It has already been over two years since the Tesla Roadster was launched on the Falcon Heavy rocket. Exactly on February 6, 2018, Elon Musk and SpaceX sent a red Tesla car on a cosmic journey. How far has it managed to travel so far?

SpaceX does not share the car's location, but there are tools that allow it to be tracked. Programmer Ben Pearson has been trying for two years to approximate its location using the website Where Is Roadster. It is hard to say how accurate this location is, but it gives us some approximation.

Where Is the Tesla Roadster?

According to the website, the car is 134 million miles from Earth and is moving at a speed close to 6,200 mph. The Roadster is now closest to Mars at a distance of 96.1 million miles.

Return Orbit to Earth

Currently, the Roadster is in an orbit that appears to be on a path back toward Earth. However, according to CNET, which previously reported on the launch anniversary, the Roadster will not reach an orbit near Earth until 2091.

So far, the Roadster has completed 1.3 orbits around the Sun and will keep going.

How Is Starman Doing?

Where Is the Tesla in Space and Where Is It Heading?

If the car's battery is still working, it means that the "starman" sitting behind the wheel has already listened to Space Oddity 199,304 times and Is There Life On Mars? 268,554 times since launch. The looped tracks by David Bowie have been set on loop in two headphones connected to the "starman".

On Earth, we are waiting for the return of the star car and are curious about what will remain of it.

 

Summary

The Tesla Roadster launched into space by SpaceX on February 6, 2018, is still traversing the Solar System. According to the Where Is Roadster website, created by programmer Ben Pearson, the car is currently over 134 million miles from Earth and is moving at a speed close to 6,200 mph. The car has so far completed 1.3 orbits around the Sun, and its trajectory indicates that it will not return near Earth until 2091.

An interesting fact is that if the vehicle's battery is still working, the "Starman" behind the wheel could have already listened to David Bowie's looped tracks — Space Oddity and Is There Life On Mars? — hundreds of thousands of times. He is the only such "test driver" in the history of motoring and space exploration.