A newly discovered 'asteroid' turned out to be Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster launched into space in 2018.
A peculiar celestial object initially believed to be a newly discovered asteroid turned out to be something far more terrestrial: a Tesla Roadster soaring through space. The 'asteroid,' designated 2018 CN41 on January 2, 2025, by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, was discovered by an amateur Turkish astronomer. 2018 CN41's orbit brought it within 150,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon, potentially qualifying it as a Near-Earth Object (NEO).
However, within hours, the MPC retracted the designation, revealing that 2018 CN41 was not an asteroid but a car launched into space seven years prior. The MPC stated in a retraction notice, 'The designation 2018 CN41, announced in MPEC 2025-A38 on Jan 2, 2025 UT, is being deleted. The next day it was pointed out the orbit matches an artificial object 2018-017A, Falcon Heavy Upper stage with the Tesla roadster. The designation 2018 CN41 is being deleted and will be listed as omitted.' This incident stems from Elon Musk and SpaceX's 2018 launch of a Tesla Roadster as the payload for the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket required a test payload, and Musk opted for his personal 2010 Tesla Roadster. The car was equipped with cameras to capture stunning views of Earth and space and featured a mannequin in a SpaceX spacesuit named 'Starman,' inspired by the David Bowie song. The citizen scientist who initially discovered the object, who requested anonymity as 'G,' first submitted his observations to the MPC but then began to question his findings. He explained, 'I first went to JPL's Small Body Database to quickly take a look at the Earth close approach dates and potential Mars close approach dates, to see if I could correlate those to a known interplanetary mission. I failed — the Falcon launch had never crossed my mind. I almost concluded it was an actual NEO and stopped looking, but I asked around on the Minor Planet Mailing List just to erase my final doubts.' It was then that Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, began to suspect the object could be the Falcon upper stage. 'Being slightly embarrassed that I might have caused unnecessary excitement (it WAS quite a low MOID ), I quickly went to MPC's help desk and let them know the NEO I just submitted was a rocket stage,' G said. This amusing astronomical case of misidentification has raised concerns among some scientists, particularly because it's not the first time a man-made object has been mistaken for an asteroid. NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), in deep space at the L2 Lagrange point, was added to the MPC's Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) several times. Similarly, the Rosetta spacecraft on its mission to land on the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko was accidentally designated as the asteroid 2007 VN84. The BepiColombo mission to Mercury, NASA's Lucy mission to the asteroid belt, and the Spektr-RG X-ray observatory at the L2 Lagrange point also experienced similar additions and swift deletions from MPC's asteroid records.The MPC, when retracting 2007 VN84, stated, 'This incident, along with previous NEOCP postings of the WMAP spacecraft, highlights the deplorable state of availability of positional information on distant artificial objects. A single source for information on all distant artificial objects would be very desirable.
Spacex Tesla Roadster Asteroid Falcon Heavy Astronomical Misidentification Artificial Objects
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