The Soviet probe Kosmos 482, launched in 1972 to reach Venus but which never managed to leave Earth's orbit, re-entered and fell into an "unspecified location" in Europe.

Its uncontrolled re-entry to Earth occurred around 8.05 am Italian time, according to calculations by the task force of the European Space Surveillance and Tracking Consortium (Eu-Sst), which includes the Italian Air Force's Space Situational Awareness Centre in Poggio Renatico, near Ferrara, which is responsible for the "Re-Entry" and "Fragmentation" services.

The return was monitored by the network of European sensors, which also includes the Italian ones located in Emilia Romagna, Sardinia and Basilicata. It was from Sardinia around 5 am that the last passage over Italy was spotted, which occurred over the Tyrrhenian area while the probe was speeding at 28 thousand kilometers per hour.

The last trajectory ever was instead observed from Germany, by one of the sensors of the Eu-Sst network. It was detected at 8.05 and at that point, to have the confirmation of the fall, it was preferred to wait for the next passage over Germany, which however did not happen.

This was confirmation of the crash, but there is currently no news on the area where the probe could have impacted, most likely located in northern Europe.

(Online Union)

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