Frankfurt, Germany — A Soviet spacecraft from 1972, initially launched on a mission to study Venus, is believed to have re-entered Earth’s atmosphere early Saturday morning. The European Space Agency reported tracking the craft, known as Kosmos 482, until it disappeared from radar over Germany. Authorities determined that the spacecraft likely re-entered the atmosphere before it could be captured by radar once more.
No injuries or damages have been reported as a result of the re-entry. Kosmos 482 was part of the U.S.S.R.’s Venera program, designed to explore the inhospitable environment of Venus. While many Venera missions successfully landed on the planet, Kosmos 482 encountered a malfunction, leaving its upper stage in orbit around Earth instead.
Over the past 53 years, the roughly three-foot-wide, 1,069-pound spacecraft has continued to circle the globe, gradually descending into an ever-tightening elliptical orbit. Finally, it entered the atmosphere, a fate common for numerous pieces of space debris.
In 2022 alone, more than 2,400 artificial objects fell from space, marking a record year for such incidents, according to the ESA. The majority of these items disintegrated upon re-entry, and most of those that survived landed in oceans. Kosmos 482 was engineered to endure descent through Venus’s intense atmosphere and operate on its surface, where temperatures can reach 867 degrees Fahrenheit. This design potentially allowed it to withstand a much easier return through Earth’s atmosphere.
It is important to note that incidents involving space debris causing human injuries are exceedingly rare. ESA officials noted in a blog post that the probability of injury from a satellite re-entry is extremely low, estimated at less than 1 in 100 billion. In comparison, individuals are approximately 65,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning.
On Friday, the U.S. Space Force projected that Kosmos 482 would re-enter the atmosphere at approximately 1:52 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, specifically over the Pacific Ocean, west of Guam. The controlled tracking and monitoring of such events reflect ongoing efforts to study space debris and its implications for both space exploration and terrestrial safety.
As technology advances and more rockets are launched, the presence of space debris remains a topic of concern among scientists and researchers. The successful tracking of Kosmos 482’s re-entry highlights the need for ongoing vigilance in monitoring such remnants of past space exploration.