Elon Musk: “The car that used to be in my garage is currently in an Earth-Mars elliptical orbit and will be there for at least 10 million years”

The tech billionaire has sent his personal 2010 cherry-red Tesla Roadster into deep space on February 6, 2018, as a dummy payload for the inaugural test flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Since its launch, the car has been orbiting the Sun, carrying a mannequin in a spacesuit nicknamed “Starman”.

The Tesla Roadster is now an artificial satellite that has traveled billions of miles, completing multiple loops around the Sun.

The Pilot: A mannequin dressed in a SpaceX spacesuit is seated at the wheel, with the dashboard displaying the message “Don’t Panic!”.

The Route: The car is on an elliptical orbit that crosses the paths of Earth and Mars, extending out toward the asteroid belt