A Tesla Roadster launched into space last month is taking one extremely long road trip!
Last month, SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk, successfully launched the Falcon Heavy rocket into space. It was a test launch for the rocket and it went very well. However, perhaps the most entertaining part of the test involved the rocket’s payload—a vehicle made for the roads of Earth. Most test launches involve putting something heavy on the spaceship, such as a piece of cement or chunk of steel.
Musk is much too creative for that and had previously joked that the payload would be the “silliest thing” he could imagine. That ended up being his 2008 cherry red Tesla Roadster and the space dummy sitting in the driver’s seat, nicknamed Starman.
“It’s just literally a normal car in space—I kind of like the ABSURDITY of that,” Musk said. “It’s kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly, fun things are important. I think the imagery of it is something that’s going to get people excited around the world, and it’s still tripping me out.”
The car was equipped with cameras so people could watch Starman’s journey live. The feed lasted about 4.5 hours before the batteries died. However, there is a website, www.whereisroadster.com, which allows people to track the car and driver’s location at any time.
Before the rocket even launched, scientists were hard at work calculating where the car would end up and where its wanderings may lead. Scientists predict that the next close encounter with our planet will happen in 2091 and may even be easily visible with certain telescopes.
A week after the launch, those scientific calculations showed the Tesla will likely impact the Earth in a few tens of millions of years. However, the car won’t threaten our planet because it will likely burn up upon reentry in Earth’s atmosphere. It is also possible that the car collides with the sun before it has a chance to impact Earth. Either way, the car is expected to stay in space for a very long time to come.
“I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future,” Musk said in December.
