Elon Musk is ready for a new milestone for humanity now, as the launching of his SpaceX rocket has made the Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) positive that the spacecraft will enter Mars' orbit.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been successfully launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Los Angeles last week on Friday, Dec. 22. The rocket will be carrying 10 Iridium Next communications satellites into orbit. These can reportedly be used to establish a line of communication from Earth to Mars, making future travels colonization plans easier.
Musk, however, did not show any signs of stopping there, as he and his hardworking engineers are building a successor to the Falcon 9 already, named Falcon Heavy. This spacecraft will carry one of his famed Tesla cars named Tesla Roadster, which the CEO plans to send into the orbit of Mars, making it officially the first car to be sent in space should the success follow through.
This will test how heavy of a payload the Falcon series of rockets can carry out into space and will pave way for stronger tests rockets and bigger payloads in the near future. The Falcon Heavy is also set to be the world's most powerful rocket, as it utilizes three boosters strapped together. Together, these three should have enough thrust to break a record, as well as launch the rocket outside the Earth's atmosphere and gravity barrier, even with a significantly heavy baggage.
It is worth noting that the inclusion of a real Tesla Roadster in the first Falcon Heavy launch will make the rocket prone to explosions and fire, which is why they will only be using a dummy model during the launch. In addition, the Roadster is quite a valuable payload, which is why Musk has stated, "Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks. That seemed extremely boring. Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel."
With this, Musk not only aims for Mars but for farther ventures into the Solar System and beyond as well.
