Elon Musk Unveils Photos Of Tesla Roadster Launching On SpaceX Rocket
SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk shared photos of a Tesla Roadster being prepared for launch on the company's first Falcon Heavy rocket. Musk shared the photos on his Instagram account providing proof that the "midnight cherry" electric sports car is indeed heading to the final frontier.
"Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks. That seemed extremely boring," Musk wrote in the post. "Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel."
Earlier this month, Musk revealed that the Falcon Heavy Rocket will be launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket, which has been under development for years, will be carrying Musk's midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing "Space Oddity" which is destined for Mars orbit and will remain there for a billion years – assuming it doesn't blow up on ascent. The images show the bright red roadster atop a payload adapter, positioned between the two towering halves of the fairing which will be mounted on the Falcon Heavy rocket. This will shield the vehicle during ascent which, hopefully, would put the car on a path to intercept the orbit of Mars. Musk, being the great showman that he is, sparked new excitement for the upcoming launch of the images. Among those impressed included Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist who was also an early investor and former board member of both SpaceX and Tesla.
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The SpaceX Falcon Heavy is one of the most powerful rockets ever made, capable of lifting into orbit more than 119,000. Falcon Heavy is designed to lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost, the company says. It needs to be all that and much more as it's intended to replace the retired Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz as NASA's primary method of sending payloads into space.
