Soviet Probe Re-entry

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The backstory: According to NASA, Soviet scientists launched Kosmos 482 in 1972 with the goal of reaching Venus. But an apparent engine malfunction stranded the spacecraft in low Earth orbit, where it's been ever since. Kosmos 482 separated into multiple pieces, some of which likely landed in New Zealand shortly after launch. However, the spacecraft's lander probe has survived in orbit.

Where could the probe land? Marco Langbroek, a lecturer at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, estimates that the reentry could occur anywhere across a large swath of the globe stretching from Canada and Russia to the southern tip of South America.

A Soviet spacecraft launched a half-century ago called Kosmos 482 has been orbiting the Earth for decades and is at last expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere this coming weekend.

There's also the possibility that the thousand-pound, meter-wide spherical lander burns up as it reenters Earth's atmosphere, but McDowell thinks that's unlikely.

"Because it has a heat shield and it was designed to survive the rigors of Venus' atmosphere, what I expect is instead of burning up and melting, it will reenter essentially undamaged," he said.