- Elon Musk said several times on Friday and Saturday that he plans to launch his red Tesla Roadster to Mars in 2018.
- A SpaceX employee and engineer also said Friday that the first Falcon Heavy payload had been announced, and that "this is legit and of course there will be cameras!"
- Musk reportedly walked back his comments Saturday, telling The Verge that he had "totally made it up."
- However, Business Insider has learned Musk's claim is true.
Update (8:00 p.m. ET): Business Insider can
now confirm that Elon Musk does plan to launch his Tesla Roadster
to Mars with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. What follows is our
original and more speculative story published at 3:19 p.m.
ET.
In a series of tweets on Friday night, Elon Musk said he plans to launch his red Tesla Roadster to Mars in 2018.
Or maybe not, depending on how one interprets Musk's remarks.
Few could be blamed for flat-out believing Musk. The tech mogul and billionaire once sent a wheel of cheese into orbit with a rocket built and launched by his aerospace company, SpaceX. And in March, Musk said he plans to launch "[s]illiest thing we can imagine" on the first Falcon Heavy rocket — SpaceX's biggest and newest launcher, and one that's able to send a payload of 37,000 pounds (nearly 14 Tesla Roadsters' worth of mass) to Mars.
The inaugural Falcon Heavy launch will occur in January 2018, Musk confirmed this week.
"Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit," Musk tweeted on Friday, referencing the song by David Bowie. "Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent."
Musk seemed to further confirm his plans in an impromptu question-and-answer session that evening.
"Just to reiterate, the payload for the first Falcon Heavy rocket will be a Tesla electric car, playing Space Oditty, heading for Mars," wrote a user named J.C.
"Yes," Musk answered.
Will it be a first-generation 2008 Roadster?
"Yeah," Musk replied to another user.
Another person asked about the midnight cherry-red paint on Musk's roadster.
"Red car for a red planet," Musk replied.
Musk repeated his claim Saturday afternoon, telling Ars Technica senior space editor Eric Berger that the mission was "100% real."
Berger tweeted that he had not heard back from the SpaceX communications team regarding Musk's comments, which led him to believe the mission is happening.
Joy Dunn, a SpaceX employee and engineer, tweeted on Friday that the first Falcon Heavy payload had been announced, stating "this is going to be so awesome," later adding "oh this is legit and of course there will be cameras!"
Musk also reportedly confirmed his plans to The Verge on Friday, writing "it's so real" in response to an email the outlet sent.
However, The Verge updated its story on Saturday, writing "Musk told us he 'totally made it up'" in a follow-up email.
Business Insider reached SpaceX, though the company declined to comment on the record. We also contacted Musk directly, but he did not immediately reply. NASA also did not immediately answer our questions about Musk's purported Tesla payload.
It's possible Musk is just having a good laugh at the expense of fans, employees, and journalists on Friday. Then again, one can totally make something up — then later make that idea a reality.
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