Sun Feb 23 13:20:00 UTC 2025: ## Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster Briefly Mistaken for Asteroid
**Pasadena, CA** – Seven years after its launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster has made headlines again, this time for being briefly mistaken for an asteroid.
The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center initially classified the Roadster as the newly discovered near-Earth object “2018 CN41” on January 2nd, 2025. However, a subsequent announcement on January 3rd corrected the error, identifying the object as the Falcon Heavy upper stage carrying the Roadster, designated 2018-017A. The initial classification highlights the challenges in distinguishing between natural and artificial space objects.
The Roadster, launched in February 2018 along with a mannequin named Starman, continues its journey around the sun. A website, whereisroadster.com, meticulously tracks its location, currently estimating it has traveled over 3.5 trillion miles. While the car’s warranty has been exceeded by a factor of over 96,000, the long-term fate of the vehicle remains uncertain. Researchers estimate a 6% chance of it hitting Earth within the next million years, with a relatively close encounter predicted for 2091.
The incident underscores the constant influx of new space objects being discovered and the ongoing effort to catalog near-Earth objects (NEOs) that pose a potential threat to our planet. The Minor Planet Center has cataloged over 37,500 NEOs to date, with the Roadster’s misidentification serving as a reminder of the complexities involved in this crucial work.
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