A team of experts have revealed a mysterious object is accelerating through space and believe it could be a lost spacecraft which was once destined to travel to Mars
Scientists have been left stumped by a mysterious “space rock” which has begun accelerating as it passes Earth. The object, named 1998 KY26, was observed speeding up in a way that gravity can’t explain.
Because of this, boffins believe 1998 KY26 may have something else powering it, but are split on what that could be.
The object is roughly 36 feet in length and around the size of a single decker bus. However it spins once every 5.35 minutes – making it extremely fast in comparison to other near-earth rocky space bodies.
Harvard Professor Avi Loeb believes the object zooming past the planet is actually a spacecraft launched by the former Soviet Union called Phobos 1. The Soviet spacecraft was lost in space months after the vessel began its journey to Mars in 1988.
Loeb theories that the 1998 KY26’s size and mysterious movement could be proof that scientists have found the missing craft.. Back in 2023 astronomers found it has been moving faster than normal based on telescope information collected over the past 25 years.
The data revealed the object had a small and steady extra “push” which propelled the object’s path differently than if it was an average space rock and only affected by gravity. In a new study, experts said the increase speed could not have been due to ice falling off of the cosmic body.
According to the study published in the journal Icarus, 1998 KY26 is too warm to carry ice water on it as it floats through space. The researchers wrote: “We determined that 1998 KY26 is likely a dehydrated asteroid.”
The team also ruled out the “dark comet” theory could be the cause for the objects’ increase of speed. The theory suggests hidden ice contained in the asteroid could be slowly turning into gas therefore giving it a push as it moves through space – despite 1998 KY26 having no visible tail or dust cloud.
Due to the various unanswered questions, Loeb and co-authors, Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl, have published their own study on arXiv. Their study argues 1998 KY26’s characteristics such as its size, unusually high shininess and rapid spin are consistent with a man-made spacecraft.
Loeb has stated the object’s “push” as it travels through space could be due to the sun’s energy hitting its shiny metal surfaces and solar panels.
Using a 3D model of Phobos 1 the experts found the object matched several of the 1998 KY26’s brightness changes which had been recorded by telescopes from Earth.
Loeb said: “The similarity of the orbit of 1998 KY26 to the orbit of the lost Phobos 1 spacecraft suggests that the two objects are the same.”