Tuesday 6 February 2018

Tesla Roadster takes one-way rocket ride to Mars

 
Tesla and SpaceX plan to send one of Elon Musk's electric sports cars to Mars on the back of their new rocket in a launch scheduled for later today.

The CEO's old Tesla Roadster will be strapped to the Falcon Heavy, which is able to lift nearly 64 metric tonnes into space, making it the most powerful operational rocket in the world.

It was designed to carry humans into space and the companies behind it say it could open up the possibility of a manned voyage back to the moon or even to Mars.

For now the only passenger will be a crash test dummy sitting inside the Tesla - accompanied by David Bowie's Life on Mars playing on repeat, it should eventually end up orbiting the red planet for billions of years.

Mr Musk says the Falcon heavy is expected to cost around £64 million per flight. This relative affordability is because the rockets can fly back to Earth before landing and being reused.