Object configured to enter Earth’s gravity, is it an asteroid or space junk?

An asteroid that was programmed to get close enough to Earth to be temporarily captured by its gravitational pull turned out to be just space junk, according to Paul Chodas, NASA’s leading authority on asteroid research, speaking to the Associated Press (AP). . Chodas said that the asteroid (2020 SO), which was supposedly destined to become a mini-moon, is instead the propellant for the Centaur rocket from the failed Surveyor 2 Moon landing mission. Surveyor 2 was one of seven unmanned robotic spacecraft that NASA sent to the surface of the Moon between 1966 and 1968 as part of the Surveyor lunar exploration program. The object was first discovered by a telescope in Hawaii in September and was measured to be around 26 feet long, matching the estimated dimensions of the Centaur. The lander itself ended up crashing into the Moon following the failed ignition of one of its thrusters, sending it spinning through space for 54 hours before crashing into the Moon at about 6,000 mph. However, the Centaur booster ended up floating past the Moon on its original path after propelling Surveyor 2 toward the lunar surface and being disconnected from the spacecraft. Chodas mentioned to the AP that what he found interesting about the discovery, and what essentially alerted him that the object was the missing propellant, is that it had mimicked a solar orbit similar to Earth’s, something asteroids simply don’t. He also added that the object is on the same level as Earth, where normally asteroids tend to take strange angles in their path, and that the object’s speed was slow for an asteroid.“I’m quite excited about this,” Chodas, who is director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, told AP. “It’s been a hobby for me to find one of these and make that bond, and I’ve been doing it for decades.” The object, whatever it is, is projected to be captured by Earth’s gravity at two points, entering and then escaping before re-entering, before finally escaping back into the abyss. It is expected to pass distances of around 31,000 miles in December and 136,000 miles in February. Neither is in the ballpark to reach the atmosphere, but as it is sucked in by Earth’s gravity, scientists will have a better chance of studying the object more closely to confirm what it really is, as well as to obtain information for future asteroid investigations.

– Tony Dunn (@ tony873004) September 20, 2020