On August 19 this year, astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and the Rapid Response System (Pan-Stars) observatory in Hawaii observed an object to enter Earth’s orbit this fall. Named the Object Object 2020 SO, the item is now believed to be a rocket booster from NASA’s Surveyor 2 mission that landed on the moon in 1966 during the Apollo-era of the Cold War space race.
“I suspect that this newly discovered 20 BJT 2020 SO is thought to be an old rocket booster because it follows an orbit about the sun that is similar to the Earth’s orbit, almost in the same plane, circular, and a little farther away from the sun, ”Paul. Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Neer Earth Ject Budget Studies, explained to CNN in the comments.
“It’s definitely the type of orbit that a rocket stage separates from a lunar mission, once it passes through the moon and escapes into the orbit of the sun. It is unlikely that asteroids could have evolved in orbit in this way, but it is not impossible.
Surveyor 1 differs from its centurion booster in 1966. Image Credit: NASA / JPL
The shadow of Surveyor 1 in front of the lunar surface, with the horizon at the far right. Image Credit: NASA / JPL
According to Chodas, this particular type of event occurred only once before, in 2002 with the Apollo 12 to Saturn V upper phase. Of course, there is still a chance that 2020 SO is actually a planet, in which case it would be considered minimal when it is in direct orbit around the Earth. However, finding a rocket booster would only be considered ‘space junk’ and would involve more than 57,000 pieces of human debris which are currently being explored by various organizations.
“In a month or so we will get a clue as to whether the 2020 SO is really a rocket body, as we should be able to detect the effect of sunlight on the motion of this object object: if it were really a rocket, the body would be much less than an asteroid. and will be and a little pressure due to sunlight will change its speed enough that we should be able to find it in the tracking data. Regardless of position, 2020 SO will be out of Earth orbit in February 2021.
Asteroids 2020 SO, October 2020 – May 2021 can be captured by Earth. The current trivial ball shows that it is captured by L2, and escapes by L1. Very chaotic road, so be prepared for a lot of research with new observations coming. renerpho nrco0e https://t.co/h4JaG2rHEd pic.twitter.com/RfUaeLtWq
– Tony Dunn (@ Tony 873004) September 20, 2020
The victory of the United States over the Soviet Union in landing the first man on the moon in July 1969 was usually in the shadow of the rest of the space race in the 1960s. Russian probes first landed on the lunar surface, having an impact in 1959, and a second landing in February 1966. Surveyor 1A floated to the moon on June 2, 1966, to collect photographs for the Apollo program’s landing view assessment; Surveyor 2, as detailed above, never achieved its goal after riding the Atlas LV-3C Saint-R-D rocket.
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