When SpaceX needed a dummy payload when undergoing testing for its spaceship exploits, Musk sent his Roadster, complete with a spacesuit clad ‘astronaut’ named Starman, into space as it was the “silliest thing we can imagine”.
Since then the Roadster has surpassed its 36,000 mile warranty well over 66,000 times has done enough mileage to travel all of world’s roads 60 times.
The Roadster is currently ‘driving’ over on the far side of the sun, around 190 million miles away from the Earth and travelling away from us at a speed of around 11,000mph.
In 2020, the vehicle made its first ‘close’ pass with Mars, when it came within 5 million miles of the planet — or about 20 times the distance between the Earth and the moon – although NASA data says it’s unlikely the car will go close to another planet until 2035 when it will go by Mars again.
It’s then estimated to make two passes within a few million miles of Earth in 2047 and 2050.
The fate of the roadster likely won’t be known for many millions of years but when launching, Musk did hope “descendants will be able to drag [the roadster] back to a museum.”