Elon Musk to send his Tesla Roadster into space on Tuesday
Updated : 15:49
Tesla owner Elon Musk is sending the world’s most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, into space on Tuesday to test its lift capacity which is designed to be double that of any current launcher.
The launch will take place from the Kennedy Space Center and as a test load he has decided to use his own Tesla Roadster.
The design specifications are for the Falcon Heavy to deliver thrust twice that of the currently most powerful rocket, the Delta IV Heavy owned by rival United Launch Alliance, allowing it to deliver a maximum of 64 tonnes into a low-Earth orbit.
Among other applications, that could pave the way for bigger satellites or robots to be used in the exploration of the surface of Mars.
Elon Musk tweeted last week: "Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent."
In typical Musk fashion, the eccentric billionaire also said that David Bowie’s 'Space Oddity' will be playing on the car’s radio as it’s sent into space into Mars’ orbit around the Sun.
"A red car for a red planet", said the entrepreneur.
According to Tesla’s owner there will also be several cameras attached to it that will guarantee spectacular views.
Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX will try to launch the vehicle in three hours on Tuesday at 18:00 GMT, adding that the launch will be postponed until Wednesday should be any technical problems arise.
"If it goes wrong, hopefully it goes wrong far into the mission, so at least we learn as much as possible along the way," he said.
2I'll consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn't blow the pad to smithereens. That's 4,000,000lbs of TNT equivalent. There's probably not going to be much left if that thing lets loose," Musk added.
Even if it fails, the publicity from the test for his two companies were expected to make the whole endeavour worthwhile, having already proved a complete success with the media.
"The weather’s looking good, the rocket’s looking good. It’s going to be exciting one way or the other, it’s either going to be an exciting test or an exciting failure [with] one big boom," Musk told reporters.