Half -ton equipment launched by the Soviet Union in 1972 would make a mission to Venus, but project failed
Kosmos 482 fell in the Indian Ocean this Saturday (10.MAI.2025), after staying 53 years in terrestrial orbit. The Russian space agency confirmed the atmospheric reentry of the ship, which weighed approximately half a ton and had been launched in 1972 for a mission to Venus that did not materialize.
The end of Kosmos 482’s trajectory was verified when the vehicle disappeared from the German radar used by the European Space Agency’s office of space debris, which also monitored the space object.
The ship was originally designed by the extinct Soviet Union to explore Venus, but failed to leave the orbit of the earth. The equipment remained circulating our planet for more than five decades until it completed its atmospheric reentry trajectory.
The fall happened without impact records to people or structures. The Russian space agency did not disclose information about a possible rescue of parts of the ship after the impact with the ocean.
According to a United Nations Treaty, if Kosmos 482 wreckage are found, they will legally belong to Russia, the country responsible for the original release.
