Astronomers were surprised to discover that an object they had identified as an asteroid near Earth was actually a Tesla Roadster, launched into space by Elon Musk as part of a publicity stunt in 2018.
The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, initially registered the object on January 2, designating it as “2018 CN41.” Observing its trajectory approximately 150,000 miles from Earth—closer than the moon—scientists suggested the object could potentially pose a risk to the planet someday, according to Astronomy magazine.
Seventeen hours later, however, the truth came to light. The supposed asteroid was none other than the cherry-red Tesla sports car Musk launched during a 2018 Falcon Heavy rocket test. This elaborate stunt by SpaceX had included placing a mannequin in a spacesuit at the wheel of the electric car before sending it on its journey into the cosmos.
On January 3, the Minor Planet Center announced the removal of the object from its official records.
Astrophysicists, including Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, expressed concerns about the incident. He noted that objects like Musk’s car could complicate efforts to track and respond to real asteroids.
“Worst case, you spend a billion launching a space probe to study an asteroid and only realize it’s not an asteroid when you get there,” McDowell told Astronomy magazine.
This unusual case highlights the growing challenge of distinguishing genuine cosmic threats from man-made debris in the ever-busy frontier of space.
