Cabo Cañaveral, Florida – TO It was Soviet Space Saves destined to land We come In the 1970s it is expected that it will soon immerse the land without control, possibly within the first two weeks of May.
It is too early to know where the medium ton metal mass could fall or how much of it will survive re -entry, according to Space rubble monitoring experts.
Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek predicts that the failed spacecraft will re -enter around May 10. He estimates that it will crash in 150 mph (242 kph), if it remains intact.
“While not without risk, we should not be too worried,” Langbroek said in an email.
The object is relatively small and, even if it does not break, “the risk is similar to that of a Random meteoriteseveral of which occur every year. It runs a greater risk of being beaten by a ray in your life, “he said.
He added that the possibility that the spacecraft hit someone or something is small. “But you can’t exclude completely.”
The Soviet Union launched the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 in 1972, a series of Venus missions. But it never left the orbit of the earth due to a malfunction of the rocket.
Most collapsed in a decade. But Langbroek and others believe that the landing capsule itself, a spherical object of about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, has been surrounding the world in a highly elliptical orbit during the last 53 years, gradually falling into altitude.
It is very possible that the 1,000 -pound spacecraft (almost 500 kilograms) survives re -entry. It was built to withstand a descent through the carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus, Langbroek said of the Technological University of Delft in the Netherlands.
Experts doubt that the parachute system works after so many years. The heat shield can also be compromised after so long in orbit.
It would be better if the heat shield fails, which would make the spaceship burn during its immersion through the atmosphere, said the Harvard-Smithsonian center for Jonathan McDowell by Jonathan McDowell in an email. But if the heat shield is maintained, “it will re -enter intact and will have a half -ton metal object that falls from the sky.”
The spacecraft could re -entered between 51.7 degrees of north and south latitude, or to the north such as London and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, almost to Cabo de Cabo de América del Sur. But since most of the planet is water, “the possibilities are good, in fact it will end in some ocean,” Langbroek said.
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