The material left behind by the lander will likely burn up on re-entry. (Image credit: ESA)
New images of the spacecraft suggest that the aging 53-year-old Soviet lander now returning to Earth may be equipped with a parachute.
The Kosmos 482 probe, launched in 1972, was designed to land on Venus as part of the Soviet Venera program. However, a failure of the rocket carrying it resulted in the spacecraft splitting into two parts, one of which landed on Earth in 1981, while the descent module has remained in orbit ever since.
Now, with news that the lander will finally return to our planet around May 10, satellite tracking experts have studied photographs of the craft and noticed an unknown object following it.
“There is some kind of structure attached to the capsule,” noted Ralph Vandeberg, a Dutch astronomer and astrophotographer, on the social network X. “It could be a parachute, but that's just a guess!”
These images of Cosmos 482 in orbit, taken ten years apart, show a subtle structure trailing behind the craft.
Kosmos 482 was designed as a follow-up to Venera 8, which was launched in July 1972 and became the second spacecraft (after Venera 7) to successfully land on Venus. While there, Venera 8 transmitted data from Venus for just over 50 minutes before being destroyed by the planet's scorching atmosphere.
The lander, which weighs 1,091 pounds (495 kilograms) and is 3 feet (1 meter) long, was designed to pass through Venus' atmosphere and will likely return to Earth intact.
Vanderberg obtained this first set of high-resolution images in July 2024 and released them to X on April 29, 2025. When compared with photographs taken in June 2014, both sets of images show a “compact ball” with “a faint elongated structure on one side” that appears in several frames, he noted.
Even if the stretchy material is indeed a parachute for the descent module, it is unlikely that it would be able to withstand the craft's entry into our planet's atmosphere at speeds of around 150 mph (242 km/h).
“If it is true that this parachute opened long ago in space, it means that it will most likely burn up on reentry and will not be able to slow the spacecraft down,” Wand wrote.
Sourse: www.livescience.com
