Tesla In Space
Tesla has stood out in the market for its excellent development of electric vehicles, such as the famous BMW i8 or the new Bollinger B1 electric off-road vehicle. In addition, it is engaged in the manufacture of electrical storage systems for other automobile companies, such as Daimler and Toyota. And it turns out that we now have Tesla in space.
Named after the famous Serbian-born electrical engineering physicist Nikola Tesla, who made important discoveries in the field of electromagnetism, this company is chaired by inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk. Eccentric as he is alone.
The Tesla Roadster space project
Among his numerous investigations into cutting-edge technology, Tesla has taken the step to the space race. The American company has launched a Tesla Roadster model into orbit using the Falcon Heavy rocket, owned by SpaceX. This company, also founded by Elon Musk, has developed several models of rockets with the intention of being reusable space vehicles.
The powerful Falcon Heavy rocket is 70 meters high and weighs almost 1,500 tons. Through the first of the scheduled launches was the mission to take Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster into space as a payload.
Elon Musk himself announced at first that they intended to launch “the dumbest thing we can imagine” on their new rocket. During the months leading up to launch, Musk posted photos of the car before encapsulation and subsequently installed in the rocket systems.
Finally, the vehicle’s sound system played David Bowie’s song Space Oddity . In the glove compartment of the Roadster you will find a copy of the famous humorous sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as well as a copy of the novels by Isaac Asimov recorded on a 5D optical data storage disk.
The launch of the Tesla Roadster
On February 6, 2018, the first launch of this series of Falcon Heavy rockets took place, with the Tesla Roadster on board. The vehicle has thus begun a journey of more than 400 million kilometers in the direction of Mars.
At a speed of 11 kilometers per second, the car is expected to make an elliptical orbit between Earth and the red planet over the next 11 months. After passing the asteroid belt that separates our planet from Mars, the Tesla Roadster will orbit around the Sun between the two planets.
The Tesla Roadster in space
Elon Musk published a graph of the trajectory of the vehicle through the Solar System, which in principle it will travel for hundreds of millions of years. However, some experts object to this claim.
This is because the materials with which the Roadster was made, logically unprepared for space travel, will not withstand the high levels of radiation from open space.
Organic compounds will undergo significant degradation when exposed to radiation from outer space, so fabric and leather coverings will be the first components to be destroyed.
Next will come the plastic and carbon fiber elements and finally any remaining elements that are not made of metal. Due to these harmful effects, it is very likely that in a few months the Tesla Roadster in space will deteriorate until it is completely unrecognizable.
The future of Falcon Heavy projects
The main objective of Falcon Heavy rockets is to get cheaper rocket launches. A few minutes after liftoff, the side modules are uncoupled from the rocket. Behind them, the central module separates from the cargo pod where, in the case of the first Falcon Heavy, the Tesla Roadster has been housed.
From there, the cargo capsule remains on one side, which will continue on its way until it reaches the orbit of Mars. On the other hand, the central module and the lateral modules carry out turning maneuvers to position themselves perpendicular to the Earth and be able to land again. The lateral modules will be able to land on land, while the central part of the rocket, having traveled further, will reach a platform at sea.
