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Old 05-20-2022, 05:40 PM
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Winston2021 Winston2021 is offline
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Default Kosmos 482: questions around a failed Venera lander from 1972 still orbiting Earth

Odds are it'll end up in water, but it would be cool if it didn't and landed in safe area on land. It's an interesting enough piece of space history debris that there might be some interest in finding it if its reentry is observed by the dash and security cameras of Earthlings or one of the meteor tracking networks.

Kosmos 482: questions around a failed Venera lander from 1972 still orbiting Earth (but not for long) - May 16, 2022

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4384/1

Fifty years ago, on March 31, 1972, just days after the launch of Venera 8, the Soviet Union made an attempt to launch yet another Venera probe. While it was meant to fly to Venus, something went wrong and it got stuck in Earth orbit instead. It subsequently was post-designated Kosmos 482 by the Soviets. Half a century later, one object associated to this launch is still on orbit, but it won’t be for long anymore. This object is 1972-023E, the Kosmos 482 Descent Craft, ostensibly the landing module of the Venera in its approximately one-meter protective shell.

The identity and real size of this object have recently been put to discussion, with some arguing it is not just the lander but includes a substantially larger part of the original Venera bus. I will present evidence, both observational and modelled, that this object is in fact the landing module only, not a substantially larger part of Venera hardware. I model it to reenter some three to four years from now, around 2025–2026. Being designed to pass through the atmosphere of Venus, it will likely survive its reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.


[big snip]

The reentry of the Kosmos 482 Descent Craft will not be your standard reentry. The Descent Craft was designed to survive entry through the dense atmosphere of Venus. It will therefore likely survive reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere intact and make a crash landing (it is extremely unlikely that the parachute system will still work after more than 50 years in space). This will therefore be a high-interest reentry.
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Old 05-20-2022, 05:57 PM
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Winston2021 Winston2021 is offline
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The other day I sat next to a woman who has a profound fear of flying. I wanted to comfort her, so I said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna' crash. Statistically, we got a better chance of being bitten by a shark." Then I showed her the scar on my elbow from a shark attack. I said, "I got this when my plane went down off of Florida." - Dennis Regan
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