No. The object designated 2018 CN41 was determined to be artificial, not a natural asteroid. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recorded that finding on January 3, 2025, and said the object’s records were removed from its Sentry impact-monitoring tables. NASA orbital-debris records list the Tesla Roadster launched with Falcon Heavy in 2018 in a heliocentric orbit, matching the reported identification.
Was the asteroid really Elon Musk’s Tesla?
Yes—the apparent asteroid candidate was identified as the Tesla Roadster sent into space on the first Falcon Heavy flight. The object’s designation, 2018 CN41, does not mean it was discovered or identified as artificial in 2018. NASA JPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) says it was determined to be artificial on January 3, 2025, under Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPEC) 2025-A49. JPL’s note says the corresponding records were removed from the Sentry tables. NASA JPL CNEOS Sentry
NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office lists “TESLA ROADSTER/FALCON 9H” among first-quarter 2018 missions and gives its orbit as heliocentric—an orbit around the Sun. That launch record supplies the key context for the identification. NASA Orbital Debris Quarterly News, Volume 22, Issue 2
Why was the Tesla Roadster mistaken for an asteroid?
Objects moving through space are tracked from observations, and their positions can be used to calculate orbits. A candidate with a computed orbit may initially be handled as an asteroid until observations or other records clarify what it is. In this case, the available official records establish the correction and the Roadster’s heliocentric orbit; they do not document exactly which observation first prompted the identification or how the match was made.
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The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the repository for observations and computed orbits of asteroids and comets, including near-Earth-object data. JPL CNEOS publishes operational information about objects in its impact-monitoring system. These are related but distinct records: the MPC handles the observation and orbit record, while JPL’s note documents the artificial-object determination and removal from Sentry. Minor Planet Center
What is confirmed about the timeline?
- February 2018: NASA’s orbital-debris report records the Tesla Roadster/Falcon Heavy payload among first-quarter missions and lists its orbit as heliocentric.
- 2018: The year in the designation 2018 CN41 is part of the object’s designation; it is not, by itself, evidence of when the artificial identification occurred.
- January 3, 2025: JPL CNEOS records that 2018 CN41 was determined to be artificial under MPEC 2025-A49 and that the corresponding records were removed from the Sentry tables.
A secondary account gives January 2, 2024, as the date of an initial listing, but that conflicts with the official JPL record’s chronology. The JPL source establishes the 2025 determination; the exact initial listing time is not established here.
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Was 2018 CN41 ever an impact threat?
The records cited here do not describe an impact warning. JPL says the object was determined to be artificial and removed from Sentry, its impact-monitoring tables. That is a correction to an object’s classification, not evidence that the Roadster posed a collision threat to Earth.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does this case show about asteroid tracking?
It shows why candidate-object records need to be checked against known launches and human-made objects, especially when an object is in an orbit around the Sun. The sources establish this particular correction, but they do not establish how often similar mix-ups occur or what broader costs they create.
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