Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that served as thedummy payload for the February 2018Falcon Heavy test flight and became anartificial satellite of the Sun. A mannequin in aspacesuit, dubbed "Starman", occupies the driver's seat. The car and rocket are products ofTesla andSpaceX, respectively, both companies headed byElon Musk.[5] The2010 Roadster is personally owned by and previously used by Musk for commuting to work.[2] It is the firstproduction car launched into space.
Advertising analysts noted Musk's sense ofbrand management and use of new media for his decision to launch a Tesla into space. Musk explained he wanted to inspire the public about the "possibility of something new happening in space" as part of his larger vision forspreading humanity to other planets.[8]
In March 2017,SpaceX's founder,Elon Musk, said that because the launch of the newFalcon Heavy vehicle was risky, it would carry the "silliest thing we can imagine".[9]
In June 2017, one of his Twitter followers suggested that the silly thing be aTesla Model S, to which Musk replied: "Suggestions welcome!"[10][11][12][13]
In December 2017, Musk announced that the payload would be his personal "midnight cherry Tesla Roadster".[14][15][16][17]
One of the test flight objectives was to demonstrate that the new rocket could carry a payload as far as the orbit of Mars.NASA deputy administratorLori Garver stated that SpaceX had "offered free launches to NASA,Air Force etc. but got no takers", and that "the Tesla gimmick was the backup".[18]
The Roadster is the first standard roadworthy vehicle sent into space,[19] following several special-purposelunar andMars rovers.
The car was permanently mounted on the rocket in an inclined position above the payload adapter. Tubular structures were added to mount front and side cameras. Photos of the car prior to payload encapsulation were released.[20]
Positioned in the driver's seat is "Starman", a full-scale human mannequin clad ina SpaceX pressure spacesuit.[21] It was placed with the right hand on the steering wheel and the left elbow resting on the open window sill. The mannequin was named after theDavid Bowie song "Starman",[22] and the car's sound system was set before launch to continuously loop the Bowie song "Space Oddity".[23]
AHot Wheels miniature Roadster with a miniature Starman is mounted on the dashboard. A plaque bearing the names of the employees who worked on the project is placed underneath the car, and a message on the vehicle's circuit board reads "Made on Earth by humans".[25] The car carries a copy of Isaac Asimov'sFoundation trilogy on a5D optical disc, a proof of concept for high-density long-lasting data storage, donated to Musk by theArch Mission Foundation.[26][27]
The launch waslive streamed, and video feeds from space showed the Roadster at various angles, with Earth in the background, thanks to cameras placed inside and outside the car, on booms attached to the vehicle's custom adaptor atop the upper stage.[33][34] Musk had estimated the car's battery would last over 12 hours, but the live stream ran for just over four hours, thus ending before the final boost out of Earth orbit.[7][35][36] The images were released by SpaceX into thepublic domain on theirFlickr account.[37][38]
Following the launch, the rocket stage carrying the car was given theSatellite Catalog Number 43205, named "TESLA ROADSTER/FALCON 9H", along with theCOSPAR designation 2018-017A.[39] TheJPL Horizons system publishes solutions for the trajectory as target body "-143205".[1][4]
The Roadster is in a heliocentric orbit that crosses the orbit of Mars and reaches a distance of1.66 au from the Sun.[6] With an inclination of roughly 1 degree to theecliptic plane, compared to Mars' 1.85° inclination, this trajectory by design cannot intercept Mars, so the car will neitherfly by Mars nor enter anorbit around Mars.[40] This was the second object launched by SpaceX to leave Earth orbit, after theDSCOVR mission to the Earth–SunL1 Lagrangian point. Nine months after launch, the Tesla had travelled beyond the orbit of Mars,[41] reachingaphelion at 12:48 UTC on November 9, 2018, at a distance of 248,892,559 km (1.664 au) from the Sun.[4] The maximum speed of the car relative to the Sun will be approximately 121,000 km/h (75,000 mph) atperihelion.[42]
Even if the rocket had targeted an actualMars transfer orbit, the car could not have been placed into orbit around Mars, because the upper stage that carries it is not equipped with the necessary propellant, maneuvering, and communications capabilities. This flight simply demonstrated that Falcon Heavy is capable of launching significant payloads towards Mars in potential future missions.[40]
Some news reports observed a similarity between the real pictures of a car orbiting the Earth and the title sequence of the animatedcult classic filmHeavy Metal (1981), where a space traveler lands on Earth in a 1950s two-seaterChevrolet Corvette convertible.[52][53]
The SpaceX launch live stream reached over 2.3 million concurrent viewers on YouTube, which made it the second most watched live event on the platform, behind another space-related event:Felix Baumgartner'sjump from the stratosphere in 2012.[54]
The choice of the Roadster as a dummy payload was variously interpreted as marketing for Tesla, or a work of art, with some worrying about the risk to contamination of otherwise sterile solar system bodies. Some also commented on how the Roadster was not aspace debris risk.
Musk was lauded as a savvymarketer andbrand manager by controlling both the timing and the content of his corporate public relations.[55][56][57][58] After the launch,Scientific American said using a car was not entirely pointless, in the sense that something of that size and weight was necessary for a meaningful test.[55]
Advertising Age agreed withBusiness Insider that the Roadster space launch was the "greatest ever car commercial without a dime spent on advertising", demonstrating that Musk is "miles ahead of the rest" in reaching young consumers, where "mere mortals scrabble about spending millions to fight each other over seconds of air time", Musk "just executes his vision."[56][57] Alex Hern, technology reporter forThe Guardian, said the choice to launch a car was a "hybrid of genuine breakthrough andnerd-baiting publicity stunt" without "any real point beyond generating good press pics", which should not detract from the much more important technological milestone represented by the launch of the rocket itself.[59]
Lori Garver, a former NASA deputy director, initially said the choice of payload for the Falcon Heavy maiden flight is agimmick and a loss of opportunity to further advance science—but later clarified that "I was told by a SpaceX VP (vice president) at the launch that they offered free launches to NASA, Air Force etc. but got no takers."[60]
Musk responded to the critics by stating he wanted to inspire the public about the "possibility of something new happening in space," as part of his larger vision forspreading humanity to other planets.[8]
The Verge likened the Roadster to a "ready-made" work of art, such asMarcel Duchamp's 1917 pieceFountain, created by placing an everyday object in an unusual position, context and orientation.[61]
Alice Gorman, a lecturer in archaeology and space studies atFlinders University in Australia, said that the Roadster's primary purpose is symbolic communication, that "the red sports car symbolisesmasculinity – power, wealth and speed[62] – but also how fragile masculinity is". Drawing on anthropological theories of symbols, she argues that "the car is also an armour against dying, atalisman that quells a profound fear of mortality".[63] Gorman wrote that "the spacesuit is also about death. ... The Starman was never alive, but now he's haunting space".[63]
Orbital debris expert Darren McKnight stated that the car poses no risk because it is far from Earth orbit. He added: "The enthusiasm and interest that [Musk] generates more than offsets the infinitesimally small 'littering' of the cosmos."[64] Tommy Sanford, director of theCommercial Spaceflight Federation, said that the car and its rocket stage are no more "space junk" than the mundane material usually launched on other test flights.Mass simulators are often deliberately placed in agraveyard orbit or sent on adeep space trajectory, where they are not a hazard.[65]
The Planetary Society was concerned that launching a non-sterile object to interplanetary space may riskbiological contamination of a foreign world.[66] Scientists atPurdue University noted that the vehicle will be sterilized by solar radiation over time and the vehicle is most likely to hit the Earth in the future, though some bacteria might survive on some components of the vehicle which could contaminate Mars in the distant future if it were to hit Mars instead.[67]
The car and the upper stage werepassivated by intentionally removing remaining chemical and electrical energy, at which point they ceased transmittingtelemetry. The car was observered by Australian astronomer Peter Starr using a 0.43m Planewave telescope atDubbo Observatory, NSW.[68] Based on these observations and refinement of the orbit, a close re-encounter with Earth (originally predicted for 2073) is not possible.[68] In October 2020 the car made a close approach to Mars, about 8 million kilometres (5 million miles) away, at which distance Mars's gravity had no significant effect on the Roadster's orbit.[69]
Roadster photographed with a 0.43 m telescope of Dubbo Observatory in Australia, on 8 February 2018, 16:29–16:50 UTC, at a distance of 550,000 km (1.4 Lunar distances) from Earth. Varying brightness suggests spinning.
Through measuring changes in apparent brightness of the object, astronomers have determined that the Roadster is rotating with a period of 4.7589 ± 0.0060 minutes (i.e. 4 minutes, 46 seconds).[73] By February 11, 2018,astrometry measurements from 241 independent observations had been collated, refining the positions to within one-tenth of anarcsecond and published by theSeeSat-L mailing list, a group of amateur satellite spotters—more accurate than for most observations of objects in space.[74]
In 2025, the object was erroneously parsed as a new asteroid by a citizen astronomer going through archivalCatalina Sky Survey data and given the designation 2018 CN41 by theMinor Planet Center.[75][76] The object was correctly identified as the roadster eighteen hours later and deleted from the Minor Planet Center's archives.[77][78]
The roadster made its first close approach to Mars on October 7, 2020. The next close approach to Earth will be in the year 2047 at a distance of 5 million kilometers, about 13 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.[69] Simulations over a 3-million-year timespan found a probability of the Roadster colliding withEarth at approximately 6%, or withVenus at approximately 2.5%. These probabilities of collision are similar to those of othernear-Earth objects. Thehalf-life for the tested orbits was calculated as approximately 20 million years, but with trajectories varying significantly following a close approach to the Earth–Moon system in 2091.[79]
Musk had originally speculated that the car could drift in space for a billion years.[14] According to chemist William Carroll,solar radiation,cosmic radiation, andmicrometeoroid impacts will structurally degrade the car over time. Radiation will eventually break down any material withcarbon–carbon bonds, includingcarbon fiber parts. Tires, paint, plastic and leather might have lasted only about a year, while carbon fiber parts will last considerably longer. Eventually, only the aluminum frame, inert metals, and glass not shattered bymeteoroids will remain.[80]
In August 2019, as the Roadster completed its first orbit around the Sun,[81] Musk stated that SpaceX may one day launch a small spacecraft orStarship to catch up with the Roadster and take photographs or even return it to Earth for studying solar erosion on it just asApollo 12 did withSurveyor 3 lander's components.[82]
^abWong, Kenneth (February 2, 2018)."License Number: LLS 18-107"(PDF).Office of Commercial Space Transportation. RetrievedFebruary 5, 2018.Space Exploration Technologies is authorized to conduct: (i) a flight of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) transporting the modified Tesla Roadster (mass simulator) to a hyperbolic orbit; and […]
^Zhang, Michael (February 8, 2018)."This is the Last Photo of the Tesla That's Flying Away From Earth".PetaPixel.Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. RetrievedFebruary 18, 2018.The photo was shared by billionaire Elon Musk on Instagram and SpaceX on Flickr. As you might remember, SpaceX began publishing all of its Flickr photos to the public domain in March 2015, leading Flickr to add a public domain designation just days later.
^Frieger, Greg (2018)."Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster in Space – Live Position".where-is-tesla-roadster.space.Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. RetrievedDecember 12, 2018. Select "Aug 15, 2019 Closest to the Sun (perihelion)" in the "Past and future events" section to view the predicted speed at that time.
^Škoda France (February 14, 2018).#MissionToMars (in English and French).Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. RetrievedFebruary 15, 2018 – via Youtube.
^abLangbroek, Marco; Starr, Peter (February 9, 2018)."Starman (Falcon Heavy/Tesla Roadster) 2018-017A imaged in Space".Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 9, 2018.images were taken, 16:39-16:50 UT on 8 February 2018 [...] distance of 550 000 km or about 1.4 Lunar distances c.q. 0.0037 AU [...] 30-second exposures taken by Peter Starr and me with the 0.43-m F6.8 remote robotic telescope of Dubbo Observatory in Australia [...] 2073 close encounter [...] is no longer on the table.
^Denneau, Larry (February 8, 2018)."UH ATLAS telescope spots SpaceX Tesla Roadster in flight" (Press release). University of Hawaiʻi.Archived from the original on February 11, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 11, 2018.ATLAS was not looking for the Roadster—it was found during routine observations and automatically identified as a near-Earth object.
^"New images of SpaceX's Starman Tesla". Elecnor Deimos. February 9, 2018. Archived fromthe original on February 12, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 11, 2018.captured the vehicle at a distance of 720.000 km from Earth ... show a flickering effect that suggests that the Tesla Roadster is spinning fast.
^Gray, Bill (February 11, 2018)."Re: Tesla roadster and booster observations".Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 14, 2018 – viaSeeSat-L mailing list.list of 241 observations and growing [...] continue to be observed for about two weeks. [...] know the position of this object to better than a tenth of an arcsecond, [...] Almost nobody is getting data that accurate.
Missions are ordered by launch date. Sign† indicates failure en route or before intended mission data returned.‡ indicates use of the planet as agravity assist en route to another destination.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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