In 2018, Elon Musk’s SpaceX demonstrated the Falcon Heavy launch system with a successful test flight, which also sent Musk’s 2008 personal Tesla Roadster into space with a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit named Starman on the seat driver. Now, more than two years later, Starman and his cherry red car have reached Mars. In October, SpaceX shared on social media that Starman took the first close approach with the Red Planet.
“Starman, last seen leaving Earth, made its first close-to-Mars approach today – 0.05 astronomical units, or less than 5 million miles, from the Red Planet,” the SpaceX post read.
Starman, last seen leaving Earth, made his first close-up approach to Mars today – 0.05 astronomical units, or less than 5 million miles, from the Red Planet pic.twitter.com/gV8barFTm7
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 7, 2020
What’s interesting here is that SpaceX notes that it’s the “first close approach” to Mars, and indeed expects Spaceman to get even closer in the future. According to Ben Pearson, who developed an unofficial online tracker for Starman and Roadster (via CNET), Tesla will travel a distance of 1.4 million miles on April 22, 2035. It will head to Earth in 2047.
While it’s fascinating that the Roadster will get so close to Mars, don’t expect photos from those close encounters to ever appear. While there are cameras both inside and outside the vehicle, the vehicle battery has long since died. Musk had initially estimated that the Roadster’s battery would last more than 12 hours, but in fact it seemed to only work for 4, which means that Starman has just come out into space in silence since then.
Both the Starman and the Roadster probably look quite different than they did in the last images sent back to Earth. Living science I noticed earlier that the harsh solar radiation from space probably already disintegrated most of the exposed organic materials – think of things like red paint, tires, leather seats, and so on. In the end, it is believed that the Roadster will be reduced to simply an aluminum frame and maybe part of the glass, provided it survives the impact with passing stones and debris.
What do you think of Starman’s continuous space journey? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.