Source : Perth Now news
A Soviet-era space probe launched in 1972 has re-entered earth’s atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean, Russian authorities say.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos said the spacecraft, known as Kosmos 482, entered the atmosphere at 4.24pm AEST before hitting the waters west of Jakarta, Indonesia.
No information was provided on potential damage or debris.
The European Space Agency also concluded that re-entry had likely occurred.
Between 1961 and 1983, the Soviet Union sent several probes to Venus as part of the Verena program to explore the planet.
While several succeeded in landing on the planet’s surface and transmitting data back to earth, Kosmos 482 went astray shortly after lift-off.
Kosmos 482 was launched on March 31, 1972 and was scheduled to make a controlled landing on Venus.
However, due to a failure of the launch vehicle, the capsule failed to escape the earth’s gravity and has been orbiting the planet for 53 years.
“The device was launched to explore Venus but remained in a high elliptical orbit around earth due to a malfunction in the upper stage and gradually approached the planet,” Roscosmos said.
The probe’s descent was monitored by an automated system designed to detect hazards in near-earth space, according to the agency.
Weighing nearly 500kg and measuring about a metre in diameter, the probe’s crash had been widely anticipated by space agencies although its final landing site had remained uncertain.
Before Saturday’s uncontrolled return to earth, experts had warned the spacecraft could survive re-entry intact due to its robust construction, originally built to withstand the harsh descent through Venus’s atmosphere.
However, Roscosmos stated that “Kosmos 482 no longer exists”.
