Where is the Tesla car that Elon Musk launched into space 5 years ago now?

Tram Ho

Half a decade has passed since SpaceX attracted public attention with the decision to launch Elon Musk’s 2018 Tesla Roadster sports electric car into space, sending the car on an endless journey in the unknown. space of the Solar System, where it is expected to ‘roam’ for millennia to come.

On February 6, the cherry-colored electric sports car was officially in space for exactly 5 years. At the time of its anniversary, estimated data shows it has completed about 3 and a quarter of its time around the Sun and is located about 203 million miles (327 million km) from Earth, according to the tracking website whereisroadster. com.

In total, the Roadster has traveled more than 4 billion kilometers in space, mostly in a vacuum. Even so, in 2020, this vehicle made its first close approach to Mars at a range of 8 million km, which is 20 times the distance between Earth and the moon.

Chiếc xe Tesla từng được Elon Musk phóng lên vũ trụ tròn 5 năm trước giờ đang lưu lạc nơi đâu? - Ảnh 1.

However, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle. We also do not know if it is still intact, as the car could have been hit by a meteorite leading to complete destruction, or eroded to the point of being unrecognizable by radiation. There haven’t been any direct observations of the Roadster since 2018, weeks after it was launched into orbit on a Falcon Heavy rocket. Current data are based solely on calculated estimates of the vehicle’s trajectory.

Astronomers themselves don’t have much incentive to actively monitor the vehicle, as it doesn’t offer much scientific value.

Before it was launched into orbit, Tesla’s vehicle was intended to serve as a “fake block” for the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first mission in February 2018, a launch that even Musk had anticipated. guess there will only be a 50-50 success rate.

But in the end, the launch went smoothly. And the car has been orbiting the Sun ever since, following an elongated path, as far as the orbit of Mars and as close to the sun as the orbit of Earth.

Before launching into space in 2018, SpaceX loaded the vehicle with various objects. Behind the wheel is a dummy wearing an astronaut suit, nicknamed Starman. On the panel, a sign reads “Don’t Panic”, a reference to the popular science fiction novel, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

There is also a data storage device containing the works of science fiction writer Isaac Asminov and a plaque with the names of thousands of SpaceX employees.

Elon Musk once shared, he hopes one day humans will establish settlements on other planets in the solar system – a long-term dream of Musk, which is also the foundation for the stated mission. of SpaceX is to settle on Mars.

And when that happens, Musk said he hopes “his descendants will be able to drag (the Roadster) back to the museum.”

For now, however, the Roadster isn’t likely to pass close to another planet until 2035, when it crosses Mars again.

It will then make two passes of Earth at a distance of several million miles in 2047 and 2050, according to NASA data.

A 2018 study also estimated that the chance that the Roadster collides with Earth within the next 15 million years is about 22%. The chance of it hitting Venus or the Sun is 12%. If the tram collided with Earth, it would be torn to pieces as it re-entered the atmosphere.

Refer to CNN

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Source : Genk