Latest news with #SatTrackCamLeiden
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New images of Soviet Venus lander falling to Earth suggest its parachute may be out
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. That soon-to-reenter Cosmos 482 is getting increased attention by satellite trackers – and new imagery provides some interesting details. The former Soviet Union's Cosmos 482 was lofted back in 1972. But that country's attempted Venus probe ran amuck during its rocket-assisted toss to the cloud-veiled world. Payload leftovers were marooned in Earth orbit, specifically the spacecraft's lander module/capsule intended to parachute onto the hellish landscape of Venus. "As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact," reported Marco Langbroek of SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands. "There are many uncertain factors in this though, including that this will be a long shallow reentry trajectory and the age of the object," observes Langbroek, who now pegs the current nominal forecast for its reentry on May 10, plus/minus 2.2 days. Meanwhile, satellite tracker Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands, has snagged a first set of images of only the capsule in Earth orbit. "We see a clear compact ball! This set is already fantastic, I think," he said. Those first set of high resolution images, Vandebergh said, are compared to a Starlink satellite bus in operational orbit. He notes that Cosmos 482 is roughly 80 miles (130 kilometers) closer than the Starlink bus which, according to data, is around 1.3 meters by 2.7 meters. Vandebergh said he is stunned by what he is seeing on collected imagery frames. "Several frames seems to confirm what I thought to see in the 2014 images, [that] there is a compact ball but several frames show a weak elongated structure at one particular side of the ball," Vandebergh added. He has speculated in the past it was possible that this might be the parachute that came out. "It is not impossible that the object is tumbling," Vandebergh notes, "so the chute would be sometimes visible," assuming that it is the chute. He cautioned that more time is needed to better analyze what's showing up in the imagery. That best analysis of the imagery is a work in progress, Vandebergh concluded, so stay tuned!
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A dead Soviet space probe from 1972 is falling back to Earth
In 1972, the Soviet Union launched a pair of space probes destined for Venus. While the USSR's Venera 8 successfully reached its destination, a malfunctioning Soyuz rocket ensured its sibling Kosmos 482 craft never made it past Earth's orbit. The long-dead probe's remains have subsequently circled the planet for over 53 years—but according to a Dutch satellite tracker, its fiery (and uncontrolled) demise is finally on the horizon. Marco Langbroek posted about the impending reentry to his blog SatTrackCam Leiden on April 24. Based on calculation models co-designed by space engineer Dominic Dirkx, Kosmos 482 is due to begin its descent on or around May 10. However, it's difficult to pinpoint where it might happen at the moment, thanks to the sun's ongoing active phase and its influence on atmospheric conditions. That said, Langbroek believes Kosmos 482's orbital inclination of 51.7 degrees means it could reentry between the 52N and 52S latitudes (basically anywhere as far north as the United Kingdom and as far south as New Zealand). It will also achieve a velocity of around 150 miles per hour in the moments before impact. 'With a mass of just under 500 kg [1,102 pounds] and [its] 1-meter size, risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact,' explained Langbroek, although this likely isn't cause for much concern. 'The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero,' Langbroek added. It's also possible that the Soviet space probe debris could burn up during atmospheric reentry, but that's not entirely a given thanks to the probe's original mission goals. 'As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact,' Langbroek said. There's also an (extremely) small chance that Kosmos 482's landing parachute may somehow still deploy during its last moments. 'I wouldn't bet on that working now,' Langbroek cautioned. '[I] would assume that, if it survives reentry, it would come down hard.' The satellite tracker and his colleagues plan to continue gathering data and observations during the final days of Kosmos 482 to better pinpoint a date, time, and region of reentry.
