Astronomers at the Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts mistakenly identified Elon Musk's SpaceX Tesla Roadster as an asteroid, highlighting the challenges of tracking unidentified objects in space.
Elon Musk 's sense of humor appears to extend beyond Earth. Seven years after the Space X CEO sent a Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts mistakenly identified it as an asteroid earlier this month. A day after the astronomers at the Minor Planet Center registered 2018 CN41, it was deleted on January 3rd when they realized it was actually Musk's roadster.
The center stated on its website that 2018 CN41's registration was removed after '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 incident highlights the challenges of tracking unidentified objects in space. SpaceX launched the Tesla Roadster on the inaugural flight of SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018. The roadster was predicted to enter an elliptical orbit around the sun, venturing slightly beyond Mars and returning toward Earth. However, it seems to have surpassed Mars' orbit and continued its journey into the asteroid belt, according to Musk at the time.When the roadster was mistakenly identified as an asteroid earlier this month, it was less than 150,000 miles from Earth, closer than the moon's orbit, as reported by Astronomy Magazine. This proximity prompted astronomers to monitor its trajectory and potential impact. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA), told Astronomy magazine that the error underscores the difficulties associated with untracked objects. 'In the worst-case scenario,' he said, 'you spend a billion dollars launching a space probe to study an asteroid and only discover it's not an asteroid when you arrive.' Fox News Digital has reached out to SpaceX for comment
ELON MUSK SPACEX ASTRONOMERS ASTEROID TESLA ROADSTER SPACE DEBRIS
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