Elon Musk’s Tesla mistaken for asteroid
Scientists mistook Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster for an asteroid in a debacle that highlights the problem of tracking near-Earth objects.
Discovery of the suspected asteroid was announced in the Minor Planet Electronic Circular on January 2. However, the entry was swiftly deleted when space boffins realized it was actually the Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy mission.
Less than a day after the announcement, an editorial notice was published notifying readers of the whoopsie: “The designation 2018 CN41, announced in MPEC 2025-A38 on Jan 2, 2025 UT, is being deleted. The object was reported throught [sic] the identifications pipeline as a 3-nighter linkage found in the isolated tracklet file and more tracklets were linked in the ITF, leading to a small object on a heliocentric NEO orbit.
“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.”
The mistake was swiftly spotted and resolved, which is how this sort of thing is supposed to work, yet it points to a wider issue.
The Minor Planet Center (MPC), which made the error, is no ragtag band of amateurs. Funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observation program, the MPC describes itself as “the single worldwide location for receipt and distribution of positional measurements of minor planets, comets, and outer irregular natural satellites of the major planets. The MPC is responsible for the identification, designation, and orbit computation for all of these objects.”
It operates from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Harvard, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
This isn’t the first such incident of this nature. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has also been misidentified as an asteroid in the past, as has NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP).
The problem arises from the lack of a single, dependable source cataloging the position of every artificial object. The MPC described the mistake as “deplorable,” warning that it will worsen as more missions are launched into deep space.
In an email to Astronomy, MPC director Matthew Payne said a central repository of data has yet to materialize, meaning scientists have to collate when they can from disparate sources.
The position of Musk’s roadster can be found in a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) catalog. There is also a website loaded with facts and figures regarding the whereabouts of the car at the center of the billionaire’s publicity stunt.
However, while the identification and subsequent correction are amusing, it underscores the growing challenges of monitoring artificial objects orbiting our planet. The US Space Force and several private companies keep an eye on near-Earth space – tracking trajectories to avoid collisions that would make the region less usable.
Without a central resource of artificial object trajectories, cases of mistaken identities will inevitably rise, leading to wasted efforts in observing these objects and straining already limited resources of the scientific community.
As Astronomy observed: “It is a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond.” ®
