Where in the galaxy is Starman and his roadster?

Elon Musk launched a very special payload aboard Space X’s Falcon Heavy rocket last year. Attached was an astronaut, dubbed Spaceman, seated in Musk’s own red Roadster.

Right now, he’s about 315,253,800 km* from earth—you definitely wouldn’t want to run out of juice that far from home. The cars journey can be tracked on the  whereisroadster website.

So far Spaceman has ‘driven’ 1,049,891,256 km’s*, past the orbit of Mars. He’s maintaining a cruising speed of about 21,897 km/h.

Here on earth, the Roadster can achieve speeds over 400km/h—paltry in comparison. It also has a 1000km range, which wouldn’t get you far in space.

His journey around the sun will take about 557 days to orbit. Right now, he’s somewhere between Venus and Mars, on the opposite side of the sun from earth. He’s been gone 16 months already.

Starman will be kept company, sort of, with the simultaneous sounds of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and “Life on Mars”. Though you can’t hear music out in space. Maybe he’s got some Airpods on?

There’s also some reading material onboard for the Starman. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy was included in a specially designed and built data storage device. Asimov was an early science fiction author and biochemist. The display screen on the Roadster also reads “Don’t Panic”, a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Space X could not be reached for comment.

The car will continue to do hot laps of the Sun for eternity, or until it’s discovered by something, or someone, else. There is a small chance it could crash into a planet in the next million years, however. Though by then the car will look like a wreck already. The harsh conditions of space will cause some serious damage to the car, and rough Spaceman up a bit too.

The mission was a test to display the power of Falcon Heavy and its capabilities of offering space Freight for customers.

The rocket is the most powerful in operation, capable of lifting 64 metric tons into orbit. Picture a fully loaded 737 jet, including fuel, crew, passengers, and cargo.

Falcon Heavy is powered by 27 Merlin engines that, when combined, produce over five million pounds of thrust. It’s comprised of three Falcon 9 engine cores.

Asides from ferrying massive commercial payloads to space, Falcon Heavy has been designed to carry humans to Mars and the Moon—and beyond.

*At time of writing