It reached within 0.05 astronomical units, equivalent to 5 million miles from the planet. In 2018, the Tesla Roadster was launched into space on the first flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket.
Sitting in the car is a mannequin starman dressed as an astronaut.
SpaceX said on Twitter: “Starman, who was finally seen leaving Earth, made his first approach to Mars today. Within 0.05 AU, or 5 million miles, from the Red Planet.”
The Starman Tesla tracking website, “Where is the Roadster?”, Records that the vehicle is currently about 38 million miles from Earth.
Cars can continue to travel 250 million miles from our planet for a billion years.
When the Roadster was launched, Starman was playing very iconic music with both ears.
“Where is the Roadster?” “If the battery is still working, Starman has listened to Space Odity 264,803 times since launching with one ear. Is there life on Mars? With his other ear 356,811 times. “
“It’s important to be stupid and fun,” Musk said to justify his decision to launch the car into space.
He also argued that stunts would raise public awareness of the work SpaceX is doing.
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Prior to the first test flight in 2018, Musk said: “If successful, the game is over for other heavy rocket operators.
“It’s like one aircraft company owns a reusable aircraft and all other aircraft companies own single-use aircraft. When you fire a parachute at your destination, the plane crashes somewhere. To do.
“It sounds crazy, but that’s how the rocket business works.”
Mr. Musk reiterates his ambition to eventually bring humans to Mars.
According to Robert Zubrin, the founder of the Mars Society, we were able to see “humans on Mars before the end of the last decade.”
To Express.co.uk, he said: “In contrast to the highly successful Martian robot program, the official space agency human program is stagnant.
“A new army has arrived due to the failure of a government-led manned spaceflight program. This is SpaceX’s most strongly illustrated entrepreneurial space company, a relatively small and well-led entrepreneur. Do what the entrepreneurial team was previously thought to be possible only by superpower governments.
“As a result, not only was a very impressive SpaceX feature developed, but an entrepreneurial space race began. This unleashed the power of freelance companies and we see more of this. I’m sure it will be.
“We are confident that we will see the Chinese equivalent of SpaceX, and perhaps in many other countries.
“Elon Musk is serious about going to Mars. I met Musk about a month ago and saw what he was doing.”