Pieces of a Soviet-era spacecraft, stranded in Earth orbit after a failed launch to Venus 53 years ago, are heading back into the atmosphere this week.
Cosmos 482 lifted off on March 31, 1972, onboard a Soviet Soyuz SL-6/A-2-e launcher four days after its twin, Venera 8, for a joint study of Venus.
“After achieving an Earth parking orbit, the spacecraft made an apparent attempt to launch into a Venus transfer trajectory,” notes NASA’s Space Science Data Archive. “Cosmos 482 separated into four pieces, two of which remained in low Earth orbit and decayed within 48 hr., and two pieces—presumably the lander probe and detached upper-stage engine unit—went into a higher 210 x 9,800-km [230 x 6,089-mi.] orbit.
“It is thought that a malfunction resulted in an engine burn which did not achieve sufficient velocity for the Venus transfer and left the payload in this elliptical Earth orbit,” NASA adds.
The orbit of the lander section has been decaying, and it is now expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere around May 10.
Because the spacecraft was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it is possible it will survive reentry at Earth and reach the surface. The landing location could currently be anywhere between 52 degrees north latitude and 52 degrees south latitude. “The time and location of atmospheric reentry should be known more accurately over the next few days, but the uncertainty will be fairly significant right up to reentry,” NASA says.
The Cosmos 482 spacecraft included a carrier bus and lander probe with a total launch mass of 2,610 lb. The lander was a battery-powered insulated spherical pressure vessel weighing 1,091 lb. with a top shell that would be jettisoned on atmospheric entry to deploy a 27-ft.2 parachute.
Instrumentation onboard included temperature, pressure and density sensors, as well as an accelerometer, radio altimeter, anemometer, gamma-ray spectrometer, gas analyzer, visible photometers and radio transmitters.
The Soviets reached Venus, on their 12th try, with Venera 4 in June 1967. Seventeen more Soviet missions followed until 1984, when Russian exploration of Venus ended.
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