Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 Crashes into Indian Ocean After 53 Years in Orbit
Kosmos 482, a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 on a failed mission to Venus, re-entered Earth's atmosphere on May 10, 2025, after more than five decades in orbit.
According to Russia's space agency Roscosmos, the reentry occurred at approximately 2:24 a.m. ET over the Indian Ocean, west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Roscosmos.
Originally intended to land on Venus, Kosmos 482 failed to escape Earth's gravity due to a malfunction in its launch vehicle, specifically, a premature engine cutoff.
Built to withstand Venus's harsh conditions, the lander was encased in titanium and designed to endure extreme pressures and temperatures, raising the possibility that parts of it survived re-entry.
International space agencies, including the European Space Agency and the U.S. Space Command, monitored the spacecraft's descent. The exact location of the debris impact remains uncertain, but no damage or injuries have been reported.
Where Did It Land?
Kosmos 482’s reentry zone included any location between roughly 52 degrees north and south latitude-a vast area covering most of the inhabited world except for the far north and south. However, as is common with uncontrolled reentries, statistical models suggested a high probability that the debris would fall into the ocean or sparsely populated regions. In the end, the spacecraft reportedly disappeared into the Indian Ocean, with no immediate reports of damage or sightings of surviving debris.
This Russian spacecraft, weighing approximately 480–495 kilograms and measuring about one meter in diameter, had long been tracked by satellite watchers and space agencies. Its reentry was widely anticipated by experts, who predicted a window between May 8 and 11 for the event
The re-entry of Kosmos 482 highlights ongoing concerns about space debris and the challenges of tracking aging satellites.
Experts note that while such events are rare, they underscore the need for improved space traffic management to mitigate risks associated with uncontrolled re-entries.
Under international law, any recovered fragments of the spacecraft legally belong to Russia. However, given the remote location of the re-entry, retrieval is considered unlikely.
