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Cosmic mystery! Soviet ship crashes to Earth after more than half a century, location still unknown
2025-05-10 19:04:32 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
A Soviet-era spacecraft, launched more than half a century ago to the planet Venus, has returned to Earth in an uncontrolled manner, but it remains unclear exactly where it fell.
The spacecraft, known as Kosmos 482, was launched in 1972 as part of the Soviet program to explore Venus, but a fault in the launch vehicle left it stranded in Earth orbit.
Since then, the space object has remained in orbit, until it finally re-entered the atmosphere in the early hours of Friday morning.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU Space Agency confirmed that the spacecraft's return occurred at around 6:24 a.m. London time, over the Indian Ocean near the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. However, the exact location of its debris remains unknown.
According to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, Kosmos 482 lost contact with radar and no longer appeared at ground stations, signaling the end of a mission that never reached its destination.
The re-entry of the spacecraft was monitored by many space agencies and space debris trackers around the world, who warned that the object may have a higher chance of surviving re-entry due to its robust construction. This added to concerns, as the spacecraft was out of control and unmanageable by its operators.
With a spherical shape, a diameter of one meter and a weight of over 495 kg, this last remaining part of the Kosmos 482 satellite was expected to fall at a speed of about 240 km/h, according to estimates by Dutch expert Marco Langbroek. Its parachutes were not expected to work and its batteries had been dead for years.
Other parts of the ship have disintegrated and fallen over the previous decades, but this last remnant stayed in orbit the longest, mysteriously ending its journey on Earth.
According to international treaties of the United Nations, any surviving remains belong to the Russian Federation, as the successor to the Soviet Union.
This is another reminder that space debris is a real and ongoing problem for Earth, as abandoned objects in orbit continue to fall unpredictably decades after their launch.
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