TaThe miracle was, the Soviet Union was fairly Venus. In the years 1961-1983 launched 16 probesVenera 1 to Venea 16, which either flew to Venus or landed on Venus – three of them failed on the road. Russians have been bothering with Venus for decades, but this week's long -term space program can be very disturbed by us: sometime from May 9th to May 11th, 1,100 pounds of spacecraft Venus, known as the name Space 482What has been stuck in the orbit of the Earth since 1972 comes back to the ground, potentially threatening all the Earth's people who live 52 ° north and 52 ° south of the equator – which includes an overwhelming part of us. Here is what you need to know.
Space 482 was originally designed as Vene 9. It was launched on March 31, 1972, but four days after the nursing probes, Venera 8To. This ship had a short but glorious life. It arrived in Venus on July 22, 1972, spent almost an hour descending into the atmosphere and landed at 6:24 pm local Venus. (Local time in another world Calculated Similarly, it is on earth – measuring the corner of the sun compared meridiansor the lines of the length of the degree.)
Once on the ground, Venera 8 lived only 63 minutes related to Venus's expected hellTo. Atmospheric pressure is 93 times higher than that is on Earth, with sea level pressure of 1350 pounds per square inch (PSI), compared to only 14.7 PSS. Air is mostly carbon dioxide, which, together with Venus's greater proximity to the sun, means an average temperature of 860 ° F, or more than 200 degrees hotter than lead melting point.
It was the future that was also waiting for Vene 9, but things failed to get a snake. After reaching the orbit of the Earth, he fired as a so -called Venus transmission trajectory to enter his engine; However, this engine burn went to whine, either interrupted too quickly or did not get enough to send the spacecraft. Instead, it remained an elliptical globe, apogee, at the peak, 560 miles, and perigee, or low point 130 miles. It has been there for the last 53 years. For her pain, Venera 9 lost not only her mission but a name. According to the rules of the Soviet-era nomenclature, space apparatus remaining around the globe are held, followed by Space 482.
In 2022 Marco LangbroekA Dutch archaeologist who changed his career and lectures in Sky at the Dutch Delft University of Technology in space, ended Kosmos 482 orbital tracking rounds. In Space reviewHe wrote that the object would return to the Earth's atmosphere sometime in 2025 or 2026, as the upper reaches of the atmosphere were constantly accumulated. Further tracking of the spacecraft trajectory –author LangbroekTo do, Nasaand a non -profit organization Aviation corporation– Now predicts that the re -entry will take place on May 10 at 12:42, plus or minus 19 hours.
“Rebibution is an uncontrolled re -entry,” wrote Langbroek On his website April 24. “This is likely to be a difficult effect. I doubt whether the parachute deployment system will still work after 53 years and with dead batteries.”
Usually, even such a large spaceship would not pose a major threat to humans on the spot. The same atmosphere friction, which causes most meteors to burn before they reach the surface, separates satellites in the same way. It is mostly much larger objects such as US Skylab Space Station– which returned to July 1979, scattering the entire Outback of Australia, which is a concern. But space 482 is different; Its purpose was to withstand the atmosphere of the Venus pressure cake, and even colliding with our own atmosphere at orbital speed of 17,500 miles per hour, could at least partially dive.
“The risks involved are not very high, but not zero,” writes Langbroek. “With a mass of just less than 500 kg and a 1 meter mass, the risks are somewhat similar to the effect of a meteorite.”
All the land in the land In the southern hemisphere of the Earth, with the vast majority of the north, there is a re -entry within the footprint. Most of Russia, the Balkans in the UK, Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska are among the few places.
However, no one advises you to invite your pets and whisk in Fallout shelters. More than 70% of the Earth's surface is water, which means a 70% spraying facility, not heavy landing. Moreover, the highway in the return zone is largely covered by uninhabited areas such as Sahara, Atacama and Australia.
Of course, it would be best if the Space 482 would completely break down on re -entry, but the sentimentalists of space hope that at least a bit will survive. Venera probes, like all Soviet spacecraft sent to the moon and planets, accompanied by them Small memorial coins, medals and titanium pennants—The used hammer and Sirpi, Lenin, Earth and the like. Space 482 returns to the world, which is very different from what it left – the history of the Soviet Union itself. This week, more than half a century, a little memorial metal can simply survive the empire that sent it high.
