A Cold-War era Venus probe will crash back to Earth in the next day or two

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — A failed probe to Venus, launched in 1972, will reenter Earth’s atmosphere in the next day or two.

Kosmos 482 was one of several spacecraft launched by the former Soviet Union in the 1970s, intended to reach Venus and land on it’s surface. However, an anomaly with it’s rocket caused it not get up to full power and left the probe in an elliptical orbit over Earth for more than five decades.

The probe was part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program. It landed the first probe on Venus in 1970 with Venera 7. In 1982, Venera 13 sent back the first color photos of the surface of Venus. According to Space.Com, “The Soviet program set several firsts, including the first probe to descend into the atmosphere of a planet other than Earth; the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on another planet; and the first missions to return images and sounds from the surface of another planet.”

Every picture from Venus’ surface ever, from the Planetary Society.

The 1,190-pound spacecraft is 3.3 feet wide and has a titanium shell and thermal insulation designed to withstand the heat of entry into Venus’s atmosphere. That same protection means larger spacecraft parts could survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. However, that design also means it will likely not split up and reenter as one piece.

The greatest unknown is where the space probe will reenter the atmosphere. Current projections say it could reenter most anywhere. 71% of Earth is covered with water, and large parts of land are unpopulated, so the chances of it hitting an object or a person are near zero.

The projected reentry time is an 18-hour window, anywhere from 5:52 p.m. tonight to 11:52 a.m. on Saturday.