The General Director of the company SpaceX Ilon Musk stands out for his desire to make humanity an interplanetary view. In addition, he loves to surprise people with new breakthrough inventions, powerful flamethrowers, or even launching a personal car into space.
Tesla Roadster Mission
From 2018 an elegant sports electric car Tesla Roadster belonging to Ilon Mask is racing through space. But it was just a beautiful addition to the main goal of the launch - a demonstration of the capabilities of a super-heavy rocket. We are talking about the famous Falcon Heavy.
Musk dreamed of proving that this rocket was able to deliver cargo to the Red Planet. But he himself said that at the same time he wanted to launch the strangest and stupidest thing to choose. The option was a beautiful cherry electric, acting as a payload. Why precisely he?
First, it was test flight. Therefore, it would be foolish to use real satellites and expensive spacecraft. Secondly, no one has ever sent cars to Mars, so this decision caused resonance and attracted more attention.
Driver behind the wheel
The rocket took off on February 6, 2018, freeing the machine in near-earth orbit, after which the payload went to the solar elliptical orbit. Musk did not leave Tesla alone, so they put dummy in a suit of an astronaut (name - Starman) behind the steering wheel, enjoying David Space’s legendary Space Oddity in flight. In addition, on board you can find Douglas Adams' novel “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” and a towel on which there is an inscription “Do not panic!” (Be sure to read the book and understand).
The car will not land on the Martian surface (only approaching 7.3 million km). Also does not go to the asteroid belt. The Roadster rotates around the Sun along an elliptical route, performing a full turn every 557 days. Until the end of this year, the machine will perform the first orbital circling.
If nothing happens, the car will continue to turn for millions of years. Now he has managed to overcome a distance of 807 million km. This is a small object, so it will not be possible to track it through a telescope. Although by 2091 it will come closer to the planet and we can try to look into powerful hardware.
How will the Tesla Roadster ride end?
Many researchers refer to the fact that a car cannot rotate for millions of years without incident. Every year the probability of collisions with space debris, meteorites, Venus or Earth will increase (you should not panic because it will burn in the atmosphere).
Yes, and you will never see the car in excellent condition. William Carroll (the chemist) relies on cosmic radiation, which has long since begun to destroy organic material (plastic and carbon frames). But still the features of the car will remain recognizable.
Postscript
By the way, there is a fan site for the mission https://www.whereisroadster.com/charts/, created by electrical engineer Ben Pearson. It displays the approximate trajectory of the car, calculated until November 2020. It is possible to trace the movement along with the planets rotating in orbit around the Sun.
