ONE of the world’s fastest cars is going to be launched to Mars while playing a David Bowie song, billionaire Elon Musk has declared.
The SpaceX CEO has claimed that he is going to launch his own Tesla Roadster on the first test flight of his new giant rocket next month.
The billionaire has also confirmed that the car is going to play David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on full blast as it makes its way to Mars.
The rocket, known as the Falcon Heavy, is set to launch in January from the very same pad from which he sent Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon.
Yesterday, the SpaceX CEO tweeted: "Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double the thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added: "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."
However, Mr Musk has admitted there is a significant chance that the Falcon Heavy rocket test could fail.
Speaking of the rocket in July, he said: ”I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage.
"I would consider even that a win, to be honest."
The Tesla Roadster was launched last month.
The Roadster 2.0 is a reimagining of the first car the Californian electric car manufacturer produced.
When the first car launched it was expensive, low volume and essentially a modified Lotus, but the evolved Roadster could be a bonafide world-beater.
Roadster 2.0 will go from 0-60mph in 1.9 seconds - which would make it the first car to accelerate to this speed in under two seconds.
It will also go from 0-100mph in 4.1 seconds and cover a quarter mile drag strip in 8.9 seconds.
Provisionally the top speed has been set at 250mph+, making it faster than a Koenigsegg CCR, McLaren F1 and the Ferrari LaFerrari.
In addition to this, it will also have a range of 620 miles on a single charge which is almost double what the Tesla Model S has, thanks to its 200kWh battery.