Posted on 11/11/2026 7:41:12 PM PST by BenLurkin
A mysterious object once believed to be a simple space rock passing Earth is accelerating, and scientists cannot explain why.
A new study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has determined that 1998 KY26, a suspected near-Earth asteroid, is speeding up in a way that the gravity of the sun and planets cannot account for.
Simply put, the alleged space rock has something else powering it as it moves around our solar system.
Near-Earth objects are rocky space bodies that orbit the sun and sometimes come relatively close to Earth. This object is roughly 36 feet in length, about the size of a school bus, and spins once every 5.35 minutes – extremely fast for a space rock.
Although it is about 189million miles from Earth right now, its current course is taking it within 32million miles of our planet in 2028. The European Space Agency said the object's orbit will take it even closer in 2039, coming within 10million miles.
While 1998 KY26 is widely believed to be a relatively tiny rock, its unexplainable increase in speed has led one scientist to claim the mystery object is actually a long-lost spacecraft that disappeared four decades ago.
Harvard Professor Avi Loeb has theorized the object is really Phobos 1, a spacecraft launched by the former Soviet Union in 1988.
It was lost and vanished just months after its journey to Mars began, but Loeb believes 1998 KY26's size and mysterious movements could be proof astronomers have finally located the missing craft.
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“The Phobos 1 spacecraft was lost en-route to Mars after a faulty command sequence was sent from Earth caused the spacecraft to shut down.”
But what country sent that signal...hmm?
“V-GER” is bringing some companions with it.
Well, when the Interplanetary Wrecker Service collected the drifting spacecraft, they took it in for repair and are now just giving it a road-test to make sure that it's functioning properly. They're headed for Earth to serve their Mechanic's Lien on the planet to ensure that they are reimbursed for the labor and parts spent on the repair.
It’s telling when even Avi Loeb isn’t saying, “IT’S ALIENS!!!”
I guess they’ve finally gotten to him.
Veejer requires the information from carbon based units infesting Enterprise.
Well that’s it we’re done!
Maybe that stupid kid from the Bronx was right after all about the ‘’12 years thing’’.
The “mysterious force” is Gravity. We’ve quantified it since 1687.
And we are still learning. Gravity is a strange place.
Could be V-Giny.
It’s a ballot box!
D’oh!
Perhaps it’s Klaatu and Gort making a return visit…
That Beria guy was pretty smart. No wonder he is a role model for the Democrats. Will Congressman Robert Garcia have his portrait in his office?
Photo of the Democrat Party leadership.
Here we go, again.
The USSR sent the probe and the signal. Mars has been notoriously hard to hit. The first attempt was also Soviet, Khruschev spoke of it in advance, without specifics, in case of failure, and it failed to reach Earth orbit. So did their second attempt.
The first mission to reach Mars was the US Mariner 4, which got there a bit early and wasn’t able to achieve gravitational capture and orbit of Mars, so it became a flyby mission, sending back the first close-up pix of the Martian surface.
The first Soviet success was in 1971, their eleventh try.
https://www.space.com/32199-mars-missions-history-successes-failures.html
I would say, there’s nothing to fear, but the darned name is “Phobos”, so...
Its a probe from 3I Atlas which also exhibited non-gravitational acceleration as it went behind the Sun and lately as it passed 2.5 AU from the Sun - between Jupiter & Saturn.
Oumuamua was never explained - all attempted explanations were disproved.
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