According to the latest estimates, the mission landing module Kosmos 482 will resent the atmosphere uncontrolled next Saturday 10 at 10:37peninsular time. It is the most likely option, although one day is calculated as a possible margin of error, so it is not ruled out that 9 or 11. The reentry in the atmosphere of objects in orbit is not unusual and is usually accompanied by its disintegration, but The case of Kosmos 482 is different.
The capsule, of 495 kg of weight and with a diameter of one meterwas designed to land in Venus and survive as long as possible in extreme conditions, so It is feared that the reentry can overcome in the Earth’s atmosphere. If so, as pointed out Jonathan McDowellfrom the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics, to The Guardian, ‘We will have a metal object of half a ton falling from the sky’.
Marco Langbroekexpert in monitoring of satellites from the Netherlands that has studied the remains of Kosmos 482 for years, he explained in his blog, in which he publishes the updates on the trajectory of Kosmos 482, which ‘There is a real possibility of surviving the intact reentry’.
Why has he wandered for more than half a century in the Earth’s orbit
Kosmos 482 was launched on March 31, 1972, as part of the Misiones series Scallop of the Soviet Union that they were looking to land in Venus before USA. The USSR achieved it In 1970 with Venera 7which transmitted data for about 50 minutes before succumbing to the atmosphere of Venus. With the information obtained, the two probes that the feat and were launched with only 4 days apart in 1972 were redesigned.
Venera 7 was able to resist temperatures of 540 ° C and 177 pressure atmospheresbut the telemetry sent allowed to verify that the extreme conditions of Venus were a little less than expected. Venera 8 and its twin –kosmos 482– modified their protections to support 500 ° C and 103 atmospheres, in addition to 300 g of acceleration. This allowed some more space inside for scientific instruments.
The first launch, now called Kosmos 482 –Kosmos is the appellation that the USSR gave to its missions in the Earth’s orbit -,, He failed to put the capsule on his career to Venus For a failure in a timer that caused him to separate prematurely from the upper stage Blok l of the rocket Molniya and its engines will not achieve the necessary impulse. He has been orbiting the earth since then. The next release a few days later, Venera 8, he did land in Venus.
Why could re -entry into the Earth’s atmosphere survive
Venus is a true planetary hell. On its surface there are temperatures of more than 460 ° C – sufficient to melt lead – and a pressure 90 times higher than terrestrial. In addition, its atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, with sulfuric acid clouds. To face that environment, Soviet engineers created extremely resistant capsules.
The Kosmos 482/Venera 8 descent module had a spherical shape and was made of a 5 cm thick housing titaniuma heat resistant metal, corrosion and deformations under pressure. That ‘shell’ was protected by several layers of thermal insulationincluding a shield that burned controlledly when entering the atmosphere, thus dissipating the extreme heat.
Inside, the capsule is Passively snack: it cooled before the descent, at about -10 ° C, and contained Special materials that absorbed heat without heating too fast. These were blocks of a special salt (lithium nitrate trihydrate) that melt slowly when heated, absorbing large amounts of energy without increasing the internal temperature immediately, such as ice under heat.
All this allowed Scientific instruments continue to work for at least 50 minutes once on the surface. Successive improvements made Venera 14, the last Soviet mission in landing in Venus in 1981, could communicate for 2 hours and 20 minutes from the surface of Venus.
Where could Kosmos 482 impact
According to Langbroek, it is too soon to specify it. With the current data, it could be as north as the cities of London and Edmonton (Canada) or as southern as the Cape Horn in Chile. It will be when the resentment begins that astronomers can advance a more concrete area.
The precedent of the Kosmos 482 components that already fell into the Earth intact
After launch, in April 1972, four titanium spheres of about 38 cm and 13.6 kg of weight eachprobably corresponding to auxiliary parts of Kosmos 482, rented in the atmosphere and fell in New Zealand, even to red alive. Despite this, they did not burn in the reentry and They could be recovered intact. What happens with the Kosmos 482 landing module, we will know this Saturday.