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The orbit of Starman and his Tesla Roadster. Starman reached the point after the orbit of Mars. The astronaut manikin aboard a Tesla Roadster launched by SpaceX in February continues its journey into space. ( SpaceX | Twitter )
Starman, the model aboard the Tesla Roadster of Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, flew over the orbit on Mars.
Starman's journey in space
This new milestone was announced via a tweet on Saturday, Nov. 3, nine months after its launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The red electric car was the test payload for the inaugural voyage of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.
The tweet included Starman's orbit diagram.
The current location of Starman. Next step is the restaurant at the end of the universe. pic.twitter.com/Ty5m8IjJpE – SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 3, 2018
The restaurant at the end of the universe is, of course, a reference to Douglas Adams' second book The Galactic Traveler's Guide, one of Musk's growing favorites. On board the Roadster, one can also read "Do not panic! – a phrase found on the cover of the electronic guide of the Adams series.
Interestingly, even Starman is a reference of pop culture. His name comes from the 1972 song of David Bowie.
In February, Musk had declared that the model and model astronaut had been launched aboard the Falcon Heavy instead of any other factitious dummy charge, simply because it was a lot more fun. In addition, the private space flight company could not use a valuable payload such as a satellite because the initial trips are too risky. The Falcon Heavy is expected to fly for the second time in January.
Where Starman is headed
While Starman has traveled a lot of miles with her Tesla Roadster over the last nine months, she would not have been heading to the edge of the solar system. Instead, the model astronaut, with her Tesla Roadster, would turn around on her own heliocentric orbit.
Starman should continue to navigate in space for years. According to a recent orbit modeling study, it is expected to cross the planet a few hundred thousand kilometers from Earth by 2091.
There is also a 6% chance that he will hit Earth and 2.5% hit Venus in the millions of years to come. That's if the car is still there at that time.
When he crashes on a planet, Starman and his Tesla Roadster will flare up in the atmosphere. Hanno Rein of the University of Toronto at Scarborough and lead author of the study added that the car will probably not survive in space for more than a few tens of millions of years.
Fans can continue followed Starman and the Tesla Roadster on the website whereisroadster.com.
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