An Soviet Union lander is heading back into Earth’s atmosphere after 52 years staying in the orbit. Soviet Union’s Cosmos 482 was launched on March 31, 1972 and was supposed to land on Venus under the U.S.S.R.’s Venera programme. However, due to a certain malfunction, it could not leave Earth’s orbit and kept rotating around for 52 years. Its body was split into two halves; the main one crashed back to Earth, and the other section, the lander, got trapped in the Earth’s orbit.

Lander Returns to Earth

According to study, the lander is re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere and is expected to come back between May 8 to May 14. The most probable date is May 11, calculated based on the orbital data provided by satellite expert Marco Langbroek. This crash landing could occur anywhere between 52 degrees north and south of the equator, roughly from Quebec to Patagonia. According to NASA, the lander weighs around 1100 pounds, the weight of a car.

What Does it Look Like

This lander was designed to survive the way through the atmosphere of Venus, so there might be a possibility that it can survive the reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and remain intact with possibly no impact. However, the risks are not too high, but still not negligible, said Langbroek while speaking to Live Science.

Ralf Vandebergh, the advanced astrographer, used a camera attached to the telescope for tracking the orbiting satellites. Some images reveal that it might be the released parachute of the Cosmos 482, however, there is still no certainty, as it is surprising if the parachute will still work after so many years.

Cosmos 482 as Sister Probe to Venera 8

Cosmos 482 was built after Venera 8 as a sister probe. However, Venera 8 became the second craft to land on the hot surface of Venus during the same year, 1972. It beamed data from Venus for 50 minutes before getting burned by the scorching heat of Venus.