Kosmos 482

Launch Date	Mar. 31, 1972
Launch Site	Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Russia
Destination	Venus
Type	Atmospheric Probe
Status	Unsuccessful
Nation	Soviet Union
Alternate Names	1972-023A, 05919

Goals

Like Venera 8, which embarked on a successful mission four days earlier, this spacecraft was to land on Venus with a design that devoted less of its mass to resisting pressure and more to thermal protection, instruments and a stronger parachute.

Accomplishments

None. Failure of the engine that was to propel it from Earth orbit to Venus marooned the spacecraft in an elliptical orbit around Earth for more than a month until it finally reentered Earth's atmosphere.

In Depth

This was the sister craft to Venera 8 (launched four days earlier). Unfortunately, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit.

The Blok L escape stage's main engine prematurely cut off after only 125 seconds of firing due to a failure in the onboard timer. As a result, the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around Earth. Officially, the Soviets named the probe Kosmos 482 to disguise its true mission. The spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere.

Spacecraft

Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with second-generation upper stage + escape stage; 8K78M

Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,180 kg

Spacecraft Instruments:

Bus:

1. cosmic-ray detector
2. solar wind detector
3. ultraviolet spectrometer

Lander:

1. thermometer
2. barometer
3. radio altimeter
4. photometer
5. gamma-ray spectrometer
6. gas analyzer
7. wind-speed recorder

Additional Resources

National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog: Kosmos 482

Selected References

Siddiqi, Asif A. Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, NASA, 2002.