An asteroid that’s projected to get locked into orbit as a mini moon next month may actually be space junk from a failed 1966 moon lander mission.
The asteroid, dubbed 2020 SO, was first identified in September, according to the International Astronomical Union. It was identified by a telescope in Hawaii that was searching for potential “doomsday rocks,” according to the Associated Press. Scientists expect that it will join the ever-growing field of space junk in a temporary orbit around the Earth next month.
Paul Chodas, the manager at NASA’s Near-Earth Objects Program, speculated that the estimated 26-foot-long object might not be a space rock after observing that it had a near-circular orbit similar to that of Earth’s, an orbit unusual for a true asteroid.
“I’m pretty jazzed about this,” Paul Chodas told the Associated Press. “It’s been a hobby of mine to find one of these and draw such a link, and I’ve been doing it for decades now.”
Chodas also noted that 2020 SO was orbiting on the same plane as the Earth’s orbit, whereas asteroids typically orbit at varied angles. Its speed, coming in at 1,500 mph, is also considered slow for an asteroid.
Chodas believes that 2020 SO is a Centaur upper rocket stage from the 1966 moon mission. The rocket successfully launched NASA’s Surveyor 2 moon lander, but the lander crashed into the surface because one of three thrusters on the lander failed to ignite, according to Boeing’s archives. The upper rocket stage was intended to drift into space and get sent into an orbit around the sun. Scientists didn’t expect that Earth would cross paths with the rocket again.
“I could be wrong on this. I don’t want to appear overly confident,” Chodas said. “But it’s the first time, in my view, that all the pieces fit together with an actual known launch.”
If Chodas’s prediction is correct, the rocket will join an increasingly cluttered field of debris floating around Earth comprising “everything from upper-stage rocket bodies, completely intact dead satellites, shards of stuff … flecks of paint, bolts, nuts,” says Moriba Jah, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The European Space Agency estimates that there are more than 8,700 tonnes of space junk locked around the Earth.
