Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster Still Orbiting Mars? Astronomer Explains Why It Isn't
Elon Musk's Tesla car is orbiting Mars, or so he claimed, until a scientist rebutted his claim.?
Like all-things-Musk, context is key here. In February 2018, Elon Musk's SpaceX shot a Tesla Roadster owned by Musk into space. Driven by a mannequin known as Starman, the car was attached to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket in 2018.
On December 6, 2021, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter - "My car is currently orbiting Mars."?An ambitious statement, it's not entirely true. Last year, SpaceX claimed that the vehicle had made its first brush with Mars' orbit.
But according to Jonathan Dowell, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the answer is "well, no."
Dowell went into reality check mode against Musk's claims, charting out the Roadster's orbital path in space. In essence, the vehicle is still orbiting the Sun, just bypassing parts of the Martian orbit around Sun. That's very different from orbiting Mars as a satellite would.
?Using NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons system, Dowell tracked the Falcon Heavy 001 second stage, to which Elon Musk's Roadster Tesla is bolted.
The car was initially supposed to be locked into a circular obit between Mars and the Sun. But the rocket instead ended up in a different path that takes it beyond the Martian orbit in some spots.
Also read:?Elon Musk Showed Tesla's Latest Product: $50 Whistle Which Is Already Sold Out
To complete one orbit, the Roadster takes 557 days, even longer than Earth. According to Business Insider, the rocket would take at least millions of years before crashing. Earth would most likely be where the vehicle crashes.
Other likely crash destinations include Venus or the Sun itself - some time over the next 10 million years, at least according to researchers from the University of Toronto.
Also read:?Elon Musk Hails Indian Talent Shining In USA, In Reaction To New Twitter CEO
A website also actively tracks the location of Musk's Roadster. Dowell's assessments are in line with what the website claims, suggesting that Roadster is indeed not orbiting Mars, to Musk's dismay.
?What do you think about Musk's random project with a mannequin on board? Share your thoughts with us below.?For more in the world of tech and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.??
