WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE TESLA?
Experts predict smooth sailing – and, ultimately, salvage
The Tesla Roadster that rode SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket into space Tuesday afternoon, February 6, seems poised to overshoot its mark as company CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
Experts nonetheless predicted smooth sailing for the cherry red convertible and the spacesuit-wearing mannequin, Starman, positioned behind the wheel. Even in the asteroid belt, it seems the car is unlikely to encounter anything beyond ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays and other highly charged particles, and the occasional micrometeroid.
With no oxygen and no water, there’s no chance that the Roadster will rust. But given the ongoing exposure to UV light, the car’s “paint will start to fade over time just as any car does here in Phoenix in the desert,” said Dr. Jim Bell, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University and the president of the Planetary Society.
In a press conference held after the launch, Musk said he expected the car to be “out there in space for maybe millions or billions of years.” But Bell isn’t so sure. He said that at some point – perhaps 50 to 100 years from now – it will be “a juicy target for salvage,” and someone will mount a new space mission to recapture the Roadster and bring it back to Earth.
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~~SpaceX Launches Car Into Orbit: Starman In The Sky~~
NBC News
~~Published on Feb 7, 2018~~
Yes, this is a car in space! A red Tesla Roadster is orbiting the sun, with a dummy astronaut in the driver’s seat. The vehicle hitched a ride into space in the payload of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, the world’s largest rocket.