Kosmos 482

Kosmos 482 (Russian: "Космос 482" meaning Cosmos 482) was an attempted Soviet Venus probe. Launched 31 March 1972, at 04:02:33 UTC, it failed to escape low Earth orbit. Because of this, its name was retrospectively changed to "Kosmos" which was used for Earth-orbiting satellites. After achieving a parking orbit around Earth, the full Venera payload (1972-023A) separated into two objects. What was calculated to be the Venera main bus kept the 1972-023A designation, while the designation 1972-023E (catalogue no. 6073) was assigned to the descent craft, which was the section meant to be landed on Venus. The main bus and its associated rocket stages reentered Earth's atmosphere between 3 April 1972 and 5 May 1981. During a 6:04 to 7:32 UTC window on 10 May 2025, the descent craft crashed while it was on a trajectory over Australia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and Europe. According to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, it crashed at 6:24 UTC, into the north-eastern Indian Ocean. The landing module, which weighed around 495 kilograms (1,091 lb), may have reached the surface of Earth largely intact. Correctly oriented, it was designed to withstand 300 g of acceleration and 100 atmospheres of pressure entering the atmosphere of Venus. However, the age of the craft and the shallow angle of reentry likely reduced survivability; tumbling or misorientation may have resulted in sections of the craft burning up in Earth's atmosphere. The final impact velocity was estimated to be 65–70 metres per second (230–250 km/h; 150–160 mph) using a TUDAT simulation.