{"id":16169,"date":"2025-05-01T14:08:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=16169"},"modified":"2025-05-01T14:08:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:08:48","slug":"failed-soviet-satellite-from-1972-is-now-hurtling-back-to-earth-like-a-meteorite-and-could-land-anywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=16169","title":{"rendered":"Failed Soviet satellite from 1972 is now hurtling back to Earth like a meteorite and could land anywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s set to fall this month<\/h2>\n

After over 50 years of circling our planet, a chunk of Soviet spacecraft is hurdling back to Earth – and nobody knows where it might land.<\/p>\n

2025 has been a bit of a nail-biter when it comes to space objects heading our way.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year,\u00a0NASA<\/a>\u00a0scientists flagged a massive space rock with a\u00a01-in-83 chance of striking Earth<\/a>\u00a0in 2032.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, astronaut\u00a0Chris Hadfield<\/a>\u00a0warned of another asteroid coming\u00a0\u2018quite close to Earth\u2019 in 2028<\/a>, with a \u2018one in 45 chance\u2019 of making an impact.<\/p>\n

Now, a half-tonne Soviet space probe that was designed to endure landing on Venus may be heading our way. Launched in 1972, the\u00a0spacecraft<\/a> reportedly never made it past the Earth’s orbit and its remains circled our planet for over five decades.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/Marco_Langbroek\/status\/1915777496483500236<\/p>\n

The spacecraft will tumble back to the\u00a0Earth<\/a>\u00a0in as little as ‘two weeks from now’ and may ‘crash down hard’ like a meteorite,\u00a0space<\/a>\u00a0lecturer and tracker Dr. Marco Langbroek wrote in a blog post and later\u00a0shared on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd from our current modelling, the reentry should happen near 10 May, give or take a few days,” the space object tracker said. “Over the past few months, the model consistently points to reentry within a few days of 9-10 May 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Langbroek, at the Delft University of\u00a0Technology<\/a>, added that there’s only a small chance the space probe will burn up on reentry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact,\u201d he explained. And while the spacecraft is equipped with a parachute, there\u2019s a good chance it no longer works.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"NASA<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA scientists flagged a massive space rock with a 1-in-83 chance of striking Earth in 2032. (MARK GARLICK\/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY\/Getty)<\/cite><\/div>\n

\u201cIf it survives reentry, it will come down hard,\u201d Dr. Langbroek told Popular\u00a0Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The probe is roughly a metre wide and weighs just under 500kg. It could reenter the atmosphere and hit the Earth at a speed of about 250kmph, the lecturer said, adding: \u201cThe risks involved are not particularly high, but not zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

More worryingly, pinpointing the exact time and location is unclear. \u201cWith an orbital inclination of 51.7 degrees, the reentry can occur anywhere between latitude 52 N and 52 S,\u201d Dr. Langbroek described. This could be anywhere as far north as the UK and or as far south as New Zealand.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, trackers continue to observe the space probe to gather more data about its landing whereabouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe uncertainty in the reentry date will decrease once we get closer to the actual reentry, but even on the day, uncertainties will remain large,\u201d Dr Langbroek continued.<\/p>\n

For now, all we can do now is hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s set to fall this month After over 50 years of circling our planet, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":12,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16171,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169\/revisions\/16171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}