Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster
Photograph of the black emptiness of space, with planet Earth partly in shadow in the background. In the foreground is an open-top red convertible sports car, viewed from the front over the hood, with a mannequin in the driving seat that is wearing a white-and-black spacesuit
Roadster car on top of Falcon rocket; Earth in the background
Names SpaceX Roadster[1]
Starman[1]
Mission type Test flight
Operator SpaceX
COSPAR ID 2018-017A
SATCAT no. 43205
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type 2008 Tesla Roadster used as a mass simulator, attached to the upper stage of a Falcon Heavy rocket
Manufacturer Tesla and SpaceX
Launch mass
  • ~1,300 kg (2,900 lb);
  • ~6,000 kg (13,000 lb) including rocket upper stage[2]
Start of mission
Launch date 20:45:00, February 6, 2018 (2018-02-06T20:45:00)
Rocket Falcon Heavy FH-001
Launch site Kennedy LC-39A
Orbital parameters
Reference system Heliocentric
Eccentricity 0.25571[3]
Perihelion 0.98613 au (147,523,000 km)[3]
Aphelion 1.6637 au (248,890,000 km)[3]
Inclination 1.077°[3]
Period 1.525 year[3]
Epoch 1 May 2018

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that served as the dummy payload for the February 2018 Falcon Heavy test flight and is now an artificial satellite of the Sun. "Starman", a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, occupies the driver's seat. The car and rocket are products of Tesla and SpaceX, both companies founded by Elon Musk.[4] The 2008-model Roadster was previously used by Musk for commuting to work, and is the first production car in space.

The car, mounted on the rocket's second stage, acquired enough velocity to escape Earth's gravity and enter an elliptical heliocentric orbit crossing the orbit of Mars.[5] The orbit reaches a maximum distance from the Sun at aphelion of 1.66 astronomical units (au).[3] During the early portion of the voyage outside the Earth's atmosphere, live video was transmitted back to the mission control center for slightly over four hours.[6]

Advertising analysts noted Musk's sense of brand management and use of new media for his decision to launch a Tesla into space. While some commenters voiced concern that the car contributed to space debris, others saw it as a work of art. Musk responded to the critics explaining he wanted to inspire the public about the "possibility of something new happening in space," being part of his larger vision for moving humanity into space.[7]

Background

Photograph of a parking space with the words "SpaceX" and "reserved". The parking space contains a red convertible sports car with Californian license plate TSLA 10. On the rear of the vehicle are written the words "Tesla Roadster Sport".
Musk's Tesla Roadster parked outside SpaceX in 2010

In March 2017, SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, stated that because the launch of the new Falcon Heavy vehicle was risky it would carry the "silliest thing we can imagine".[8] In December 2017, Musk announced that the payload would be his personal Tesla Roadster.[9][10][11] Later that month, photos of the car were taken and publicly released prior to payload encapsulation.

One of the goals of SpaceX for the planned flight was to demonstrate their new rocket could carry a payload as far as the orbit of Mars. The company had offered NASA to carry a scientific payload; NASA did not accept.[12]

Following the successful launch, the Roadster became the first consumer vehicle sent into space.[13] Three bespoke manned vehicles have previously been sent into space: the lunar rovers of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 in the 1970s; all three were left on the Moon.[14]

Roadster as payload

Illustration of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster attached to the upper stage of a Falcon rocket, with a driver wearing a white-and-black spacesuit in the driving seat and the Earth visible in the background.
The Roadster is permanently attached to the upper stage of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The car was permanently mounted on the rocket in an inclined position above the payload adapter in order to balance the mass distribution. Tubular structures were added to mount front and side cameras.[15]

Positioned in the driver's seat is "Starman", a full-scale human mannequin clad in a SpaceX pressure spacesuit.[16] 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 the David Bowie song "Starman"[17] and the car's sound system was set before launch to continuously loop the Bowie song "Space Oddity".[18][19]

There is a copy of Douglas Adams' 1979 novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glovebox, along with references to the book in the form of a towel and a sign on the dashboard that reads "DON'T PANIC!".[20] A Hot 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".[21] The car includes a copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy on a 5D optical disc, a proof of concept for high-density long-lasting data storage donated to Musk by the Arch Mission Foundation.[22][23]

Trajectory

Falcon Heavy liftoff from pad LC-39A
Diagram of the inner solar system with the circular orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars going around the Sun. The orbit of the Tesla Roadster is shown in red, also encircling the Sun, but in an ellipse shape that touches Earth orbit on one side of the Sun, and extends outwards beyond Mars orbit on the other side of the Sun.
Orbit of the Roadster, with the planets of the inner Solar System for context. Its aphelion is ~250 million kilometres (1.66 au).

A license for the launch was issued by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation on February 2, 2018.[24] The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center[24] at 15:45 EST (20:45 UTC) on February 6, 2018,[25] and was initially placed in Earth parking orbit while remaining attached to the Falcon Heavy second stage.[5] After a longer-than-usual six-hour coast phase through the Van Allen radiation belts, thereby demonstrating a new capability requested by the U.S. Air Force for direct geostationary orbit (GEO) insertion of heavy intelligence satellites, the second stage reignited for the Earth-escape trajectory.[26][27][28]

Like all its previous launches, SpaceX live streamed a video feed. It started at the rocket's launch, and once in space showed the Roadster at different angles from cameras mounted inside and outside the car. This is possible because the Roadster remains attached to the Falcon second stage booster from which camera booms are attached at different angles surrounding the car.[29]

SpaceX did not say how long the feed was to run and 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.[6][30][31][32] The images were released by SpaceX into the public domain on its Flickr account.[33][34]

Following the launch, the car and booster were given the Satellite Catalog Number 43205, named "TESLA ROADSTER/FALCON 9H", along with the COSPAR designation 2018-017A.[35] The JPL Horizons system publishes solutions for the trajectory as target body "-143205".[1][3]

The car and booster were launched into a heliocentric orbit that will cross the orbit of Mars and reach a distance of 1.66 au from the Sun.[5] With an inclination of roughly 1 degree to the ecliptic plane, compared to Mars' 1.85° inclination, the trajectory by design cannot intercept Mars, so the car will not fly by Mars nor enter an orbit around Mars.[36] This was the second object launched by SpaceX to leave Earth orbit (after the DSCOVR mission to Sun–Earth L1).

Even if the launch had targeted an actual Mars transfer orbit, the booster on which the car is attached lacks the propellant, maneuvering, and communications capabilities required to enter Mars orbit. Launching into this orbit has demonstrated that Falcon Heavy can launch payloads that could reach Mars.[36] The maximum speed of the car relative to the Sun will be close to 121,600 km/h (75,600 mph) at perihelion.

Cultural impact

The car in space quickly became a topic for Internet memes.[37][38] Western Australia Police distributed a picture of a radar gun aimed at the Roadster whilst above Australia.[39][40] Škoda produced a parody video of a Škoda Superb being driven to Mars (a village in central France).[41][42] An attempt was made by Donut Media to launch a Hot Wheels-sized Tesla Model X to the stratosphere using a weather balloon.[43][44]

Some news reports observed a similarity between the real pictures of a car orbiting the Earth and the title sequence of the 1981 animation film Heavy Metal, where a space traveler lands on Earth in a two-seater Chevrolet Corvette convertible.[45][46]

The SpaceX launch live stream reached over 2.3 million concurrent viewers on YouTube, which makes it the second most watched live event on the platform as of 2018, being surpassed only by the Red Bull Stratos jump in 2012.[47]

Reactions

The choice of this car as a dummy payload was variously interpreted as a shrewd marketing move for Tesla, a work of art, or a contribution to space debris.

Marketing move

Musk was lauded as a visionary marketer and brand manager by controlling both the timing and the content of his corporate public relations.[48][49][50][51] 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. "Thematically, it was a perfect fit" to use the Tesla car, and there was no reason not to take the opportunity to remind the auto industry that Musk was challenging the status quo in that arena, as well as in space.[48] Advertising Age agreed with Business 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."[49][50] Alex Hern, technology reporter for The Guardian, said the choice to launch a car was a "hybrid of genuine breakthrough and nerd-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.[52]

Lori Garver, a former NASA deputy director, initially said the choice of payload for the Falcon Heavy maiden flight is a gimmick 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."[53]

Musk responded to the critics explaining he wanted to inspire the public about the "possibility of something new happening in space," being part of his larger vision for moving humanity into space.[7]

Work of art

Large circular disc of a fully-illuminated planet Earth floating in the blackness of space. In front of Earth is a red convertible sports-car seen from the side. A humanoid figure wearing a white-and-black spacesuit is seated in the driving seat with the right-arm holding the steering wheel, and the left-arm resting on the top of the car door.
The mannequin known as "Starman", seated in the Roadster

Alice Gorman, a lecturer in archaeology and space studies at Flinders University in Australia, said that its primary purpose is symbolic communication, that "the red sports car symbolises masculinity – power, wealth and speed[54] – but also how fragile masculinity is". Drawing on anthropological theories of symbols, she argues that "The car is also an armour against dying, a talisman that quells a profound fear of mortality."[55] Gorman wrote that "the spacesuit is also about death. […] The Starman was never alive, but now he's haunting space."[55]

The Verge likened the Roadster to a "Readymade" work of art, such as Marcel Duchamp's 1917 piece Fountain, created by placing an everyday object in an unusual position, context and orientation.[56]

Space debris

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."[57] Tommy Sanford, director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, opined 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 a graveyard orbit or sent on a deep space trajectory, where they are not a hazard.[58] Hugh Lewis, an expert in space debris at the University of Southampton, tweeted "Intentionally launching a car to a long-lived orbit is not what you want to hear from a company planning to fly 1000s satellites in LEO."[59]

The Planetary Society was concerned that launching a non-sterile object to interplanetary space may risk biological contamination of a foreign world.[60] Scientists at Purdue University thought it was the "dirtiest" man-made object ever sent into space, in terms of bacteria amount, noting the car was previously driven on Los Angeles freeways. Although the vehicle will be sterilized by solar radiation over time, some bacteria might survive on pieces of plastic which could contaminate Mars in the distant future.[61][62]

Orbit tracking

The car and second stage were passivated by intentionally removing remaining chemical and electrical energy, at which point the car and rocket booster ceased transmitting telemetry. Based on optical observations made using a robotic telescope at the Warrumbungle Observatory, Dubbo, Australia and refinement of the orbit, a close re-encounter with Earth (originally predicted for 2073) is not possible.[63] In 2020, the car will pass about 6.9 million kilometers (4.3 million miles) from Mars, well outside Mars' gravitational sphere of influence.[64]

The Virtual Telescope Project observed the Tesla two days after its launch, where it had a magnitude of 15.5,[65] comparable to Pluto's moon Charon. The Roadster was automatically spotted and logged by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope operated by the University of Hawaii.[66] The car was observed by the Deimos Sky Survey (DeSS) at a distance of 720,000 kilometres (450,000 mi) with a flashing effect suggesting spinning.[67]

Mostly black photograph with small white dots of varying sizes making up a starfield, dated as 8 February 2018. Four white dots in a line are each circled in red and labelled with a timestamp at giving the position of the Tesla Roadster as it moves across the sky at four minute intervals.
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.[68] By February 11, 2018, astrometry measurements from 241 independent observations had been collated, refining the positions to within one-tenth of an arcsecond[69]—more accurate than for most observations of objects in space.[69]

Future predictions

Simulations over a 3-million-year timespan found a probability of the Roadster colliding with Earth at approximately 6%, or with Venus at approximately 2.5%.[70] These probabilities of collision are similar to those of other near-Earth objects.[70] The half-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.[70]

Musk had originally speculated that the car could drift in space for a billion years.[71] According to chemist William Carroll, solar radiation, cosmic radiation, and micrometeoroid impacts will structurally damage the car over time.[72] Radiation will eventually break down any material with carbon–carbon bonds, including carbon fiber parts. Tires, paint, plastic and leather might last only about a year, while carbon fiber parts will last considerably longer. Eventually, only the aluminum frame, inert metals, and glass not shattered by meteoroids will remain.[72]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Miley, Jessica (February 9, 2018). "NASA Officially Lists Elon Musk's Floating Tesla Roadster As a Celestial Object". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved February 14, 2018. JPL designated the artificial object as "Tesla Roadster (Starman, 2018-017A)"
  2. ↑ Kyle, Ed. "SpaceX Falcon Heavy Data Sheet". www.spacelaunchreport.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Tesla Roadster (spacecraft) (solution #10)". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  4. ↑ LaMonica, Martin (September 21, 2009). "Tesla Motors founders: Now there are five". CNet. Retrieved September 18, 2018. agreed-upon "founders" of Tesla. … Eberhard, … Elon Musk, … JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright.
  5. 1 2 3 Harwood, William (February 8, 2017). "'Starman' puts Earth in the rearview mirror". CBS News – via Spaceflight Now.
  6. 1 2 Live Views of Starman – via YouTube.
  7. 1 2 Dave Mosher (March 13, 2018). "Elon Musk explains why he launched a car toward Mars — and the reasons are much bigger than his ego". Business Insider. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (31 March 2017). "Silliest thing we can imagine! Secret payload of 1st Dragon flight was a giant wheel of cheese. Inspired by a friend & Monty Python" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 July 2018 – via Twitter.
  9. ↑ "Elon Musk says SpaceX will try to launch his Tesla Roadster on new heavy-lift rocket". Space Flight Now.
  10. ↑ Malik, Tariq (December 1, 2017). "Elon Musk Will Launch His Tesla Roadster to Mars on SpaceX's 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket". Space.com.
  11. ↑ "Falcon Heavy's Debut Flight Payload: A Tesla Roadster". Aviation Week & Space Technology. December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  12. ↑ Mosher, Dave (February 9, 2018), "Launching Elon Musk's car toward Mars was a backup plan — here's what SpaceX actually wanted to do with Falcon Heavy's first flight", Business Insider
  13. ↑ "The First Car in Space". December 30, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  14. ↑ "The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle". NASA. November 15, 2005. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  15. ↑ Knapp, Alex (December 22, 2017). "Elon Musk Shows Off Photos of a Tesla Roadster Getting Prepped to Go to Mars". Forbes. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  16. ↑ Elon Musk Unveils 'Starman' in Tesla Roadster Launching on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket. Hanneke Weitering, Space.com. February 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ Joe Pappalardo (February 5, 2018). "Elon Musk's Space Tesla Isn't Going to Mars. It's Going Somewhere More Important". Popular Mechanics.
  18. ↑ "SpaceX Successfully Launches the Falcon Heavy – and Elon Musk's Roadster". WIRED. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Car Playing David Bowie's Music Will Be Shot Into Space". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  20. ↑
    • @tiamaria68uk (December 8, 2017). "Will the glove box contain "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy"?" (Tweet). Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.
    • Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (December 8, 2017). "Yes" (Tweet). Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.
    • Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (December 8, 2017). "Plus a towel and a sign saying 'Don't Panic'" (Tweet). Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.
  21. ↑ "Elon Musk on Instagram: "Printed on the circuit board of a car in deep space"". Instagram. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  22. ↑ Chris Taylor (February 9, 2018). "Forget the Tesla, Elon Musk launched the first books in an ever-lasting space library". Mashable. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  23. ↑ Eric Olson (February 14, 2018). "Backing Up Humanity: First Arch Launched on Falcon Heavy". IEEE GlobalSpec. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  24. 1 2 Wong, Kenneth; Office of Commercial Space Transportation (February 2, 2018). License Number: LLS 18-107 (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018. Space Exploration Technologies is authorized … 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
  25. ↑ Brinkmann & Santana. "SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch live coverage: Liftoff successful". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  26. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris. "SpaceX set to debut Falcon Heavy in demonstration launch from KSC – NASASpaceFlight.com". NASAspaceflight.com. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  27. ↑ Berger, Eric. "Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy has a 50-50 chance of success". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  28. ↑ Boyle, Alan (February 6, 2018). "Elon Musk explains why SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is risky – and revolutionary". GeekWire. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  29. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan [@planet4589] (February 8, 2018). "I now have confirmation that the Tesla remains attached to the Falcon 2nd stage, which is being observed by asteroid experts" (Tweet). Retrieved February 11, 2018 – via Twitter.
  30. ↑ Weitering, Hanneke (February 6, 2018). "Watch Live Views of SpaceX's Starman Riding a Tesla Roadster in Space!". Space.com. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  31. ↑ "This is what a Tesla Roadster looks like floating through space". CNBC. February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  32. ↑ Foust, Jeff [@jeff_foust] (February 5, 2018). "Musk: will be three cameras mounted on the Roadster, should provide "epic views" if all goes well" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ↑ Michael Zhang (February 8, 2018). "This is the Last Photo of the Tesla That's Flying Away From Earth". PetaPixel. Retrieved February 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.
  34. ↑ Molly Brown (March 23, 2015). "Elon Musk makes SpaceX photos free for public use". GeekWire. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  35. ↑ "TESLA ROADSTER/FALCON 9H". N2YO.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  36. 1 2 Plait, Phil. "Elon Musk: On the Roadster to Mars". Syfy Wire. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  37. ↑ Bayle, Alfred (7 February 2018). "Tesla Roadster in space becomes internet's new favorite meme". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  38. ↑ Ilona (7 February 2018). "20+ Of The Funniest Reactions To Elon Musk Sending Tesla Car To Mars". Bored Panda. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  39. ↑ "Hilarisch: Australische politie slingert ruimte-Tesla op de bon vanwege hoge snelheid" [Hilarious: Australian Police send orbiting Tesla a speeding ticket]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  40. ↑ Western Australia Police [@WA_Police] (7 February 2018). "Ticket's in the post mate... 😉 #AnywhereAnytime #WAPoliceForce #FalconHeavy" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 February 2018 – via Twitter.
  41. ↑ Padeanu, Adrian (February 14, 2018). "Skoda Releases Video Proof Of Sending Superb To Mars". Motor1.com. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  42. ↑ Škoda France (14 February 2018). #MissionToMars (in English and French). Retrieved 15 February 2018 – via Youtube.
  43. ↑ Patel, Joel V. (27 February 2018). "Launching A Tesla Model X Toy Car Into Space Is Insanely Difficult, Incredibly Hilarious". Carscoops. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  44. ↑ Donut Media (25 February 2018). We Tried to Launch a Tesla to Space Too. Retrieved 27 February 2018 – via Youtube.
  45. ↑ Cross, Alan (February 7, 2018). "A Canadian-American predicted what Elon Musk's rocket roadster did yesterday—in 1981!". CFNY-FM. Retrieved February 11, 2018. picture is not fake … photo is from space … resemblance to the opening sequence of a Canadian-American adult animated movie from 1981 called Heavy Metal
  46. ↑ DeBord, Matthew (February 10, 2018). "The Falcon Heavy Roadster Launch reveals how Tesla and SpaceX are already beginning to merge". Business Insider UK. Retrieved February 11, 2018. Roadster orbiting Earth … like something out of the … opening sequence from the 1981 grownup animated movie "Heavy Metal"
  47. ↑ Singleton, Micah (6 February 2018). "SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch was YouTube's second biggest live stream ever". The Verge. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  48. 1 2 Billings, Lee (February 6, 2018), "Elon Musk Does It Again; His Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off on the first try, puts a Tesla auto into orbit—and maybe changes the business of space commerce and exploration forever", Scientific American, archived from the original on February 9, 2018
  49. 1 2 Wnek, Mark (February 8, 2018), "There's Advertising and Marketing, and Then There's Elon Musk", Advertising Age
  50. 1 2 Matousek, Mark (February 7, 2018), "Tesla created the world's best car commercial without spending a dime on advertising", Business Insider
  51. ↑ "The mega-rich have ambitious plans to improve the world; Should that be a cause for celebration or concern?", The Economist, February 8, 2018
  52. ↑ Hern, Alex (February 7, 2018), "Forget the car in space: why Elon Musk's reusable rockets are more than a publicity stunt; The onboard Tesla Roadster grabbed the headlines, but the real success of this week's space adventure was the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle", The Guardian, archived from the original on February 7, 2018
  53. ↑ Richards, Alexandra (February 9, 2018). "Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch was just a gimmick, says former NASA boss Lori Garver". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  54. ↑ Tesla Roadster gets Interplanetary ID. Leonard David. Space. 9 February 2018.
  55. 1 2 Gorman, Alice; Flinders University (2018-02-07). "A sports car and a glitter ball are now in space – what does that say about us as humans?". The Conversation. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  56. ↑ Chayka, Kyle (February 10, 2018). "Elon Musk made history launching a car into space. Did he make art too?". a staggering image … and so impressive that the video seems somehow unreal. It's the greatest car ad of all time. … In 1917, Marcel Duchamp put a urinal on a pedestal, titled it Fountain … and called it art. … a readymade, his word for a combination of everyday objects reassembled or re-contextualized by an artist.
  57. ↑ Is the Tesla Roadster Flying on the Falcon Heavy's Maiden Flight Just Space Junk?. Leonard David, Space, 5 February 2018.
  58. ↑ Kaufman, Mark (February 8, 2018). "Elon Musk's 'Starman' Tesla Roadster isn't your typical piece of space junk". Mashable. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  59. ↑ What you need to know about SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch. Conor Dillon, Deutsche Welle – Science. 6 February 2018.
  60. ↑ Let's talk about Elon Musk launching his Tesla into space. Jason Davis, The Planetary Society. 5 February 2018.
  61. ↑ Staff - Purdue University (February 27, 2018). "Tesla in space could carry bacteria from Earth". phys.org. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  62. ↑ David Szondy (February 28, 2018). "The Tesla Roadster could be the dirtiest manmade object in space". New Atlas. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  63. ↑ Langbroek, Marco; Starr, Peter (9 February 2018). "Starman (Falcon Heavy/Tesla Roadster) 2018-017A imaged in Space". Retrieved 9 February 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.
  64. ↑ Elon Musk's Tesla overshot Mars' orbit, but it won't reach the asteroid belt as claimed. Loren Grush, The Verge. 8 February 2018.
  65. ↑ Masi, Gianluca (February 8, 2018). "Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster imaged and filmed!". virtualtelescope.eu. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  66. ↑ Denneau, Larry (8 February 2018). "UH ATLAS telescope spots SpaceX Tesla Roadster in flight" (Press release). Retrieved 11 February 2018. ATLAS was not looking for the Roadster—it was found during routine observations and automatically identified as a near-Earth object.
  67. ↑ "New images of SpaceX's Starman Tesla". Elecnor Deimos. 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2018-02-11. 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.
  68. ↑ "Here's Exactly How Fast Elon Musk's Tesla Is Spinning In Space". February 13, 2018.
  69. 1 2 Gray, Bill (2018-02-11). "Re: Tesla roadster and booster observations" – via SeeSat-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.
  70. 1 2 3 Rein, Hanno; Tamayo, Daniel; Vokrouhlicky, David (13 February 2018). "The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets". arXiv:1802.04718 [astro-ph.EP].
  71. ↑ Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (December 2, 2017). "Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent" (Tweet). Retrieved February 20, 2018 – via Twitter.
  72. 1 2 Lezter, Rafi. "Radiation Will Tear Elon Musk's Rocket Car to Bits in a Year". LiveScience. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
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