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[LectureMaster]

An asteroid got deleted because it was actually Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster

The case of mistaken identity was quickly resolved, but astronomers say it shows the need for transparency around craft in deep space.

www.astronomy.com

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On Jan. 2, the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the discovery of an unusual asteroid, designated 2018 CN41. First identified and submitted by citizen scientist H. A. Güler, the object’s orbit was notable: It came less than 150,000 miles (240,000 km) from Earth, closer than the orbit of the Moon. That qualified it as a near-Earth object (NEO) — one worth monitoring for its potential to someday slam into Earth.

But less than 17 hours later, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) issued an editorial notice: It was deleting 2018 CN41 from its records because, it turned out, the object was not an asteroid.

It was a car.

To be precise, it was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster mounted to a Falcon Heavy upper stage, which boosted into orbit around the Sun on Feb. 6, 2018. The car — which had been owned and driven by Musk — was a test payload for the Falcon Heavy’s first flight. At the time, it received a great deal of notoriety as the first production car to be flung into space, complete with a suited-up mannequin in the driver’s seat named Starman.

The case of mistaken identity was resolved swiftly in a collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers. But some astronomers say it is also emblematic of a growing issue: the lack of transparency from nations and companies operating craft in deep space, beyond the orbits used by most satellites. While objects in lower Earth orbits are tracked by the U.S. Space Force, deeper space remains an unregulated frontier.

If left unchecked, astronomers say the growing number of untracked objects could hinder efforts to protect Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids. They could lead to wasted observing effort and — if sufficiently numerous — even throw off statistical analyses of the threat posted by near-Earth asteroids, said Center for Astrophysics (CfA) astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell in an email to Astronomy. “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,” he said.

And it is a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond.

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[LectureMaster]

 

[Mr Reasonable]

 

[Panajev2001a]

Please swap the images on the right .

 

[Pagusas]

Wonder what the paint job looks like after years in space?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Good to know if a killer asteroid is heading our way, Astronomers can simply delete it.

 

[AJUMP23]

Completely different than the movie.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Completely different than the movie.

Armageddon? With Bruce Willis? Sending a drilling team to a Tesla Roadster requires tough steel nervs, drilling into a lithium ion battery pack is Michael Bay explosive!

 

[Rentahamster]

That's no moon

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I mean it's an orbiting space object why wouldn't they track it no matter what it is?

 

[Hookshot]

He should have sent it to an asteroid so if anyone got there later they'd have something to drive about in.

 

[Valonquar]

 

[jason10mm]

What "transparency" do they want? It was a highly publicized launch, it's not like it was hard to track. And when they found it they just deleted it again, in another year someone else will "find" it and we will get this article all over again.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

An asteroid got deleted because it was actually Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster

The case of mistaken identity was quickly resolved, but astronomers say it shows the need for transparency around craft in deep space.

www.astronomy.com

---

On Jan. 2, the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the discovery of an unusual asteroid, designated 2018 CN41. First identified and submitted by citizen scientist H. A. Güler, the object’s orbit was notable: It came less than 150,000 miles (240,000 km) from Earth, closer than the orbit of the Moon. That qualified it as a near-Earth object (NEO) — one worth monitoring for its potential to someday slam into Earth.

But less than 17 hours later, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) issued an editorial notice: It was deleting 2018 CN41 from its records because, it turned out, the object was not an asteroid.

It was a car.

To be precise, it was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster mounted to a Falcon Heavy upper stage, which boosted into orbit around the Sun on Feb. 6, 2018. The car — which had been owned and driven by Musk — was a test payload for the Falcon Heavy’s first flight. At the time, it received a great deal of notoriety as the first production car to be flung into space, complete with a suited-up mannequin in the driver’s seat named Starman.

The case of mistaken identity was resolved swiftly in a collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers. But some astronomers say it is also emblematic of a growing issue: the lack of transparency from nations and companies operating craft in deep space, beyond the orbits used by most satellites. While objects in lower Earth orbits are tracked by the U.S. Space Force, deeper space remains an unregulated frontier.

If left unchecked, astronomers say the growing number of untracked objects could hinder efforts to protect Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids. They could lead to wasted observing effort and — if sufficiently numerous — even throw off statistical analyses of the threat posted by near-Earth asteroids, said Center for Astrophysics (CfA) astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell in an email to Astronomy. “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,” he said.

And it is a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond.

---

Classic pompous hubris...we fucked up but we'll just throw some dirt instead of admitting it.

Where is Tesla Roadster in Space?

Real-time 3D orbit simulation of Elon Musk's Roadster that was recently launched on top of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

where-is-tesla-roadster.space

There is live data on that roadster already.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

This movie was so awesome when I was a kid.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

What "transparency" do they want? It was a highly publicized launch, it's not like it was hard to track. And when they found it they just deleted it again, in another year someone else will "find" it and we will get this article all over again.

It's just MDS: Musk Derangement Syndrome. Very similar to its progenitor disease: TDS.

 

[reinking]

 

[Pegasus Actual]

What "transparency" do they want? It was a highly publicized launch, it's not like it was hard to track. And when they found it they just deleted it again, in another year someone else will "find" it and we will get this article all over again.

https://www.whereisroadster.com/ well this site has it on the opposite side of the solar system whereas in reality it passed right by earth just a couple of weeks ago... so maybe it's not that easy to track.

 

[-Minsc-]

It must be at least 25 years since I watched this movie. I remember it being quite the trip at the time.

I remember there was this lady whose boobs grew bigger thanks to aliens.

 

[BlackTron]

I mean it's an orbiting space object why wouldn't they track it no matter what it is?

Different rules for a rich object and a poor object

 

[Audiophile]

Armageddon? With Bruce Willis? Sending a drilling team to a Tesla Roadster requires tough steel nervs, drilling into a lithium ion battery pack is Michael Bay explosive!

Carmageddon

 

[BlackTron]

 

[MMaRsu]

From 2018

 

[jason10mm]

https://www.whereisroadster.com/ well this site has it on the opposite side of the solar system whereas in reality it passed right by earth just a couple of weeks ago... so maybe it's not that easy to track.

I'm assuming the date of discovery wasn't the date of the data collection. Elon would be VERY interested to know that the calculated orbit of his car was so divergent.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I'm assuming the date of discovery wasn't the date of the data collection. Elon would be VERY interested to know that the calculated orbit of his car was so divergent.

Hmm, yeah after looking at the article again I see the thing they designated was named starting with "2018." Which was when the car was launched... so they detected it right after launch? And got around to designating it over 6 years later? In which case the whole thing is really silly.

I was trying to get at the fact that nobody is actively tracking it. I'm pretty sure telemetry was very short-lived. I don't think there was much more to the mission beyond generating enough thrust to create a transfer orbit that goes far out enough to hit mars and pointing that thrust in roughly the right direction.

According to the other site linked it already had a 'close approach' to Mars... so depending on how close that approach was and how much error was in the initial calculated trajectory those tracking websites could already be way off anyway. And also when you click the first close approach to Earth the animation shows it nowhere near Earth (whereas it does work for the first Mars approach).

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Elon would be VERY interested to know that the calculated orbit of his car was so divergent.

Well, he is NEUROdivergent, so....

 

[Irobot82]

What else is there to say other that LULZ

 

[TheInfamousKira]

That's one I bet they did nazi coming.

That's one cab I won't Heil.

Two of three Asian astronomers sided with this decision. The third one did not Reich it very well.