SpaceX brought one of Elon Musk's Tesla vehicles into outer space. Five years later, here's what happened to the roadster.
What Happened to Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster in Space?
On Feb. 6, 2018, SpaceX launched a red-colored sports car toward Mars, Observer reported. The car is on its endless journey into the cosmic wilderness.
On Monday, SpaceX celebrated its fifth anniversary. According to CNN, the roadster has logged over 2.5 billion miles in space.
In 2020, the vehicle made its closest approach to the Red Planet, passing within 5 million miles of the planet or about 20 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
The outlet noted that it's difficult to say where the sports car is exactly at this point and if it's still in one piece. There are chances that it may have been hit by a meteoroid or eroded beyond recognition by radiation.
Tesla intended it to be a throw-away "dummy payload" for Falcon Heavy's first mission in February 2018. Musk had predicted a 50-50 success, and it blasted off without a hitch.
The Tesla roadster has been circling the Sun, taking an oblong path that swings as far out as Mars' orbital path. As of Monday, five years since it was launched, it reportedly intersected with Mars' path.
Hanno Rein, an astrophysicist at the University of Toronto in Canada, wrote an academic paper estimating the future of the roadster in space and its possibility of colliding with Earth, Venus or the Sun.
According to him, the odds that it will crash with Earth and burn out in the planet's atmosphere within the next 15 million years is about 22%. There is a 12% chance it will crash into Venus or the Sun.
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What Do You Need to Know About Tesla's Roadster
Roadster is an all-electric supercar. It maximizes the potential of aerodynamics engineering with its record-setting performance and efficiency.
It has a lightweight, removal glass roof in the trunk for an open-air and convertible driving experience.
When SpaceX launched Tesla's vehicle into space, they loaded it with various Easter eggs, including a spacesuit-clad mannequin named Starman.
On the dashboard was a sign that read "Don't Panic," a reference to the popular science fiction The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
There's also a data storage device loaded with sci-fi writer Isaac Asminov's works and a plaque inscribed with the names of thousands of SpaceX employees.
At the launch, the Tesla CEO said he hoped humans would one day establish settlements on other planets in the solar system. Musk aims to colonize Mars in the future.
He added that when that happens, he hoped the descendants would be able to drag the roadster and place it in a museum.
The Telsa roadster is unlikely to pass near another planet until 2035, when it will make another close approach to Mars again. NASA will make two passes within a few million miles of Earth in 2047 and 2050.
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