Tesla Roadster blasts into space

The idea that the fastest car ever made is a Bugatti Chiron could be turned on its head after a Tesla Roadster was launched into orbit via the new SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

The objective is to propel the Tesla car into orbit around Mars, a journey that could take millions of years.

There's also a chance the car could crash into the red planet.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is also the boss of electric car disruptor Tesla, released images and a live video feed of a dummy (called Starman) behind the wheel of a Tesla Roadster orbiting earth.

It even flew right over Australia.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/960998900243902466

Depending on its distance from earth, the car should be shooting through space at speeds of around 6000km/h, which would arguably make it the fastest moving car ever made… just don't call it the fastest car on earth.

According to SpaceX, the car will be bombarded by cosmic rays and solar winds as it travels through the Van Allen radiation belts and if it survives this first gauntlet unharmed, the Roadster could eventually arrive in orbit around Mars.

Technically speaking, the Tesla Roadster is the first space-borne production car, but there were manned moon buggies during the Apollo missions of the early 1970s.

The stunt was part of the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful rocket built today. The rocket costs about $90 million, which might sound expensive but it's understood to cost less than one-tenth of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. And it can return to earth.

Musk says one of the objectives of the SpaceX project is to develop a city on Mars by 2024.

If the first contingent of human guinea pigs makes it to Mars, they may see the Tesla Roadster in orbit.