For a billion years or so
It's been so long we didn't hear something new from Elon Musk. Not anymore, as he just revealed what might be Falcon Heavy's first payload.
Elon Musk is not afraid of challenges. Not only he did start a $51-billion car company from scratch, but he also successfully managed to launch several dozen rockets – and also land and reuse part of them.
If his Tesla company is still in 'production Hell' with its most important product, the Model 3, his SpaceX company is doing very well, prepping to launch the Falcon Heavy, Musk's rocket for Mars.
It's an impressive piece of engineering, able to lift into orbit three times more than the current successful Falcon 9 can (63.8 metric tonnes, compared with 22.8 metric tonnes). It's also the rocket Musk wants to use for sending humans towards Mars in the near future. It will have its maiden voyage somewhere at the beginning of 2018 (current launch date is set somewhere in January), and people wondered what it could use as a payload.
Well, wonder no more:
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) 2 decembrie 2017
So, basically, the Falcon Heavy would be the first rocket to send a car in space. Technically, that wouldn't be true, as the Lunar Rover of 1971 had all the attributes of an (electric) car. However, while the rover still stands on the Moon's surface, Musk's Tesla Roadster would be sent into deep space, probably on a Mars-bound trajectory.
What can we say? It would surely be a space oddity…
READ MORE: It would definitely steal the show from Audi's plan to send rovers to the Moon in 2018