NASA reveals an “unknown object” accelerating towards Earth

It was an important year for NASA’s discoveries, as the U.S. government agency had previously made headlines about water on the moon’s surface, possibly evidence of an alternate dimension, and even helped Tom Cruise make a film in the space. The group has now announced that an unknown object is expected to cross our planet in the early hours of Tuesday 1 December, although this news comes to us through the charm of this news. TMZAnd the thing in question is still unknown. In fact, NASA appears to have a guess as to what “2020 SO” might actually be.

“I suspect that this recently discovered SO 2020 is an ancient rocket propeller because it follows an orbit around the sun that is very similar to Earth’s, almost circular, in the same plane and a little further away from the sun at the furthest point”, said Paul Choudas, director of the NASA Center for Near Object Studies. from the earth CNN. “This is exactly the kind of orbit that would follow a missile phase separate from a lunar mission once it has passed the moon and escaped into orbit around the sun. It is unlikely that the asteroid evolved in such an orbit, but it is not impossible. “

In a separate interview with Space.ComChodas said they had previously theorized that debris and fragments from ancient launches might someday return to Earth, adding, “We have thought or not. [or] When will this happen? Over the years, I have searched the orbits of asteroids to see if any of them orbiting the Sun were likely related to the launch.

The object will reach its closest point to Earth at 3:50 AM ET on Tuesday (a few hours after this writing) and will be only 31,605 miles away. It is 15 to 33 feet wide, which gives credence to Chodas’ theory.

If Chodas’ hypothesis of “2020 SO” were truly accurate, it would be the second time a missile stage has been detected since a previous launch into Earth orbit. In 2002, part of the Apollo 12 Saturn V missile appeared to pass Earth.

Chodas had previously added: “If it were a true missile object, it would be much less dense than the asteroid and the slight pressure of sunlight would produce enough change in its motion that we should be able to detect in the tracking data.”