In a bizarre twist of cosmic irony, astronomers recently announced the discovery of a new near-Earth asteroid—only to realize, just hours later, that the so-called space rock was none other than Elon Musk’s discarded Tesla Roadster. The electric car, famously launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018, has been orbiting the sun ever since.
While the incident is amusing, it also underscores a growing problem: the increasing amount of human-made debris in space and the challenges it poses for astronomers.
A Case Of Mistaken Identity
The confusion began on January 2, 2024, when the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) listed a new object, dubbed 2018 CN41, in its catalog of near-Earth asteroids. The discovery was credited to an amateur astronomer in Turkey, who identified the object using publicly available data.
However, just 17 hours later, the MPC issued a retraction. The “asteroid” wasn’t an asteroid at all—it was the Tesla Roadster and its mannequin driver, “Starman”, which had been flung into space as part of SpaceX’s historic Falcon Heavy test launch nearly six years ago.
The revelation left astronomers red-faced, but it also raised serious concerns about the growing challenge of distinguishing human-made space debris from naturally occurring celestial objects.
SpaceX’s Tesla: A Relic In Orbit
The Tesla Roadster, once a pristine cherry-red sports car, has now completed around 4.5 orbits around the sun, traveling at a staggering 45,000 mph (72,000 km/h). Originally, it was intended to enter a stable orbit around Mars, but it overshot its target and instead became another piece of space junk floating in the vast expanse of the solar system.
Although it made headlines at the time for its quirky payload—a mannequin dressed in a SpaceX spacesuit supposedly listening to David Bowie’s Space Oddity on repeat—the car is likely unrecognizable today.
Years of exposure to intense solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts have probably stripped away its paint, shredded its upholstery, and corroded its structure. Starman himself? Likely torn apart by the relentless forces of space.
The Growing Problem Of Space Junk
This is not the first time that human-made objects have been mistaken for asteroids. Over the years, numerous spacecraft, rocket boosters, and other space debris have temporarily appeared on astronomical watchlists before being correctly identified. Some notable mix-ups include:
- NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, which was briefly misclassified as an asteroid.
- The European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe, which was mistaken for a celestial object.
- Various rocket boosters, which have repeatedly triggered false asteroid warnings.
With space exploration booming and the number of objects launched into orbit increasing exponentially, these mix-ups are expected to become more frequent.
Could Mistakes Like This Become Costly?
While this particular error was harmless, misidentifications like these could have significant financial and scientific consequences.
According to Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the worst-case scenario would be spending billions of dollars to launch a space probe to study an asteroid, only to discover upon arrival that it’s actually just a discarded piece of space junk.
Beyond that, failing to track human-made debris accurately could lead to:
- False alarms about potential asteroid impacts.
- Wasted research efforts on objects that turn out to be space trash.
- Collisions with operational spacecraft, increasing the risk of catastrophic damage.
What’s Next For The Tesla?
Despite its decrepit state, the Tesla Roadster remains a symbol of SpaceX’s achievements, a publicity stunt turned interplanetary relic. It will continue looping around the sun, occasionally passing near Mars and Earth, for millions of years—or at least until it crashes into a planet or burns up in the atmosphere.
The next time astronomers detect a mysterious object zooming through space, they might want to double-check before calling it an asteroid. It could just be another piece of cosmic litter left behind by humanity’s growing space ambition.
