Soviet spacecraft expected to crash land on Earth in just days. Here's what to know
A piece of Soviet-era space debris is expected to crash land down to Earth this weekend.
The Russian Kosmos 482 spacecraft launched in 1972 could come plunging down some time between Friday and Sunday, according to NASA – but exactly when and where is currently a mystery.
As of Tuesday, the lander probe could strike between 52 degrees north latitude and 52 degrees south latitude, including all of Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, most of Europe and Asia, and the continental U.S. Experts say people shouldn't be 'too worried,' but that they cannot exclude the chance of the spacecraft actually hitting someone or something.
"There's a not-trivial chance that it could hit somewhere where it damages property, and there's a small chance — but it's like one in thousands — that it could hurt someone,' Dr. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian, told NPR.
A more accurate location and timeline should be known over the coming days, but NASA said the uncertainty 'will be fairly significant right up to reentry.'
For now, here's what to know.
It can take the heat
'Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it's possible the probe (or parts of it) will survive reentry at Earth and reach the surface,' the space agency warned.
Although Venus isn't the closest planet to the sun, it is the hottest. The average surface temperature of the planet is a blistering 870 degrees Fahrenheit. Comparatively, when the future Orion spacecraft comes back from the moon, it will experience temperatures around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it screams back into Earth's atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour. The extreme temperatures are why most falling debris burn up upon re-entry.
It was once larger
Hundreds of objects enter Earth's atmosphere every year. At least three old satellites or rocket bodies come down every day. Most objects that don't burn up and disintegrate fall into the ocean, which covers 70 percent of Earth's surface. It is rare for this debris to cause damage, but it does happen. With an increasing number of satellites in low-Earth orbit, the situation has become more precarious.
Over time, the atmospheric drag slowly lowers the orbit of space debris like Kosmos 482. The Venus probe failed to escape low-Earth orbit after its launch in 1972. Instead, the spherical, 1,000-pound object broke into four pieces after its rocket malfunctioned. Two of them decayed, and the lander probe — which has a parachute that may be visible right now — and another piece went higher.
'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 said.
Scientists are still working to study Venus
The 1972 launch came toward the end of the space race. The Soviet Union had been launching Kosmos spacecraft ten years before Kosmos 482. Kosmos 482 was a sister probe to the successful Venera . Since then, dozens of other missions have been launched to explore Venus.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Mosquito colony feeds on blood from scientist's arm
Dr Véronique Paris has a hands-on approach to her research — she lets hundreds of mosquitoes bite her arm in order to feed and maintain her mosquito lab. Paris helps research mosquito-borne diseases. 'We have people working on mosquitoes here that don't feed their own colonies, there will always be volunteers around that can do that, so no one has to feed mosquitos if they don't want to and that's totally fine," Paris says
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The horrifying truth about why you should NEVER use your phone on the toilet
Taking your phone to the toilet may keep you entertained while you do your business. But this common habit can turn your device into a haven for dangerous microorganisms, a scientist warns. Dr Primrose Freestone, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says fecal bacteria can easily reach your phone in the bathroom. This includes E. coli, which can result in nasty diarrhea and stomach cramps, and Pseudomonas, which causes infections in the blood and lungs. Even after you've washed your hands with soap, these bugs can travel back to your hands once you touch your phone again. As a result, phones should be kept out of the toilet altogether, and regularly sanitized with alcohol wipes. 'The phone will at some point get contaminated, so periodically disinfecting your phone is a good idea,' she told MailOnline. 'My Nokia gets a disinfectant wipe over twice a week.' When we flush a toilet, a plume of tiny liquid droplets containing bacteria and fecal matter, invisible to the naked eye, is violently ejected. According to prior research at the University of Colorado Boulder, this so-called 'toilet plume' can travel 5 feet (1.5 metres) in eight seconds. Therefore, anything that is within five feet of the toilet bowl can become contaminated, whether it's the floor, the wall or a nearby book. Research also suggests that this dreaded plume still escapes when we've got the toilet lid closed. As a result, Professor Freestone urges people to keep their phone well away from the toilet, or even better, out of the bathroom entirely. 'Toilet areas adjacent to toilets, because of the toilet spray trajectory, are pretty contaminated,' she told MailOnline. 'It does not matter where you go, there will be faecal bacteria on lots of [bathroom] surfaces. 'So soaps and taps, toilet and wash basin surfaces, door handles, bath mats – the list is long.' If you're holding your phone while you empty you bowels, putting it on the floor before flushing is one of the worst things you can do. That's because fecal matter whizzes out of the toilet upon flushing and eventually settles onto the floor. 'The floor around the toilet will – if not disinfected regularly – have traces of faeces with lots gut bacteria, which will stay alive for hours and days,' said Professor Freestone. 'So I would not put your phone on the floor next to the toilet as it is likely to pick up the faeces and the bacteria associated with the waste product.' Even if you put your phone on another nearby surface, such as the cistern or the nearby windowsill, it could risk contamination too. Professor Freestone acknowledges it can be hard to be separated from your phone, even for the relatively short time it takes to use the toilet. In extreme instances – such as not wanting to miss a very important phone call, for example – she suggests keeping it in your pocket for the whole time. Even though we may not appreciate it, phones are high-touch items particularly at risk of bacterial contamination just like doorknobs, light switches and taps. Therefore, we should be washing our hands much more often before or after touching them, while also keeping them sanitized, she added. Using a 70 per cent alcohol wipe or a mild soap and water mixture are good options, but don't submerge it if it's not waterproof, or use harsh chemicals like bleach. The specialist in home hygiene and food safety has also weighed in on the best way to position your toilet paper. In the 'over' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the user, while in the 'under' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the wall. Aerosol droplets containing urine, faeces and vomit stay in the air for up to 20 seconds Tiny droplets carrying traces of urine, faeces, vomit and viruses float into the air at mouth-level after a toilet is flushed, a 2021 study warned. It showed that tens of thousands of particles are spewed into the air by a flush and can rise several feet above the ground. Droplets were spotted floating around five feet (1.5m) in the air for more than 20 seconds, with researchers pointing out this poses a risk of inhalation. Small droplets and aerosols are so light they can float around in the air on tiny draughts, before settling on a surface. Researchers say that they can also act as vectors for diseases. SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid, for example, has been found alive in human faeces. Therefore, scientists warn that flush-propelled particles from an infected person's faeces could float into the air, be sucked in by a passer-by, and infect them.
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Unsung indigenous women behind moon landing celebrated in art
More than a thousand unsung women whose circuits helped man land on the moon have inspired two Kent artists to celebrate the historic moment of work is based on the female Navajo weavers who were employed for their perceived dexterity to make microchips in New Mexico in the sixties, which were used by NASA in the Apollo Guidance Landing is by weaver Margo Selby and composer Helen Caddick is a 16m (52ft) handwoven textile suspended from The Trinity Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral, accompanied by an original score for six tapestry is described as a celebration of the crossover of mathematical patterns, tone and rhythm found in weaving and music and will remain in the chapel until 31 August. Ms Caddick said she was inspired by a weaving tool to compose music about space said: "I had gone to see Margo weave and I noticed that she used a shuttle to move the thread along and that made me start to think about space."She added that when she had saw documentaries or films about the space shuttle, she noticed there was an "indicator light flashing in the cabin"."So so I took the rhythm of that to mirror in the harp part," she turn, Ms Selby translated the musician's work into textile art. The textile artist said: "With these incredible carvings and shapes, to see my contemporary work hanging alongside them is truly thrilling." Some 1,200 indigenous people - mostly women - were employed to work at a Fairchild Semiconductor factory in Shiprock, New Mexico, from 1965, during the United States' race to the moon. The manufacturer was tasked with building complicated microchips for NASA's Apollo Guidance Computer, which was integral to space missions. A contemporary brochure from Fairchild compared the intricate work creating elaborate microchips to weaving the Navajo population's traditional tapestries. However, these women who contributed to the space race were largely overlooked in their time. The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral David Monteith said the chapel was excited to celebrate the work of art. "In life sometimes things can become a bit grey scale but this is such an assault of colour that it gladdens the heart and that's such a gift," he said.
