Well-known astronomer Avi Loeb from Harvard University suggested that a small celestial body named “2025 PN7“, temporarily caught in Earth’s orbit and called the “Second Moon”, may be the remnant of the Zond 1 space probe launched by the Soviet Union in 1964.
According to Loeb, the connection with the vehicle was lost early due to technical malfunctions experienced during the Zond 1 mission. But by recalculating the mission’s route, Loeb and his colleague, engineer Adam Hibberd of the nonprofit Initiative for Interstellar Studies, think the old probe may have been rediscovered after being lost around the Sun.
To confirm their hypothesis, scientists propose making spectral measurements that will determine the surface composition of 2025 PN7. Thus, it can be understood whether the object is a natural meteorite or a man-made spacecraft.
SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE
A theory similar to Loeb’s theory was put forward. It was previously claimed that the object named 2020 SO, detected in 2020, was a rocket part of NASA’s Surveyor 2 Moon mission in 1966. The claim was later confirmed.
