Where is the SpaceX Roadster?
I thought this might be interesting to you guys.
Jet Propulsion Labs has published the orbital data for the Tesla Roadster that SpaceX recently launched from it Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.
The orbits have been simulated and are already available on the internet.
Here I take some snapshots of those simulated results and show you just where the roadster will be on a few important orbital milestones.
February 14 2018: The roadster is near its launch point.
Late May 2018: Mars crosses in front of the roadster's path.
Mid-July 2018: The roadster finally crosses the orbit of mars, a trip of almost 7 months. Mars and the roadster have missed each other by about 2 months and many, many kilometers.
Late-November 2018: The roadster reaches its farthest point out in its orbit (the farthest point from the sun in an orbit is also known as the aphelion). Here the roadster is in the region of our solar system is also known as the asteroid belt.
Late March 2019: The roadster crosses Mars orbit again on the way back in.
Mid-August 2019: The roadster back to its origin. Earth is now on the other side of the orbit at this point. Good luck little roadster may we never see you again.
Thank you for reading my post.