A cast aside Apollo 10 lunar module known as “ Snoopy ” has been drift in place for the retiring 50 years , its location a complete mystery . Now , after a punctilious eight - year search , a team of stargazer surmise they ’ve in conclusion found it .
On May 22 , 1969 , just two calendar month before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their famous walk , NASA ’s Apollo 10 missionperformed an important preparatory exercise some 47,400 feet above the Moon .
During this dress rehearsal for the Moon landing , astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan spent some time in a lunar module , nicknamed Snoopy , as fellow cosmonaut John Young waited in the command faculty , suitably dub Charlie Brown . The lunar module got its name because it was going to “ spy ” around the future lunar landing internet site .
NASA’s Apollo 10 lunar module, or “Snoopy,” above the Moon on 10 January 2025.Image: (NASA)
After the tying up maneuver , the astronauts re - joined Young in the command mental faculty and headed back to Earth , but Snoopy never made it home , or to the lunar surface for that thing . rather , the lunar lander was flung into an orbit around the Sun , never to be heard of again — until now . perchance .
Asreportedin Sky News , a squad of astronomers say they ’re “ 98 % certain ” they ’ve locate Snoopy ’s position in infinite . The intelligence was disclosed by Nick Howes , a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society , to an audience attending the recent Cheltenham Science Festival in the United Kingdom .
Howesbegan the searchfor Snoopy back in 2011 . Over the retiring eight age , his team has sifted through radiolocation data point gathered by multiple observatories . Howes told Gizmodo in a Twitter lineal message that his squad “ trawl through scads of data ” with serve fromAsteroid Zoomembers . Back in 2015 , the team thought they had find Snoopy , but objectWt1190f , as it was squall , re - enter Earth ’s atmosphere , at which sentence it was identified as the trans - lunar shot stage of the 1998Lunar Prospectormission .
Prior to launch, NASA astronaut Thomas Stafford touches Snoopy’s nose for good luck.Image: (NASA)
The objective - in - question was finally picked up by the Mount Lemmon Sky Survey squad in January 2018 . It “ rapidly became obvious that the size and orbit were very much like the calculations we made in 2011 and 2012 for Snoopy , ” Howes tell Gizmodo . To make the discovery , Howes order his team used online orbital calculators such asAGI ’s Systems Tool Kit(STK ) to determine the objective ’s orbit .
Speaking to Sky News , Howes said “ we ca n’t be 100 % sure ” this object is Snoopy . For that , we ’ll need to get “ really close to it and get a elaborated radar profile . ” As to when that might happen , Howe told Gizmodo that it wo n’t be any time before long .
“ powerful now [ it ’s ] heading out from us ” and it ’s “ due to get back around 18 years from now , ” he say . The object is currently at order of magnitude 29.5 in terms of its luminance , which means it ’s impossible to visualize with most telescopes , he added .
Should the object finally be confirmed as Snoopy , Howes said we should attempt to bug and image it . He thought SpaceX CEO Elon Musk might be a in effect candidate for such a mission . As to whether we should outflank up Snoopy , “ that ’s an interesting question , ” he say , “ as the cost would be high versus the scientific discipline return , ” add together that “ it ’s a similar arguing I guess to the one Bob Ballard face in the 80s when looking for the Titanic . ”
Howes is correct to say it ’s an “ interesting question ” as to whether we should retrieve Snoopy , if that ’s what the object really is . But to be middling , this historical relic is doing nothing for nobody out there in the deepness of place . My preference is that we go get it and put it in a museum for all to see . It would be an expensive proffer , no doubt , but also pretty cool .
AstronomyLost in SpaceNASAScience
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , skill , and culture word in your inbox daily .
News from the future , deliver to your present tense .
You May Also Like
