Scientists issue ‘deadly’ warning after Soviet satellite fails and is currently falling back to Earth

A scientist has given a heads-up that an old Soviet satellite might fall from space and crash back down to Earth sometime between May 7 and May 13.

This satellite isn’t from modern-day Russia, but from the time when the Soviet Union still existed. It was launched all the way back in 1972 and was supposed to collect information from Venus, but it never made it that far. Due to a failure with its engine, it got stuck orbiting Earth instead.

The satellite is called Kosmos 482. Most of it burned up in the atmosphere when it re-entered in 1981. But a solid piece of it—possibly the entry capsule might still be in space and could fall to Earth soon.

That part is about the size of a large beach ball, weighs around half a ton, and has a heat shield, which means it might survive the fall and hit the ground.

Jonathan McDowell, a well-known astronomer, says there’s no reason to panic. This thing isn’t radioactive, it’s not carrying anything harmful, and it won’t explode. It’s basically a big, heavy metal ball. Still, you definitely wouldn’t want it crashing into your house or landing on your head.

The chances of that happening, though, are really small. Earth is a huge place with lots of empty land and ocean, so the odds it hits someone are about 1 in 10,000. And the odds of it hitting you personally are way smaller  like 1 in 10 billion.

Originally, the satellite had a parachute that was supposed to slow it down if it ever came back to Earth. But that system probably won’t work now, after all these years. So, if the satellite does fall, it’ll be coming in super fast hundreds of miles per hour  and on fire as it breaks through the atmosphere.

If it actually hits someone’s property or causes damage, Russia would likely be responsible for paying for it, since the satellite came from the Soviet Union, and international rules say the country that launched something into space is still responsible for it.

So yes, a chunk of old space hardware might fall from the sky soon. It’s not likely to hurt anyone, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on the news just in case.