5 Years in Space, Where has Elon Musk's Tesla reached?


 Five years ago, on February 6 2018 to be precise, SpaceX launched Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car into space using a Falcon Heavy rocket. Where do you think the car is now?

Fortunately, we can always monitor the location of the cherry-red Roadster in space using the site whereisroadster.com. According to data from the site, the Roadster is currently 327 million km from Earth.


The car has already completed three and a quarter orbits around the Sun. In total, the car carrying a mannequin named Starman has traveled more than four billion km, as quoted by CNN, Tuesday (7/2/2023).



In 2020, the Roadster makes its first approach towards Planet Mars. The car approaches the Red Planet to a distance of about eight million km, or about 20 km the distance between Earth and the Moon.


Due to the challenging conditions of the vacuum in outer space, it is not known whether the Roadster car is still intact or not. The car could have been hit by a meteoroid until it was dented or even destroyed, or it had been eroded by radiation in outer space.



Location of Elon Musk's Roadster car after five years in space Photo: Whereisroadster.com

Since its launch in 2018, the car's travel route has never been directly observed. The data currently available is only based on estimated calculations of the direction of the car's trajectory in outer space.


The Roadster car itself was launched as a 'dummy payload' for the first mission of the Falcon Heavy rocket. When launched into space, the car is filled with memorabilia such as a mannequin named Starman, a 'Don't Panic' placard which is a reference to 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', a storage containing an inscription by author Isaac Asimov, and a placard containing the names of thousands of employees. SpaceX.



For now, the Roadster will simply wander aimlessly through space. This car will return to Mars in 2035. After that, the Roadster will approach Earth twice with a distance of millions of kilometers in 2047 and 2050.


An academic paper created in 2018 also estimates the likelihood of the Roadster hitting Earth. There is a 22% chance that the car will collide with Earth in the next 15 million years. Meanwhile, the probability of hitting Venus or the Sun is 12% each.

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