Did tech billionaire Elon Musk unveil a "UFO fighter jet" named Ethereon in mid-November 2024? No, that's not true: Neither Musk, nor his company SpaceX, nor credible news organizations said anything about the development of such a spacecraft. The photos of Musk at the launch pad in the posts spreading the rumor were AI-manufactured.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on November 5, 2024. It opened:
Breaking News: Elon Musk Unveils UFO Fighter Jet That Defies Physics
The post continued:
In a stunning revelation today, Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind SpaceX and Tesla, unveiled what he claims to be the first-ever UFO fighter jet that 'defies conventional physics.' The spacecraft, named Ethereon, is said to be equipped with propulsion technology that transcends known aerodynamics, utilizing an anti-gravity drive system based on principles of quantum physics.
During the highly anticipated unveiling at SpaceX headquarters, Musk demonstrated the fighter's ability to hover silently, execute instantaneous 90-degree turns, and achieve speeds previously thought impossible for human-engineered vehicles. The craft's design incorporates lightweight nanomaterials and a unique energy source believed to be a form of zero-point energy--an infinite energy source theorized by physicists but never before harnessed.
Musk stated, 'This is not just a leap in aerospace technology; it's a paradigm shift. The Ethereon will be crucial in defending Earth from unidentified aerial phenomena and taking us to a new frontier in space exploration.'
This is what it looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Nov 13 16:35:01 2024 UTC)
However, the image that was supposed to support the claim offered a clue that it was not true.
(Source: Invid screenshot taken on Wed Nov 13 17:36:07 2024 UTC)
The first four letters were "Star." SpaceX does have a project named "Starship" (archived here), but its description on the company's website says nothing about its UFO-fighting capabilities.
Furthermore, the rest of the letters seen on the fuselage merged into a group of illegible symbols, suggesting the presence of generative AI, which frequently makes such mistakes.
According to True Media, an AI detection tool maintained by a nonprofit organization, the image of Musk in the post demonstrated "substantial evidence" of manipulation (archived here) and was likely created by generative AI.
A reverse image search on Google (archived here) didn't produce any credible news organizations publishing the photo in question.
The SpaceX website said nothing about the purported launch of the "first-ever UFO fighter jet" in November 2024. A Google search for its name across the company's website produced zero results (archived here). The most recent update published by SpaceX was dated September 10, 2024 (archived here), and it discussed other projects.
A Google search across Musk's X account for the project's name led to a single similar one-word post from the spring of 2019 (archived here), "Ethereum," not "Ethereon," that said nothing about it being a spacecraft. According to Investopedia (archived here), Ethereum "is a decentralized blockchain and development platform," not a "UFO fighter jet." Another search across Musk's X account for the key phrase "UFO fighter jet" (archived here) produced no results.
A broad search across Google News for Musk's name and the name of the jet produced a single match (archived here): a PolitiFact fact check of the same claim.
The rumor about the purported SpaceX "UFO fighter" was not new: Its early variations had been online at least since August 2024.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims mentioning Elon Musk can be found here.
