A small near-Earth object, 1998 KY26, is accelerating in space in a way that cannot be explained by gravity alone, prompting new speculation about what it is. A study led by the Georgia Institute of Technology reports that the object’s speed-up is nongravitational, and suggests it is consistent with a dehydrated asteroid. The object is also expected to pass close to Earth in coming years.
One prominent alternative interpretation comes from Harvard professor Avi Loeb, who argues that 1998 KY26 could be a lost Soviet spacecraft, specifically Phobos 1, launched in 1988 toward Mars but lost months after departure. According to the reporting, Loeb and co-authors point to the object’s size, shape, and unusual motion, while stressing a mechanism such as solar radiation pressure acting on manmade materials. The asteroid-focused view counters with ideas about internal volatiles and notes that no tail or dust cloud has been observed.
Outlets also differ in emphasis: some foreground the “long-lost spacecraft” framing, while others lead with the scientific assessment of a dehydrated asteroid and the measured context of the object’s approach.
