Unsuccessfully launched to Venus, the Soviet station will fall to Earth in the coming years, RIA Novosti reports a statement by astronomer, astronautics historian Pavel Shubin.
He specified that on March 27, 1972, the Venera-8 station went into space. On March 31, the USSR made an attempt to launch its "twin", but at the stage of operation of the upper stage, which from the near-earth orbit was supposed to bring the station to the interplanetary flight trajectory, a failure occurred and the engine was turned off. The station, together with the upper stage, remained in an elongated orbit, revolving around the Earth. In order not to report a failure, instead of the name "Venera-9" the device was called "Cosmos-482". In turn, "Venera-8" landed on the surface of Venus and for the first time in the world transmitted scientific information about its surface.
"The Kosmos-482 station will return to us in the next 4-7 years," Shubin said.
According to him, after the launch, the station, together with the upper stage, remained in orbit with parameters of 220 km by 9800 km, and over the past half century it lost about 7400 km, reducing the apogee (the highest point of the orbit) to 2400 km.
He added that it is not yet clear where the lander may land, but it will happen between 52 degrees north and 52 degrees south latitude.