Elon Musk isn't kidding around when he says he'll send a Tesla Roadster to Mars, releases Instagram pic to prove it

Elon Musk had made his plans known of putting a **Tesla Roadster**  into Martian orbit a while back. Quite a few people didn’t take him seriously. However, on 22 December, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO put out photos on Instagram showing the car inside the fairing of the **Falcon Heavy rocket** . The rocket, according to reports, is set to be launched in January 2018. You’d better believe in him now, dammit! [caption id=“attachment_4272277” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Tesla Roadster 2008 being prepped for launch. Elon Musk/Instagram[/caption] Musk wrote on Instagram “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". According to SpaceX_,_ the Falcon Heavy is set to be the most powerful rocket in the world and we think it will certainly further Musk’s ambitions of making humans an **interplanetary species** . BusinessInsider claims that the thrust in the rocket is so powerful that it can launch something heavier than the Tesla Roadster not only to Mars, but to Pluto as well. Before this, Musk had tweeted out photos of the Falcon Heavy rocket built inside the Cape Canaveral hangar.

Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

However, the photo was missing the fairing or the cone-shaped structure on the top of a rocket used to protect it against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. Now we know for certain (we do) that the fairing will hold the Tesla Roadster in it. [caption id=“attachment_4272279” align=“alignnone” width=“500”] Falcon Heavy. Elon Musk/Twitter[/caption] The Falcon Heavy is capable of transporting up to  37,000 pounds to Mars, which is equivalent to about 14 Tesla Roadsters. A SpaceX engineer had earlier tweeted out that there would definitely be cameras installed inside the Tesla Roadster. Musk said that he would consider launching other items suggested by the public as well, according to reports. However, he has also reportedly said in an email, “Just bear in mind that there is a good chance this monster rocket blows up. So I wouldn’t put anything of irreplaceable sentimental value on it.”