Predicted orbits of the disintegrating Cosmos 482 space craft just before it crashed. It appears to have orbited the earth one more time before crashing into the Indian Ocean. Image: Supplied.
It was feared a piece of a 1972 spacecraft would crash into WA last Saturday, somewhere between Exmouth and Esperance.
Instead, it continued to orbit the earth and appears to have crashed into the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta around 2.45pm, WA time.
NASA said the Soviet-built Cosmos 482 lander probe, launched from Kazakhstan, had been intended to explore Venus in an unmanned mission.
“After achieving an Earth parking orbit, the spacecraft made an apparent attempt to launch into a Venus transfer trajectory,” a spokesperson said.
“It is thought that a malfunction resulted in an engine burn which did not achieve sufficient velocity for the Venus transfer and left the payload in this elliptical Earth orbit.
“The lander probe orbit has been decaying over time … .”
This is not the first time decaying satellite debris has threatened our region.
The remains of the US satellite Skylab crashed near Esperance in 1979, fortunately far away from people and infrastructure.
