--- title: "Object Spotted Near Earth May Be Ancient Spacecraft" description: "Astronomer Avi Loeb suggests that a quasi-satellite may be the \"relic of an interplanetary mission by humanity from the 1960s.\"" date: "2025-10-30" modified: "2025-10-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/object-near-earth-ancient-spacecraft" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Future Society" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Off-World" - "Space" --- # Object Spotted Near Earth May Be Ancient Spacecraft ![Astronomer Avi Loeb suggests that a quasi-satellite may be the "relic of an interplanetary mission by humanity from the 1960s."]() *NASA / Futurism* Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb is no stranger to furthering eyebrow-raising ideas. Lately, for instance, he's been [hypothesizing]() that the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — broadly believed by his peers to be a comet — is an artifact sent to us by an alien civilization. He has even suggested that the rare visitor [may be behind the "Wow! Signal]()," an unusual radio emission that has puzzled scientists since its detection in 1977. Now, in a [new blog post](), Loeb suggests that a newly-identified quasi-satellite — a small object with an Earth-like orbit — may also be a visitor from a long-dead intelligent civilization. The twist? The civilization in question would be the Soviet Union. Specifically, the researcher suggests that 2025 PN7, a so-called "[second moon]()" that was [first discovered]() to have been temporarily captured by the Earth's gravitational pull in August, could be the remnants of the USSR's Zond 1 mission, which launched in April 1964 — a tantalizing theory that isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. The Zond 1 probe was the second Soviet spacecraft to reach Venus, and the first lander to have been sent there. However, technological issues resulted in scientists losing contact long before it arrived at its intended destination. With the help of Loeb's colleague Adam Hibberd, a software engineer for the nonprofit Initiative for Interstellar Studies, Loeb attempted to retrace the Zond 1 mission's interplanetary trajectory and compared it to 2025 PN7's. Their running theory: Zond 1 struggled to boost itself sufficiently to make it to Venus, circling the Sun in a long-lost orbit — only to have been found again as what astronomers are now calling quasi-satellite 2025 PN7. (Alternatively, Loeb suggested, 2025 PN7 could be the upper stage of the rocket that launched Zond 1.) To put their hypothesis to the test, Loeb and Hibberd suggest getting a "measurement of the spectrum of 2025 PN7," which could "potentially reveal its surface composition and test whether its origin is technological." Intriguingly, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a resurfaced relic of human-made technology close to Earth that dates back to the 1960s. In September 2020, the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii spotted an object orbiting the Sun, dubbed 2020 SO — which was eventually [identified as the Centaur upper stage of NASA's Surveyor 2 mission](). The mission, the space agency's second uncrewed lunar lander, launched in September 1966. However, the spacecraft lost control due to a course correction failure, dooming it to circle the Sun for over half a century. **More on Loeb:** [*The Mysterious Interstellar Object May Be Slamming on the Brakes, Scientist Says*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()