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A Tesla launched into space more than two years ago has made its first approach to Mars.
SpaceX sent the Tesla Roadster and its ‘Starman’ dummy driver into space in February 2018 as a fictitious payload on the first launch of the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
Elon Musk, who runs both SpaceX and Tesla, said at the time that the stunt was not simply a demonstration of the rocket’s power.
“Life can’t just be about solving one sad problem after another,” he said.
“There needs to be things that inspire you, that make you happy to get up in the morning and be part of humanity. That’s why we did it. “
Since leaving Earth, the electric car has been in an elliptical orbit of the Sun that completes every 557 days.
Next month, the vehicle’s journey will see it drive-by from Earth, passing 32 million miles from our planet.
“Starman, last seen leaving Earth, made his first close approach to Mars today, 0.05 astronomical units, or less than 5 million miles, from the Red Planet,” SpaceX tweeted.
The rover has already made 1.75 orbits of the Sun, according to a website that tracks the rover’s progress, and it is currently about 37 million miles from Earth.
Traveling at a speed of around 55,000 mph, the website notes, “The car has exceeded its 36,000-mile warranty 36,128 times while driving around the sun.”
Orbit modeling suggests that Tesla will eventually burn out in the atmosphere of Earth or Venus, although this is unlikely to happen in the next 10 million years.
