is practically lost technology: When was the last time a probe was sent to land on Venus?
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AI Overview
The most recent probe to successfully land on Venus was part of the Vega 2 mission in 1985. The Vega 2 lander, along with a lander from Vega 1, successfully landed on Venus's surface on June 15, 1985
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it is almost certainly going to survive re-entry
There is a difference between a controlled re-entry and an uncontrolled. Furthermore, this spacecraft is not completely intact, which could have consequences.
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I agree. The Russians should probably evacuate from Mar Al Lago, just in case.
Re: We're headed for Venus, but still we stand str (Score:2)
Parachute (Score:2)
The parachute will probably not open,
I quickly checked Wikipedia, it's the last of the older design probes that used actual parachutes.
Starting from Verena 9, the probes switched to using a ring-shaped aerobrake which doesn't require deployement, but is heavily optimised toward the insanely dense Venus atmosphere and won't work much in the much thiner Earth atmosphere.
and most of the ocean is deep enough that the probe might not withstand the pressure.
Quick check again: Venus surface pressure (which Verena 8 is designed to withstand) is 92 bars.
That's roughly equivalent of 1km depth in the ocean.
That leaves a significant perce
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The pressure vessel was titanium alloy. That would hold up quite well to an ocean environment. Actually, most materials you'd build a pressure vessel out of could hold up to an ocean environment for a while - maybe long enough to try to find and retrieve it. It'll be awfully tough to locate, though.
Re:We're headed for Venus, but still we stand stro (Score:4)
There is a ~11/9 chance that it will water in the ocean, and it might survive that, too.
Probabilities range from 0 to 1.
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Not in Soviet Russia!
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"As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact,"
Does anyone else suspect it's going to impact on a children's hospital or orphanage in Ukraine?
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There is a ~11/9 chance that it will water in the ocean
I did not know that Russian probes could pee.
Space junk locked up in a Police cell (Score:3, Interesting)
A farmer near Ashburton, New Zealand found one of the fragments - a titanium ball - on his farm in 1972. No one knew what it was, they thought it might be dangerous or even radioactive. Not knowing what to do, the local Police took it away and locked it up in their Police cell.
The New Zealand Government tried to give it back to Russia, but they denied it was theirs. Eventually, the mysterious ball that no one wanted, was given to a local museum, where it still resides.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/... [nzherald.co.nz]
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Those early space exploring Russians and their titanium balls...
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I remember when reports of those space balls were in the news in New Zealand https://www.odt.co.nz/star-new... [odt.co.nz]
More Info (Score:2)
Anybody remember a 6mil$ man episode about this? (Score:2)
I seem to remember there was an episode where a failed launch resulted in a Russian Venus probe running around the deserts of California, and only the Six Million Dollar Man could stop it...