Latest news with #Cosmos482
Saba Yemen
11-05-2025
- Science
- Saba Yemen
Old Soviet probe threatens to crash to Earth after being spotted over Germany
Berlin - Saba: The European Space Agency's radar systems detected an old Soviet space probe known as "Cosmos 482" flying over Germany, ahead of its expected crash to Earth at the end of this week. According to the German news agency (dpa), the Soviet Union launched the probe in 1972, bound for Venus, but it never reached its destination. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Mint
11-05-2025
- Science
- Mint
Russian spacecraft crashes back to Earth after 50 years; experts warn, ‘Don't mess with it'
Cosmos 482, an old Soviet spacecraft, likely fell from the sky early Saturday morning, according to the European Space Agency. The space object, also known as Kosmos 482, was sent toward Venus more than 50 years ago to study its environment, but it failed and instead remained trapped in Earth orbit for decades. Cosmos 482 is believed to be a capsule launched by the Soviet Union in March 1972 that failed en route to a transfer orbit that would have taken it to Venus to study its environment. In the decades since its launch, the cylinder-shaped craft of about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, circled Earth aimlessly as it was slowly dragged back toward home. Also Read | Should you panic? Old Soviet spacecraft to fall back to Earth after 50 years According to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, the probe entered the dense layers of the atmosphere around 12 PM India time (2:24 a.m. ET) on Saturday, May 11, splashing down in the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia. The ESA, which was monitoring the falling space junk, also said on its website that radars in Germany did not spot the vehicle around 1 PM IST (3:32 a.m. ET), indicating 'it is most likely that the reentry has already occurred.' Did it burst into flames? Space traffic experts were concerned about Cosmo 483's uncontrolled re-entry to the Earth since it was no longer capable of manoeuvring. However, because of its strong heat shield, it likely did not burn up completely when it reentered Earth's atmosphere. This makes it different from most space junk, which usually breaks apart and burns before hitting the ground. 'This object was designed to survive reentering Venus, so there's fair odds that it'll survive coming back (to Earth) in one piece,' Marlon Sorge, a space debris expert with The Aerospace Corporation, told CNN. 'That actually makes the risk less … because it would stay intact.' Also Read | SpaceX loses contact with Starship 8, viral videos show scattered debris What to do if you spot debris? Marlon Sorge said that if Cosmos 482 had landed on dry ground, onlookers would have been advised to keep their distance. The aged spacecraft could leak dangerous fuels or pose other risks to people and property. 'Contact the authorities,' Sorge urged. 'Please don't mess with it.'
The Herald Scotland
11-05-2025
- Science
- The Herald Scotland
Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth. Crashes into Indian Ocean
The European Space Agency is monitoring Cosmos 482's uncontrolled descent. The spacecraft was last spotted on radar over Germany between 12:30 a.m. ET and 2:04 a.m. ET. "We have not received so far any reports on visual direct observations of the final re-entry, or on any impacts on ground," the ESA said. Skywatching: May 2025 full moon is a flower moon and micromoon. Here's when to see it. The EU Space Surveillance and Tracking agency said, "Object Cosmos-482 Descent Craft decayed within the last estimated re-entry window." Scientists had not been concerned about Cosmos 482's return to Earth causing a danger risk to humans because of the craft's small size - about 3 feet in diameter and around 1,190 pounds, reported. The space news site reported that Virtual Telescope Project astronomer Gianluca Masi posted an image of the spacecraft as it passed over Rome early May 10. The probe was "visible as a trail entering the field of view from the top and pointing to the bottom right corner," Masi wrote on his website. What happened to Cosmos 482? Cosmos 482, also known as Kosmos 482, was one of a pair of identical Venus atmospheric lander probes launched by the Soviet Union in 1972. The other spacecraft, Venera 8, arrived at Venus and made scientific measurements of the planet's soil before ceasing operation. According to NASA, Cosmos 482 suffered an apparent launch malfunction and failed to achieve the velocity needed to reach Venus' atmosphere. Cosmos 482 separated into four pieces, two of which remained in Earth's low orbit and decayed within 48 hours, and the other two pieces went into a higher orbit. Contributing: Greta Cross, Eric Lagatta and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
India Today
11-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Soviet-era Cosmos-482 crashes over Indian Ocean after half a century in space
A Soviet spacecraft launched more than half a century ago has finally returned to Earth, ending a decades-long odyssey with a dramatic but harmless plunge into the Indian probe, known as Kosmos 482 or Cosmos 482, re-entered Earth's atmosphere in the early hours of Saturday, coming down about 560 kilometers west of India's Middle Andaman Island, according to Russia's space agency in March 1972, Kosmos 482 was originally intended to land on Venus as part of the Soviet Union's ambitious Venera program. However, a malfunction during launch left the nearly 500-kilogram spacecraft stranded in an elliptical Earth orbit, where it remained for 53 years, slowly losing altitude due to atmospheric drag. The probe's return to Earth had been closely monitored by multiple space agencies, including the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union's Space Surveillance and Tracking ESA confirmed the reentry after the spacecraft failed to appear over a German radar station, signaling that it had already descended into the 482 was designed to survive the extreme conditions of Venus, featuring a robust titanium shell. This led scientists to predict that parts of the spacecraft might survive reentry and reach the ocean's surface nearly no damage or injuries have been reported, and there are no confirmed sightings of debris on emphasise that the risk to people on the ground from such uncontrolled reentries remains extremely low. The Aerospace Corporation estimated the odds of a person being harmed by Kosmos 482 at less than one in a million, well within international safety international space law, any remains of the spacecraft would legally remain the property of uneventful conclusion of Kosmos 482's journey highlights both the enduring legacy of early space exploration and the growing importance of monitoring aging space debris as human activity in orbit increases.
Sky News
10-05-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Half-tonne piece of Soviet rocket may have crashed through atmosphere over south of England
A car-sized piece of Soviet rocket has crashed back through the atmosphere, after 53 years in orbit. Scientists haven't yet pinpointed its location but one organisation has predicted it had re-entered over southern England early on Saturday morning. It is not immediately known how much of the rocket survived the blazing hot descent, with scientists suggesting it had burned up or broken up at the last minute, sometime between around 7am and 8.30am. Cosmos 482 launched in 1972 and been set to land on Venus but it became trapped in orbit after a stage of the mission failed. Scientists tracking the lander as it finally began to fall to Earth believe it decayed as it re-entered the atmosphere. EU Space Surveillance and Tracking posted on X saying it "decayed within the last estimated re-entry window". The European Space Agency said the craft didn't appear on radars in Wachtberg, Germany, suggesting "reentry occurred [...] between 06:04 UTC and 07:32 UTC". However, the six major space organisations tracking the re-entry have placed it anywhere from over the Atlantic to Germany and even Australia, with astronomer Dr Marco Langbroek mapping their predictions. He says EU Space Surveillance and Tracking has calculated it crashed through the atmosphere above the south of England. Cosmos 482 lifted off from the USSR's spaceport in what is now Kazakhstan during the Soviet era. The upper stage of the rocket, which was responsible for powering it out of orbit, failed. "The upper stage didn't work right and it left just the probe in orbit around the Earth," said Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell. Parts of the rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in the 1980s but one chunk remained in orbit, which was thought to be debris left from the spacecraft. 2:05 "Years later, I went and looked at the data and went, 'This debris [...] stayed up a lot longer than the other stuff. It seems to be denser. It's not behaving like debris," said Mr McDowell. "I realised that it was the Venus entry capsule from Cosmos 482, which has got a heat shield on it [strong enough] to survive the crushing force of Venus's atmosphere." 0:28 Mr McDowell. said it weighed about "half a tonne" and was "about three feet across". "As it smashes into the atmosphere, going at this enormous speed, the energy gets converted into heat [and] you get this fireball." If it hit the Earth, Mr McDowell said Cosmos 482 would be "going only a couple of hundred miles an hour". "But it's still a half-tonne thing falling out of the sky at a couple of hundred miles an hour. That's going to hurt if it hits you," he said. 2:44
