https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-ne ... ys/1771144

Sometime this weekend, this Soviet Satellite launched in 1972 will make an unplanned trip back to earth. It was originally designed to survive entry into Venus’ atmosphere so no doubt it will likely survive the trip through the less harsh atmosphere of Earth.

What are the odds it will land on anyone?

If it lands , may well see it sold on ebay!!

On a serious note, there is a LOT of space junk out there. Most will burn up on re-entry, but some makes it to earth.

I wonder if they'll be able to narrow that down some by the time it arrives.
Could be quite a show if it passes above you on the way down.

And to think it's been falling all those years.

Some of those old satellites, there were some awful and super poisonous radioactive isotopes used to power things or used to warm pieces of the equipment to remain functional in the insane cold of outer space. Plutonium comes to mind and virtually nothing exceeds Plutonium’s weight to punching power ability to destroy human life. I don’t know if this satellite has any of those isotopes aboard, but I’d be careful about getting extra close to the satellite if it happens to land nearby.

https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-scie ... onium-238/

http://www.ccnr.org/max_plute_aecb.html

One gram of Plutonium 239 = ten million dead people.

NASA used Plutonium 238- Don’t pick up anything that looks like a broken coffee cup. Could be part of a radioisotope power system.

What did the Soviets use in 1972? Evidently, Strontium 90.

More about Sr-90.


https://semspub.epa.gov/work/11/175430.pdf

Cosmos 482, did not use a radioisotope power system. It used solar power.

I can't imagine plutonium landing in the yard.

https://world-nuclear.org/information-l ... -for-space

Radioactive reactors in space.

The demon core.
I've heard and read about this thing several times.
What a nightmareish thing to have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_cor ... the%20core.

I read where one of the power sources was a Stirling engine.
Who would have thought.
I still think these engines have a future.

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 11:44 am The demon core.
I've heard and read about this thing several times.
What a nightmareish thing to have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_cor ... the%20core.

That demon core stuff is nuts. Who hasn’t dropped a tool or something while working? But, usually dropping a part or tool isn’t quite so fatal.

There was or maybe still is a great atomic bomb museum in Los Alamos NM.

I know a family that grew up in Los Alamos. The dad was a big shot, senior nuclear engineer/scientist there. He could not talk about anything at work. Strange town, not in anyway average or normal by most American standards. Could be an especially hard town to grow up if you weren’t molded in the image of a savant/genius/scientist/engineer type. Seemed like a pressure cooker for ordinary or average kids there, but the pressure is on in many places I guess.

The folks at space track have already been calculating reentry angles, locations, etc The Captain I worked with while in the AF worked on an especially large object in a decaying orbit while in Colorado. It landed almost in the center of her projected landing area. Seriously they track ever nut, bolt, glove, etc that is up there.
Should have heard us when they did the star wars test on a satellite, that thing broke up into over 200 pieces, each one which had to be cataloged and tracked as they came past the radars even if most reentered and burned up in the atmosphere within a couple of days...

I can't wait till the movie Hidden Figures is free.

Scary thought, so hopefully it won't hurt anyone or anything....

Hidden Figures is an excellent movie by the way. one of my favourites.

This website shows the current position and track of the Cosmos 482.
https://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.asp ... t=0&tz=UCT

A 500 kilo cannonball the size of a washing machine...
hurtling around earth every hour and a half.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/202 ... /105269940

So it looks like it'll be passing over us here in the next hour or so. Hope to miss me.

I'm going to plop it down here.
There's no such thing as zero gravity.
And a whale is weightless.

Ok we can all exhale, it is down,,in the Indian Ocean today.

It picked a fine place to dunk.
Don't want to imagine the space junk future. The more goes up.....