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 Ocean.The 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 Roscosmos.advertisementLaunched 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 network.The ESA confirmed the reentry after the spacecraft failed to appear over a German radar station, signaling that it had already descended into the atmosphere.Kosmos 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 intact.advertisementFortunately, no damage or injuries have been reported, and there are no confirmed sightings of debris on land.Experts 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 limits.Under international space law, any remains of the spacecraft would legally remain the property of Russia.The 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.
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