‘New asteroid’ turns out to be Tesla car shot to space in 2018
‘New asteroid’ turns out to be Tesla car shot to space in 2018
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A car shot into space by Elon Musk’s SpaceX seven years ago was briefly mistaken for a new asteroid, astronomers say. Earlier this month, the discovery of the object was announced by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
![[TOPSHOT - The SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on February 6, 2018, on its demonstration mission. The world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, blasted off Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster to an orbit near Mars. Screams and cheers erupted at Cape Canaveral, Florida as the massive rocket fired its 27 engines and rumbled into the blue sky over the same NASA launchpad that served as a base for the US missions to Moon four decades ago. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON-/AFP via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237561626-6e33.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
It was first spotted by an amateur astronomer in Turkey, who submitted it to professional astronomers. They named it 2018 CN41 and classified it as a Near-Earth Object (NEO) because it was seen orbiting within 150,000 miles of our planet – closer than the Moon.
NEOs are typically flagged as worthy of closer monitoring because of their potential to one day crash into Earth. But less than 17 hours after the announcement, the Minor Planet Center said it was deleting 2018 CN41 from its records. A member of their team had ‘pointed out the orbit matches an artificial object 2018-017A’ already known to scientists.
That object is none other than a Tesla Roadster – which had been owned and driven by Musk – attached to the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The rocket launched into orbit on February 6, 2018, as part of a publicity stunt while the Falcon Heavy was being tested.
Musk’s old car was fitted with a mannequin wearing a white spacesuit sitting in the driver’s seat named Starman. Astronomers have since complained that the error highlights the risks of having a growing number of untracked objects launched into space.
