Elon Musk Boasts That The Tesla Roadster May One Day Fly And Posts Picture Of ‘Back To The Future’ DeLorean
Elon Musk has made the news once again after tweeting a photograph of the DeLorean from the hit film Back to the Future, boasting that one day, the $200,000 Tesla Roadster may be able to fly as well, if customers make sure that they opt for the “SpaceX add-on package.”
As the Daily Mail has reported, beside the shot of the Back to the Future DeLorean, Musk made the tantalizing claim that “the new Roadster will actually do something like this,” which led tech YouTuber and Twitter user Marques Brownlee to post, “The thing is I feel like you’re not joking,” to which Elon Musk replied that he was not joking at all.
Musk further stated that the Tesla Roadster would be using a special cold gas thruster system as part of its flying design, which is an idea that has gripped Tesla customers everywhere.
“Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats.”
With such an exciting prospect as a flying Roadster, it was later asked whether this vehicle would be able to traverse a quarter of a mile in no fewer than eight seconds, which Elon Musk believes is absolutely “no problem.” Musk then replied, “Vertically or horizontally?” to the original question.
Finally. Flying cars! https://t.co/L0uY0VpJ3A
— CNBC International (@CNBCi) January 12, 2019
In 2018, Musk stated on Twitter that Tesla’s brand new Roadster will allow customers the special option of adding rocket thrusters to the vehicle, which he said would “dramatically” boost its acceleration. This upgrade, he has also said, may even possibly “allow a Tesla to fly.”
This unique “SpaceX option package” may sound so extravagantly surreal that many may believe that it simply isn’t possible. Still, as Elon Musk has demonstrated time and time again, what people may oftentimes believe can’t happen does actually happen under Musk’s leadership, which means that yes, with Tesla at the helm, flying Roadsters might be coming in the future.
With the new option package for the Roadster, 10 extremely small rocket thrusters will be built at different points along the vehicle’s body, which will give the car many new and improved effects, which include better braking, fantastic cornering, and of course, faster acceleration.
The new Roadster will actually do something like this https://t.co/fIsTAYa4x8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2019
As might be expected, the rockets on the new Roadster will be “pure electric,” according to Musk, with compressed air being stored inside the rocket boosters.
“Using the config you describe, plus an electric pump to replenish air in COPV, when car power draw drops below max pack power output, makes sense. But we are going to go a lot further.”
Whether these cars will actually end up flying is anybody’s guess, but the special package certainly looks tantalizing. The new model of Tesla Roadsters will begin shipping in 2020.
