It’s spent the past 53 years amongst the stars
The Kosmos 482 space probe is on its way back to terra firma after more than half a century.
Launched by the USSR in 1972 to collect information on Earth’s ‘twin’ planet Venus, the craft succumbed to a malfunctioning engine and split into four sections, two of which crashed in New Zealand within days.
Now, scientists and astronomers are predicting that a 500kg piece of this satellite will burn up in the UK this weekend.
Dr. Marco Langbroek of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands reckons it’ll land within 52 degrees north or south of the equator, meaning anywhere below the likes of Cambridge, Ipswich and Milton Keynes is in the danger zone. However, this geographical warning is subject to changes pertaining to the influence of solar weather, which could throw the craft off course.
‘The risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero,” said Langbroek (per MailOnline) in reference to the fact it could arrive in one angry piece as opposed to harmless fragments.
Dr. Jonathan McDowell wrote in a blog post: “The vehicle is dense but inert and has no nuclear materials. No need for major concern, but you wouldn’t want it bashing you on the head. In which case I expect it’ll have the usual one-in-several-thousand chance of hitting someone.”
He also told the aforementioned publication: “If this were to cause damage – or worse, to hurt someone – that would be something that the Russian government would be liable for.
“If you land something in a random part of the Earth, the chance that it hits a person is about one in 10,000. The chance that it hits you is then one in 10 billion – smaller than that.”
According to the astronomer, the capsule will be surrounded by a shockwave upon reentry of our atmosphere, while its initial 17,000 miles per hour speed should reduce to no faster than 157mph due to friction.
Conversely, speaking to Space.com, satellite tracker Ralf Vandebergh claims that his own high-res photos of Kosmos 482’s remnant demonstrate a prematurely deployed parachute, which would mean that it could top 200mph on reentry, potentially causing chaos on impact.
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