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Astronomers delete asteroid because it turned out to be Tesla Roadster
The case of mistaken identity was quickly resolved, but astronomers say it shows the need for transparency around craft in deep space.
They could lead to wasted observing effort and — if sufficiently numerous — even throw off statistical analyses of the threat posted by near-Earth asteroids, said Center for Astrophysics (CfA) astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell in an email to Astronomy. The company’s co-founder and CEO Matt Gialich told Astronomy that Astroforge has not yet settled on a target asteroid because “as a ride share customer, we don’t control our launch date.” He added, “Jonathan McDowell is someone I respect, and I love the pushback. In an email, he wrote: “I’m thinking the holy grail could be a beautiful comet, an interstellar visitor, or an alien spacecraft like in [Arthur C.] Clarke’s book Rendezvous with Rama, heh 🙂 None of that might happen, but that won’t stop me from dreaming about it.
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