Elon Musk sense of humor is out of this world.
Seven years after the SpaceX CEO launched the Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers from Earlier this month, the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts confused it with an asteroid.
A day after astronomers at the Minor Planet Center recorded 2018 CN41, it was removed on January 3 when it was revealed that it was in fact Musk's Roadster.
The center said on its website that the registry of 2018 CN41 was removed after “the orbit was indicated to be consistent with artificial object 2018-017A, the upper stage of the Falcon Heavy with a Tesla Roadster.” The 2018 CN41 designation is being removed and will be listed as omitted.”
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Seven years after the SpaceX CEO launched a Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers at the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts earlier this month confused it with an asteroid. (SpaceX via Getty Images)
SpaceX launched the Tesla Roadster on the maiden flight of the massive SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018.
The Roadster was expected to enter an elliptical orbit around the Sun, going slightly beyond Mars and back toward Earth, but it apparently surpassed the orbit of Mars and stayed in orbit. going to the asteroid beltAccording to Musk at the time.
SpaceX launched the Tesla Roadster on the maiden flight of the massive SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images))
When the Roadster was mistaken for an asteroid earlier this month, it was less than 150,000 miles from Earth, which is closer than the orbit of the Moon, according to Astronomy Magazine, meaning astronomers would like to track how close it gets to Earth.
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Center for Astrophysics (CfA) astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Astronomy magazine that the error indicates problems with untraceable objects.
Then Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched his former personal car into orbit. (Justin Sullivan)
“The worst case scenario is that you spend a billion to launch a space probe to study an asteroid and only realize it’s not an asteroid when you get there,” he said.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
