Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster in space is now moving towards Earth at a speed of more than 3,000 km/h
- It seems Starman aboard Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster is making a U-turn
- Launched on 6 February 2018, at 2045 UTC, the first Falcon Heavy was launched into space by SpaceX
- But now it’s on its way back at eye-watering speed
Published on Apr 11, 2024 at 6:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on May 14, 2025 at 8:17 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Whereabouts is Starman in the personal Tesla Roadster of Elon Musk?
Well, it seems he’s making a comeback.
Launched on 6 February 2018, at 20:45 UTC, the first Falcon Heavy was launched beyond our atmosphere by SpaceX.
And Elon Musk’s personal Tesla was onboard – with a dummy named ‘Starman’ at the wheel, mounted to the upper stage of the rocket.
READ MORE! Inside the wild car collection of Elon Musk
Experts had predicted that the EV would likely crash into Venus, or the Sun in the years following as it moved further away.
But it seems the $100,000 Tesla Roadster has made a U-turn.
While previously thought to be heading towards Mars, it’s now believed to be coming straight back towards Earth.
That’s because it has completed a few orbits of the sun, meaning it’s coming back to where it started from.
The Roadster and his passenger are being tracked by a dedicated website named ‘Where is Roadster?’ to monitor the car’s progress.
At the time of writing the Tesla EV was 216,927,670 miles (349,111,352 km, 2.334 AU, 19.41 light minutes) from Mars, moving toward the planet at a speed of 2,028 mi/h (3,263 km/h, 0.91 km/s).
It’s also 94,772,478 miles (152,521,567 km, 1.020 AU, 8.48 light minutes) from the Sun, moving away from the star at a speed of 8,079 mi/h (13,002 km/h, 3.61 km/s).
Meanwhile, it’s 55,224,109 miles (88,874,617 km, 0.594 AU, 4.94 light minutes) from Earth.
And it’s moving toward Earth at an eye-watering speed of 2,193 mi/h (3,530 km/h, 0.98 km/s).
So how’s the car doing?
Well, it’s exceeded its 36,000-mile warranty 85,897.8 times while driving around the Sun, (3,092,321,950 miles, 4,976,611,317 km, 33.27 AU).
Moving at a speed of 73,264 mi/h (117,907 km/h, 32.75 km/s), its orbital period is about 557 days.
It has achieved a fuel economy of 24,542.2 miles per gallon (10,434.0 km/liter, 0.00958 liters/100 km), assuming 126,000 gallons of fuel.
In fact, Starman has completed about 4.0496 orbits around the Sun since launch.
If the battery was still working, Starman would have listened to David Bowie’s Space Oddity 612,837 times since he launched in one ear, and to the singer’s other hit Life On Mars? 825,772 times in his other ear.
A telescope about 13,044 ft (3,976 m) in diameter would be required to see the upper stage of the rocket – upon which the Roadster is mounted – from Earth properly.
A smaller one of about 25.1 ft (7.6 m) in diameter could see it as an unresolved dot in ideal conditions.
Without getting too bogged down in the details, it’s a very long way away from Earth at the moment.
That’s all you really need to understand.
The vehicle has traveled far enough to drive all of the world’s roads 77.4 times.
And you can see Musk’s interests in space travel and EVs converge in footage shared by Elon Musk of the Cybertruck ‘Mars edition’.
The perfect thing for Elon Musk’s plan for Mars travel that ‘almost anyone’ can afford.
Well, almost anyone with $100,000 to spare, anyway.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
