back to article Astronomers red-faced after mistaking Musk's Tesla Roadster for asteroid

Scientists mistook Elon Musk's Tesla roadster for an asteroid in a debacle that highlights the problem of tracking near-Earth objects. Discovery of the suspected asteroid was announced in the Minor Planet Electronic Circular on January 2. However, the entry was swiftly deleted when space boffins realized it was actually the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

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

    Iron Sky

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Angel

      Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

      As someone put it to me - possibly here, in which case due credit to the OP and apologies for forgetting who they are - Werner von Braun must be happy wherever he is because now when someone says "that Nazi rocket guy" they won't be thinking of him.

      1. Irongut Silver badge

        Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

        Nah Mush is just the wannabe Nazi rocket guy.

        Von Braun was the real Nazi rocket guy who used contentration camp victims as workers and didn't care what the chemicals they were working with did to them. Nor did he care about firing his rockets at my father. Such a lovely guy that built NASA for the Yanks.

        1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

          Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

          I Aim At the Stars (but sometimes I hit London)...

          https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053440/

        2. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

          Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

          D'ya think?

        3. FrogsAndChips Silver badge

          Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

          ObTomLehrer: ""Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department', says Wernher Von Braun"

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

          Your Dad must have been one hard bastard for them to specifically target missiles at him.

          1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
            Coat

            Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

            The order was "Fire at Will", they interpreted it literally.

          2. Gene Cash Silver badge

            Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

            My grandpa always said "Remember, don't worry about the bullet with your name on it. Worry about all the other bullets simply marked Occupant"

        5. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

          Re: wannabe / real Nazi guy

          Musk has not had the opportunities von Braun had. Perhaps you are speaking to soon. I am sure the current US administration will work hard on how they treat immigrants. Musk may get the opportunity to catch up.

        6. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

          >Von Braun was the real Nazi rocket guy who used contentration camp victims as workers

          Hey give him a chance, he only just moved the company to Texas. Building camps takes time

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

            Trump’s border czar .. using Texas ranch for mass deportations

            Tesla's new corporate motto - work makes you free!

            1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
              Coat

              Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

              Tesla's new corporate motto - Free work makes Elon richer!

              FTFY

              1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

                Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

                "Tesla's new corporate motto - Free work makes Elon richer!

                FTFY"

                I think you missed the point.

            2. Philo T Farnsworth Silver badge

              Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

              > Tesla's new corporate motto - work makes you free! (emphasis added)

              In case others missed it, that's a loose translation of the German Arbeit macht frei, the "slogan" over Nazi concentration camp gates.

              That's a bit much, even for me, and I am not a Musk fan by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly neither funny nor appropriate, especially as we remember the liberation of Auschwitz.

              Musk, to me, at least, is just a blowhard juvenile edgelord provocateur who dotes on attention, without a sense of history or decency, who happened to make a couple of lucky guesses on technology. I'll hold off on anything further until evidence presents itself.

              1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

                Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

                > I'll hold off on anything further until evidence presents itself.

                Like his Nazi salutes followed by his Nazi joke routine, his support of the AfD ( aka. Nazi 2.0) party, or the range of antisemitic posts on his Twitter stream ?

                1. Philo T Farnsworth Silver badge

                  Re: a problem that is set to worsen as more nations and companies venture to the Moon and beyond

                  Admittedly, that sort of behavior does make it difficult to reserve judgment but it's still more consistent with performative attention-seeking.

                  Whether it's based upon any sort of ideology is difficult to tell.

                  The four letter N-word gets tossed around with great abandon, sometimes accurately, but at other times not so much, which only tends to deprecate the enormity of the crimes of the Third Reich.

                  I'm still reticent but, as you point out, evidence mounts.

  2. Omnipresent Silver badge

    A nazi space weapon

    returning and smacking the population of earth sounds exactly like 2025.

    With any luck it's run on his AI, and accidentally takes him out instead.

    1. Ken Shabby Bronze badge
      Alert

      Re: A nazi space weapon

      If it lands near here, probably get rebirthed

  3. KittenHuffer Silver badge

    I think .....

    ..... that they probably identified it as a Tesla faster than a self-driving Tesla would have been able to!

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: I think .....

      There are no emergency responder vehicles in space. So no danger of the Tesla Roadster running into the back of one

    2. DailyLlama
      Flame

      Re: I think .....

      It only took so long because it hadn't exploded or caught fire

  4. RegGuy1
    Holmes

    AI, anyone?

    Surely this is the sort of problem space AI would be good at?

    1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

      Re: AI, anyone?

      Ask your favourite LLM whether it's a good idea to launch a car into space and see what it says.

      1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
        Boffin

        Re: AI, anyone?

        You made me do it:

        From a purely functional and scientific standpoint, there’s very little practical benefit in launching a normal car (or most terrestrial vehicles) into space. While SpaceX famously sent a Tesla Roadster on its 2018 Falcon Heavy test launch, that flight was primarily a combination of a marketing coup and a way to demonstrate the rocket’s capabilities with an “unconventional” test mass. Here are a few considerations that show why it typically isn’t a great idea:

        [... detailed analysis skipped ...]

        Summary

        Generally Not a Good Idea: From a rocket engineer’s perspective, launching a car into space doesn’t serve any significant scientific or functional purpose.

        Exceptions (e.g., Publicity, Test Payloads): If your mission is strictly to generate media buzz or test a rocket under real launch conditions, sending something like a car might meet those objectives.

        Better Alternatives: If the goal is scientific or commercial, a more purpose-designed satellite or test article is typically the better (and cheaper) choice.

        In short, it’s only “worth it” in very niche circumstances—like demonstrating the capability of a new rocket and creating a viral, headline-grabbing moment. Otherwise, most space missions prefer cargo with a tangible return on investment.

  5. LenG

    Deadly litter

    Forseen in Deadly Litter by James White (1964)

  6. rafff

    Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

    Around here we have breakers' yards for unusable motor vehicles

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

      same here, and we have anti-littering laws too!

      1. Paul Herber Silver badge

        Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

        We need twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was

        1. Hurn

          Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

          If only the launch had been on Thanksgiving day...

    2. hoola Silver badge

      Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

      What is really beyond comprehension is how he was permitted to send this piece of junk up in the first place given that the entire purpose was publicity.

      It just added to the every growing collection of rubbish humans are dumping in space with no scientific or commercial gain.

      1. Mike 137 Silver badge

        Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

        The self-absorption indicated by pointlessly adding his roadster to the burgeoning population of space junk has just been exceeded by his proposal yesterday to rename the English Channel to “the George Washington Channel”. The "richest man in the world" seems to think he owns it (and, obviously, the near space surrounding it).

        1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
          Pint

          Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

          & all this is barely a week into the new regime!

          I was rather saddened that Columbia (The country not the shuttle) caved in so quickly, I was looking forward to the howls of protests over coffee price hikes.

          Icon - I don't drink coffee.

          1. Paul Herber Silver badge

            Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

            Or did the howls of protest come from those who realised that Columbia was the source of their favourite marching powder ?

            1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge

              Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

              Columbia shoes?

        2. DS999 Silver badge

          Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

          That proposal seemed to be trolling Trump (who wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico) rather than being serious. Its like "freedom fries" all over again lol

        3. Bebu sa Ware
          Coat

          Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

          Musk's proposal to "rename the English Channel to “the George Washington Channel”

          The Benedict Arnold Channel perhaps? He probably had the foresight to see where it all was going end and took an early mark.

          About as daft as a PRC online activist suggesting Lake Superior be renamed Lake Xi Jinping although one might contend that Lake Winnipeg is in a way already named after that august chap who we are forcefully reminded definitely doesn't crave hunny.

          At least today I learnt that la Manche is "the Sleeve" by reason of its shape which strikes me as having the virtue of being uncontroversal.

          I believe the North Sea was the German Sea until a little unpleasantness near the beginning of last century.

          1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
            Holmes

            Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

            I had a look at my Vidal-Lablache Atlas général, edition 1894, and it is the "Mer du Nord".

            And the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911, calls it the North Sea also.

      2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

        >What is really beyond comprehension is how he was permitted to send this piece of junk up in the first place given that the entire purpose was publicity.

        It was a test launch, normally you would launch a piece of space-grade concrete. It's in a sun orbit so no real danger to Earth.

      3. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: Tesla roadster launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission.

        Not just junk - was it scrubbed and sterilized sufficiently before being sent up, in order to prevent microbial contamination? What about Musk's skin flakes and DNA now littering space?

  7. Tron Silver badge

    Modest proposal

    El Reg could crowd fund an origami Enterprise on a JAXA rocket that unfolds when deployed in space. Don't tell NASA. Everyone likes surprises.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Modest proposal

      The Japanese did launch a test inflatable habitat. If they had a sense of humour they could have made it UFO (or Godzilla) shaped

  8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    ISTR there was a site tracking a floating tool-bag.

    1. Ken Shabby Bronze badge
      Holmes

      That’s his private plane on flight tracker

  9. Raoul Ohio

    BFD.

    their job is to track stuff in the solar system. whether a found object is primordial or an Elon Musk toy is a classification detail.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      That's what I was thinking. Why delete "objects" they detect but then realise are man-made? Just give it a classification noting that it's man-made. It's still a NEO object after all. Why do they want a separate database of all man-made objects which are further out than local orbits? Do they have some weird fetish over the "purity" of their data? It would make more sense, and possibly give them more kudos, if they simply mapped and tracked anything and everything, with relevant classifications where known.

  10. Eclectic Man Silver badge

    Well

    It is surely better to have detected it and mislabeled it and then discovered their mistake than not to have found it at all?

  11. Missing Semicolon Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Most importantly

    ... where can I get one of those towels?

    1. Paul Herber Silver badge

      Re: Most importantly

      .. on the passenger seat of the Ford Prefect parked outside the nearest bar.

      1. Fred Dibnah

        Re: Most importantly

        It’s not a bar, it’s a pub selling pints for less than a pound each.

  12. gecho

    Vera Rubin to the rescue

    It is said when the Vera Rubin telescope goes online it should be able to detect pretty much every visible object in the solar system within a year with its 3.2 gigapixel camera.

    1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Vera Rubin to the rescue

      Here I was all ready to be snarky about delays and funding, but my goodness, first light is only a few months away!

      Here's to them ->

  13. nautica Silver badge
    Happy

    Astronomers red-faced after mistaking Musk's Tesla Roadster for asteroid

    They should be.

    How could any card-carrying astronomer possibly mistake something that ugly for an asteroid.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like