After 53 years in orbit, Cosmos 482 will crash on Earth in the next few days. More specifically, it is a piece of this Soviet rocket, with a weight of 500 kilos, which will enter the atmosphere of the Earth.
Throwed from Kazakhstan in 1972, the rocket would join Venus, but the upper floor of the machine broke. “The upper floor did not work properly and left the probe only in orbit around the earth,” said astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell on Sky News.
According to the researcher specialized in the Marco Langbroek space, autumn could take place around May 10.
“It is still a half -ton thing that falls from the sky”
Already in 1980, parts of the rocket returned to the atmosphere of the Earth, but a piece remained in orbit around the planet. And it is difficult to predict where this piece of cosmos 482 will fall exactly.
“If you are a penguin, you probably have no problem. But if you live anywhere, from Chile to Scotland, you are in the area,” says Jonathan McDowell.
Why risks? The rocket piece “will only move a few hundred kilometers,” according to the astronomer. “It is still a half -ton thing that falls from the sky a few hundred kilometers per hour. It will hurt if it hit you,” he said.
In recent years, the number of satellites in orbit around the earth has increased considerably, under the leadership of Spacex’s activity, owned by Elon Musk. The American billionaire company Account 6,000 devices in low terrestrial orbit And received authorization to launch 12,000 modules.
This large number of satellites “is beginning to raise serious security problems,” warns the CNES (National Center for Space Studies). “The main danger lies in collisions between satellites and space debris,” specifies French scientists. The last estimated in 34,000 the number of objects greater than 10 centimeters in orbit around the Earth, including 9,000 active satellites.
Source: BFM TV
