Mystery 'asteroid' in Earth's orbit is something completely different – and it's Musk's fault
Mystery 'asteroid' in Earth's orbit is something completely different – and it's Musk's fault
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Elon Musk is responsible for unleashing a mystery "asteroid" that has been spotted orbiting the Earth and closer than the Moon. Scientists with the Minor Planet Centre (MPC) designated extra terrestrial object 2018 CN41 on January 2 this year after it was spotted by a Turkish amateur astronomer. Before its designation it was seen orbiting within 150,000 miles of the planet, closer than the Moon, meaning it could be classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO).
But just hours after making the new discovery, the Massachusetts-based MPC announced it had purged 2018 CN41 from its records, with officials having discovered it was, in fact, man-made debris that was purposefully catapulted into orbit. The "asteroid" they found, was the product of an Elon Musk marketing ploy.
In February 2018, Musk put together a crossover of his two companies, Telsa and SpaceX, when he strapped a Tesla Roadster payload piloted by a space-suited dummy to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and launched the ship into space. The 2010 Roadster has spent the last six years, 11 months and 19 days following the successful test mission in orbit.
The car received an International Designator (COSPAR ID) of 2018-017A and Satellite Catalogue number (SATCAT) of 43205 after launch, with the MPC citing its COSPAR ID when announcing it would withdraw the new designation from its records. The organisation said in a statement that it would be listed as "omitted".
The centre said: "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.".
