Elon Musk promises 'major navigation overhaul' for Tesla cars in 2018

Not the most subtle of promotions, for sure. At the time, Musk tweeted, "Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing 'Space Oddity.' Destination is Mars orbit".

"Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks". Instead, Musk chose to launch his own Roadster into an elliptical orbit around the sun, which he says should last a billion years.

The maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy, with the Tesla Roadster, is targeted for January from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

That's according to a recent conversation CEO Elon Musk had on Twitter.

With enough fuel and the right trajectory, it's got enough thrust to launch a payload heavier than a auto to Pluto, let alone Mars. SpaceX's current workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, can lift about 50,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit. He expects it to be ready for launch by early 2018.

But, noticeably, the reusable rocket system is missing the clamshell top, or fairing, in the images.

Elon Musk's secretive Ad Astra School formed in 2015.

The Tesla won't be going to the planet Mars itself, as Musk told Phil Plait, an astronomer and writer. He claims that the rocket will be in deep space for a billion years if it doesn't blow up on ascent - and given the success that SpaceX had lately, a successful launch seems likely. It was later clarified that it'll aim for an orbit around the sun that will, at times, put the auto and Mars at equal distances from the sun. Joy Dunn, an engineer at the company, tweeted on December 1 that "this is legit and of course there will be cameras!"

An earlier tweet by Musk also promised other "cool software updates" were also in the works and "coming soon".