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Venus probe Cosmos 482 likely to reenter within 1-2 years


HebaruSan

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https://www.space.com/failed-soviet-venus-spacecraft-falls-to-earth-soon.html

 

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The Soviet Union launched the Cosmos 482 Venus probe on March 31, 1972. But the spacecraft messed up its rocket-powered escape to that cloud-veiled world and got trapped in Earth orbit.

[...]

"Yes, the descent craft will survive a re-entry with no problems," said satellite watcher Thomas Dorman of the northeastern Oklahoma community of Zeb. "It would be funny if it was spotted coming down and the parachute has deployed … but I am sure the batteries to fire the pyrotechnics to release the parachute have died long ago!"

[...]

"My guess right now is that re-entry is late this year to mid next year."

[...]

Dorman said Cosmos 482 is in an orbit that swings it out from Earth over 1,700 miles (2,735 km) away, but the low point, the perigee of the orbit, is just 125 miles (200 km) above our planet.

[...]

Another rough estimate suggests that what's left of the failed Venus probe might stay up for another 2.5 years, even with such a low perigee. 

http://www.ralfvandebergh-astrophotography.simpsite.nl/lost-planetary-spacecraft

Cosmos482_20140625.jpg

I hope there are more articles when it does finally come down.

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8 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

It would be funny if it was spotted coming down and the parachute has deployed … but I am sure the batteries to fire the pyrotechnics to release the parachute have died long ago!

If it’s made to land on Venus, it may not need much of a chute to survive.

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The sphere is made of Ti, so is more or less strong.

M ~480 kg (sphere + external things), d ~0.9 m

Density ~= 1300 k/m3

So, if the external staff breaks off, maybe the sphere could float...

P.S.
wiki/ru tells that there is already 22 t of terrestrial artificial trash on Venusian surface.
Shocked. I was sure, just several.

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On 3/1/2019 at 5:25 PM, kerbiloid said:

The sphere is made of Ti, so is more or less strong.

M ~480 kg (sphere + external things), d ~0.9 m

Density ~= 1300 k/m3

So, if the external staff breaks off, maybe the sphere could float...

P.S.
wiki/ru tells that there is already 22 t of terrestrial artificial trash on Venusian surface.
Shocked. I was sure, just several.

it will crack hitting the water, it should survive reentry but not an water impact. An land hit however would be more fun
and 22 ton is way more than I expected, I assume this include stuff burning up in the atmosphere. 

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1 hour ago, magnemoe said:

it will crack hitting the water, it should survive reentry but not an water impact. An land hit however would be more fun

The result of ~150..180 m.s vs a titanium sphere looks not obvious. Airplane blackboxes usually survive this.
Also an Almaz capsule with films happily survived a bog landing/splashing/sticking when its parachute failed.

1 hour ago, magnemoe said:

22 ton is way more than I expected, I assume this include stuff burning up in the atmosphere. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_on_Venus
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Список_искусственных_объектов_на_Венере

Wiki/en counts only landed things, they mass ~13.5 t in total.
Wiki/ru counts the initial mass, they mass ~22 t in total.

So, 13.5 t of landed mass + 8.5 t of other things.

So, 13.5 t is what's landed.

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On 3/1/2019 at 8:47 PM, DDE said:

Nothing that goes to Venus needs more heat.

They need electricity though.

There are also various scientific experiments that requires radioactive materials as an emitter.

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19 minutes ago, YNM said:

They need electricity though.

For several hours, before the equipment gets fried. Batteries charged before deorbiting look enough.

19 minutes ago, YNM said:

There are also various scientific experiments that requires radioactive materials as an emitter.

Unlikely the surface of Venus is a proper place to study the radioactivity. It doesn't differ from the terrestrial one.

Edited by kerbiloid
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