The mysterious interstellar object streaking through our solar system has a hidden companion that could collide with Mars within weeks.
That’s the surprising new theory proposed by esteemed Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who has suggested that the massive entity approaching Earth could potentially be an extraterrestrial craft.
The unidentified object, named 3I/ATLAS, has generally been regarded by scientists and astronomers as a vast, icy comet emitting significant amounts of carbon dioxide gas (CO2).
Nevertheless, Professor Loeb has highlighted various peculiar clues, including its unusual trajectory that brings it close to several planets, which might indicate that it was artificially designed.
Currently, Loeb has authored a new paper postulating the existence of an unseen ‘precursor mini-probe’ traveling ahead of 3I/ATLAS as it nears Mars.
On October 3, 2025, 3I/ATLAS is expected to come within 18 million miles of Mars, sufficiently close for high-resolution images to be captured by a Mars-orbiting camera called HiRISE.
If the comet is indeed a spacecraft, Loeb has suggested that the object might alter its mini-probe’s trajectory to deliberately fly near or even collide with Mars.
Loeb added that the purpose of such a probe could be to explore or investigate Mars, possibly sent by an advanced civilization to study the planet.
The latest observations of 3I/ATLAS (circled) showed the comet rapidly became five times brighter as it flew closer to the sun
3I/ATLAS’s path (Teal line) is expected to take it relatively close to Earth on December 17. Scientists believe the object comes from a source outside our solar system
In a blog post this week, Loeb explained that a precursor probe smaller than 330 feet (100 meters) would not be detected by human telescopes due to their limited ability to capture reflected sunlight.
Loeb’s calculations showed that if this probe exists, it could reach Mars around the same time as 3I/ATLAS’s closest approach, possibly a week earlier in late September.
The Frank B Baird Jr Professor of Science added that if 3I/ATLAS was a natural comet, any pieces breaking off it wouldn’t have enough speed to travel the huge distance to Mars.
Also, the cloud of gas and dust around 3I/ATLAS, observed by a telescope called SPHEREx, isn’t big enough to reach Mars on its own.
So, if anything from 3I/ATLAS does reach Mars, Loeb argued it would suggest the object is artificial, like a spacecraft or probe, rather than a natural object.
It would take only a small orbit correction, a tweak in the object’s speed and direction using thrusters or an engine, of about 6.2 to 9.3 miles per second this month to put the mini-probe on a collision course with Mars, the scientist explained in his blog on Medium.
Relatively speaking, that’s nothing for 3I/ATLAS, which has been barreling through our solar system at nearly 40 miles per second, or more than 140,000 miles per hour.
3I/ATLAS is also expected to make close passes by Venus and Jupiter this year. It’ll make its closest approach to Earth on December 17, when it’ll be within 223 million miles of our planet.
Avi Loeb has remained adamant that something about 3I/ATLAS does not add up. His new theory suggests that it may be a ship being accompanied by a small probe
The interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS is now believed to be a unique comet that’s releasing tons of carbon dioxide gas
This isn’t the first extraordinary theory Loeb has had about the interstellar comet this year.
The astrophysicist has publicly discussed the possibility that 3I/ATLAS could be a giant, nuclear-powered vessel.
The shocking claim came after the Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of 3I/ATLAS on July 21 which appeared to show the object generating its own light.
Until then, the prevailing theory was that the fast-moving object was an ordinary comet approximately 12 miles long.
However, recent scans of 3I/ATLAS have detected about 940 trillion molecules of CO2 pouring out it per second, suggesting the mystery object really is a comet that formed in a star system that doesn’t look anything like ours.
NASA’s most powerful telescopes also cut the estimate of the object’s size down to 1.7 miles.
The comet seemed larger because over 99 percent of the light observed came from a large, bright cloud of dust and gas surrounding it, called a coma.
Loeb had previously claimed that 3I/ATLAS did not have a coma, stating that the object couldn’t be a comet as we know it without this cloud.
