In a 2018 campaign to publicize the Tesla Roadster and to schedule a test flight of the SpaceXElon Musk launched the vehicle into space for an intermittent adventure through the cosmos.
The project of Tesla Roadster ended up being cancelled. But the Roadster space, which has the Starmana doll dressed in an astronaut suit, as a “driver”, continues to roam freely through our galaxy.
Since its launch, the vehicle’s whereabouts have been tracked by the website whereisroadster.com. Currently, it appears the car is beyond the orbit of Mars, but it could be heading back to our planet.
According to the website Ladbibleo Roadster it has its own orbit that sometimes intersects with Earth’s path around the Sun, while also going beyond Mars, traveling at speeds of more than 29,000 km/h.
It is currently 226 million kilometers away from the Sun, but it has already orbited the star at the center of our solar system five times since it was launched eight years ago.
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Although the car is heading towards us, the chances of it returning to Earth are incredibly slim. However, if it passes the Earth’s atmosphere and hits the ground, Musk could be held responsible for the car’s crash.
“Space is big, and the likelihood of it causing problems other than making people angry is minimal, but launching things into outer space must be done responsibly and for clearly justifiable purposes, not on the whims of a billionaire,” said Dr. Thomas CheneyVice-Chancellor Researcher in Law at Northumbria University, at Forbes.
“It should also have been a warning sign about what kind of person Mr. Musk is. The only legal trouble Musk could get into is if the Tesla strike another man-made object and cause damage, but even then, under the liability regime established by the Liability Convention and the Outer Space Treaty, it would need to be proven that the Tesla was ‘missing’.”
“Which is something we have not yet usefully defined – and the injured party would need to be willing to go to the effort and expense of taking legal action against the SpaceX and the U.S. government, as ultimately the U.S. government is responsible under international law for any harm,” Cheney added.
Photo: whereisroadster.com. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
