The Tesla 'Starman' in space completes its orbit and could collapse on Earth

On this photo provided by SpaceX in February 2018, a Tesla Roadster launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket with a dummy pilot named "Starman" is heading for Mars. SpaceX via Getty Images

Eighteen months ago, Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket company successfully launched the world's most powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, with the 2008 Musk Tesla Roadster on board. To make the launch more fun, Musk placed a manikin dressed in a space suit named "Starman" in the driver's seat of the Roadster and made him listen to the endless curls of David Bowie. Oddity of space during the trip.

Since then, Starman has spent more than 550 days in space. According to WhereIsRoadster.com, an independent website monitoring the position of the electric car in real time, the vehicle had completed its first orbit around the sun on Sunday, traveling nearly 763 million kilometers since last year's launch.

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"If the battery still worked, Starman listened Oddity of space 151,881 since its launch, "says the tracking site. But that's not very likely, as Tesla's battery would only last about 12 hours after takeoff, Musk said at the Falcon Heavy follow-up briefing at the Kennedy Space Center last year.

The current location of Starman is pretty much 185 million miles from Earth, according to the tracking site. To be able to see it from here, it would take a telescope with a diameter of at least 43,823 feet.

The cherry red Roadster was originally sent on a path leading to the orbit of Mars. Due to the non-sterile condition of the car, planetary scientists worried about bacterial contamination once it crashed on the red planet, which would hinder scientific endeavors aiming to search for life on Mars.

But a subsequent calculation of the University of Toronto Astrophysicist, Hanno Rein, estimated that the Roadster would likely crash on Earth, Venus or the Sun, in just 10 million years .

As expected by this calculation, Starman crossed the orbit of Mars last November and drifted further into the solar system towards the asteroid belt.

The car is currently moving away from the Earth at a speed of about 988 miles per hour, per WhereIsRoadster.com. It will fly again near Mars on October 7th and will approach Earth relatively every 30 years.

Rein's study suggests that we could even have a telescopic glimpse of the Roadster within 100 years if the car flies in a terrestrial radius to the moon.

After its third flight over the Earth, the Roadster's trajectory will become increasingly chaotic and unpredictable due to Earth's gravitational tug, which will cause small changes in some orbital parameters of the car each time it approaches near.