Launched in 1972, a Soviet space probe called Cosmos 482 should return to earth after 53 years spent in space. Astronomers, which count on the resistance of the machine to its crossing in the earth’s atmosphere, count on an landing between May 7 and 13, reports the Huffington Post.
A Soviet space probe returns to earth after more than 50 years in space. Cosmos 482 had been sent as part of the Venera (Venus, Russian) program to conduct research on the Venus planet. Launched in 1972, the latter had to land on “The twin planet”but following a dysfunction of the upper floor of the rocket bearing the probe, she could not leave the orbit of the earth and remained trapped for several decades. She should start her descent shortly and land between May 7 and 13 according to information from NASA, said the Huffington Post.
Would the probe resist its fall in the atmosphere?
But in addition to the return of one of the vestiges of Soviet space programs, an image taken of the machine did not fail to intrigue astronomers, like Ralf Vanderberg, a Dutch scientist. In one of the photos taken from Cosmos 482, the researcher observed an elongated shape following the capsule. It could be the probe parachute. This should logically consume itself once the return of the capsule in the earth’s atmosphere is returned.
In view of the characteristics of Cosmos 482, it should be able to resist its fall, the latter being designed to cross the atmosphere of Venus. The NASA calculations, on the other hand, count on a hardening of the probe in the ocean. “It is very possible that this spaceship of more than 500 kg survives on its return”confirms the Dutch astronomer Marco Langbroek in the British daily The Guardian. The probe has indeed “been designed to resist a descent through the dense atmosphere in carbon dioxide from Venus”.
Posted on May 6 at 12:58 p.m., Gabriel Gadré, 6media
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