Elon Musk Is Launching His Own Car Into Space
Elon Musk recently revealed the second-generation Tesla Roadster with great fanfare. But since it’s better than the old Roadster in every conceivable way, that leaves Mr. Musk to answer a burning question: since he’ll obviously get the new one when it comes out, what’s a fitting eulogy for its grandfather?
The answer, apparently, is to launch it into space. No, not on the back of a Reliant Robin space shuttle. Instead it’ll be shoved inside SpaceX’s newest and most impressive rocket, the Falcon Heavy, which can presumably carry much heavier space things than usual.
Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017
Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017
In typical Musk fashion, the Roadster will also be blasting David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” and if all goes according to plan, will be spinning around Mars for a couple billion years. Or until someone from his Mars colony gets bored in a couple decades and sends a shuttle up to retrieve it, should their Martian buggy break down. It should also set a new record for an electric car traveling the farthest distance on a single charge.
Musk still seems to be pushing forth with his plans to dominate the consumer space-travel industry, although we haven’t heard anything about his rocket-bus-travel thing. But he has hinted that the next-gen Roadster might gain short-range VTOL capabilities, so if you want a flying car anytime soon, Tesla are the ones to watch.
