Idiot of the Week: Elon Musk. His Launched Space Junk Tesla

This week's idiot is Elon Musk for so many reasons... from funding the felon, to Nazi salutes, to gutting the government, inciting a massive firing of government agency leaders (like the FAA) and more. But this "idiot win" is about his stupid Tesla that he launched into space in 2018 as a publicity stunt. Recently, it was mistaken for an asteroid, and it's now orbiting the sun. Launching JUNK into space is something absolutely stupid when there are so many dead satellites out there now, and space debris can cause serious problems for space telescopes, astronauts and space vehicles. Here's the story about Idiot's space junk. 

An amateur astronomer submitted evidence of a new near-Earth asteroid that turned out to be the Tesla Roadster that SpaceX launched into space in 2018. (Image credit: SpaceX 

Newly discovered near-Earth asteroid isn't an asteroid at all — it's Elon Musk's trashed Tesla Live Science, Harry Baker, Jan 31, 2025

Astronomers have retracted the discovery of a new asteroid after realizing the object was the remains of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster and its driver "Starman," which were launched into space in 2018.

Astronomers have been left red-faced after announcing the discovery of a new near-Earth asteroid — only to realize that the supposed space rock was the remains of Elon Musk's cherry-red Tesla Roadster and its spacesuit-clad driver "Starman."

The misidentified object, which was launched into space on board a SpaceX rocket in 2018, highlights a growing problem in astronomy that could lead to costly errors, researchers say.

On Jan. 2, the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) added a new object, dubbed 2018 CN41, to its list of near-Earth asteroids. The supposed space rock was identified by an unnamed amateur astronomer in Turkey using years of publicly available data, Astronomy.com reported. However, just 17 hours later, the MPC released an editorial notice retracting the discovery after the citizen scientist realized they had made a mistake.

The Tesla Roadster, which was previously used by Elon Musk, was launched into space on Feb. 6, 2018, as the test payload for the maiden launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. The publicity stunt garnered widespread attention at the time, partly due to Starman — a mannequin in the car's driving seat that was wearing a likely defective spacesuit and "listening" to David Bowie's album "Space Oddity" on loop.

The car and its driver headed toward Mars after escaping Earth's gravity and were supposed to enter a stable orbit around the Red Planet, which raised alarms at the time that it could become a potential Martian "biothreat" if it accidentally crash-landed there. However, the pair overshot their target and instead entered a stable orbit around the sun. Now, it circles the sun and occasionally zooms past Mars.

The Tesla Roadster and its "driver" Starman were the payload of SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy rocket launch. (Image credit: SpaceX via Getty Images) The Tesla has now completed roughly 4.5 trips around the sun, traveling at roughly 45,000 mph (72,000 km/h), according to whereisroadster.com. This means that the car has now exceeded its initial 36,000-mile warranty around 100,00 times.