SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to send Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster to Mars

[Nehkara]

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SpaceX will attempt to launch a red Tesla Roadster to the red planet

On Friday evening, Musk tweeted what that payload would be—his "midnight cherry Tesla Roadster." And the car will be playing Space Oddity, by David Bowie; the song which begins, "Ground Control to Major Tom." Oh, and the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will send the Tesla into orbit around Mars. "Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent," Musk added. Ars was able to confirm Friday night from a company source that this is definitely a legitimate payload.

Silly payloads are kind of a tradition for SpaceX. Earlier this year, Musk explained that, inspired by the suggestion of a friend and the British comedy group Monty Python's The Cheese Shop sketch, the Dragon spacecraft's demonstration flight in 2010 carried among its cargo a giant wheel of French Gruyére cheese.

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So, this thing has made my evening. I hope some of you enjoy it as well!

[CaptainYooh]

I actually saw the Falcon assembly line at Space-X a couple of weeks ago. Quite impressive.

[You Need a Thneed]

So, if I want to own a Tesla Roadster, all I have to do is retrieve the one in orbit around Mars? Yay, free roadster!

[troutman]

Sounds fishy.

Elon Musk only “made up the story” about sending a Tesla into space because he thinks this is all just hilarious. @SarcasticRover

Hmmmm. This was my first instinct. I was drafting an article; I’ll hold off until I hear more. @BadAstronomer

[TheFlamesVan]

Originally Posted by troutman

Sounds fishy.

Elon Musk only “made up the story” about sending a Tesla into space because he thinks this is all just hilarious. @SarcasticRover

Hmmmm. This was my first instinct. I was drafting an article; I’ll hold off until I hear more. @BadAstronomer

Even if it is a joke, 20 years from now (when Mars is much closer to reality) Tesla and SpaceX will do this as a throw back to the comment.

[Nehkara]

Hearing from a ton of sources that it's legit.

So, excitement!

[CaptainCrunch]

Cause we haven't orbited enough space junk around our planet, we need to start orbiting junk around another planet and no I'm not calling the car junk, but just tossing a car into orbit for a publicity stunt is silly to me.

[troutman]

1) Yes, he’s serious. He’s putting a Tesla Roadster in the top of the Falcon Heavy and launching it into space.

2) No, it’s not going to Mars. It’s going near Mars. He said it’ll be placed in “a precessing Earth-Mars elliptical orbit around the sun.” What he means by this is what’s sometimes called a Hohmann transfer orbit, an orbit around the Sun that takes it as close to the Sun as Earth and as far out as Mars. This is a low-energy orbit; that is, it takes the least amount of energy to put something in this orbit from Earth. That makes sense for a first flight.

3) Is this some sort of cross-promotional thing for SpaceX and Tesla? Musk says no, any more than launching a wheel of cheese on the first Dragon test flight was “promoting the dairy industry.” I was wondering about this as well, but this does strike me now as just one-upping the Cheese Gambit. A Red Roadster to the Red Planet… or near it, at least.

http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/elon-mu...adster-to-mars

[Fuzz]

Have to assume they will be pulling the battery pack out, so it shouldn't weigh too much.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Cause we haven't orbited enough space junk around our planet, we need to start orbiting junk around another planet and no I'm not calling the car junk, but just tossing a car into orbit for a publicity stunt is silly to me.

He’s copying a Star Trek Voyager episode, “The 37’s,” where the crew finds a 1936 Ford Truck floating in space.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/T...ck_the_37s.jpg