The object is either a tiny asteroid, or possibly a rocket body that launched a space probe in the 1960s. If this is a man-made rocket booster, it would have a higher reflectivity than a natural asteroid and would thereby have to be smaller to reflect them same amount of light as a much darker asteroid. 47 Tucanae, a globular cluster with over 35,000 stars, was found to have no planets in observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers expected to find about 17 planets that they should have been able to detect in the cluster which is about 15,000 light-years away. The fact that they found no planets implies that planetary formation may have occurred differently or not at all globular clusters.
Globular clusters are very old clusters, almost as old as our galaxy.
In the next ten years, Mars will be visited by six major NASA missions in NASA's newly revised Mars Exploration Program. Robotic orbiters and landers will visit the Red Planet sending back data and images. In 2010, NASA will send a sample return mission to bring back pieces of Mars for analysis. This program did not include any manned missions. Eta Virginis separation approximate 0.3 degrees, while Mercury is 26 degrees to their lower left.