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SpaceX says that Starman, the mannequin spaceman in the driver’s seat of a Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk launched into space, is officially on its way to “the restaurant at the end of the universe.”
The aerospace company posted the update on Spaceman’s whereabouts to its Twitter account back on Nov. 2. As seen in the photo below, the Tesla Roadster launched by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket back in February is now outside of Mars’ orbit.
Starman’s current location. Next stop, the restaurant at the end of the universe. pic.twitter.com/Ty5m8IjJpE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 3, 2018
Live view of Starman https://t.co/gvSlztlE6l
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2018
Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt. pic.twitter.com/bKhRN73WHF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2018
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A study found in Cornell University’s library claims that the Roadster won’t have another close encounter with Earth until about 2091, and could survive millions of years in space. After its first close encounter with Earth, Musk’s Roadster will do so every other 30 years or so.
The Canadian and Czech researchers behind the study, say the Roadster has a 6 percent chance of colliding with the Earth and a 2.5 percent chance of hitting Venus.
BBC reported in the past that its 240 computer simulations claim there is a slim chance the Roadster hits the sun, and nearly zero chance of hitting Mars. If the electric car does re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, it is expected to burn up completely and leave nothing but small chunks falling to the ground.
Musk named the mannequin astronaut “Spaceman” after the famous David Bowie song.
In the month after its launch, researchers at Purdue University called the red Tesla Roadster launched into space “the largest load of earthly bacteria to ever enter space.”
Alina Alexeenko, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the university, said that the electric car “could be considered a biothreat, or a backup copy of life on Earth.”
The risk of spreading earthly bacteria to planets is low because the Roadster was not intended to land on another planet. The Purdue researchers claim that while NASA’s Office of Planetary Protections ensures spacecrafts landing on other planets are sterile, it doesn’t regulate those intended to stay off of planets and in orbit.
“It’s a very small object so I’m not sure how easy it will be to observe it over a year or so — I think it will be very faint,” researcher Dr. Hanno Rein previously told BBC. “But the next time it comes back to a relatively close distance to Earth, 30 years from now, it would be fun to see if we could find it again.
“This thing will be in space for several million years before it hits anything.”
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