The orbit
Starman travels on an ellipse between about 0.99 AU (just inside Earth’s orbit) and 1.66 AU (beyond Mars), tilted about 1° to the plane of the planets. One lap takes roughly 557 days.
Where is Starman right now?
Right now Starman is 98,654,978 km from Earth, 327.2 million km from Mars and travelling at 81,700 km/h around the Sun.
Starman’s numbers today
- Distance from Earth
- 98,654,978 km
- Distance from Mars
- 327,166,119 km
- Distance from the Sun
- 224,146,085 km
- Speed around the Sun
- 81,700 km/h22.7 km/s
- Speed relative to Earth
- 29,200 km/h
- Radio signal to Earth takes
- 5.5 minutesat the speed of light
- Orbits around the Sun
- 5.69one lap takes about 557 days
- Days in space
- 3,173since launch on February 6, 2018
- In the constellation
- Aquariusas seen from Earth
- Next close approach to Earth
- January 11, 2047about 4.8 million km
- Next close approach to Mars
- April 22, 2035about 2.4 million km (uncertain by a few million km)
Data: NASA/JPL Horizons, updated October 15, 2026. Numbers on this page refresh live in your browser.
About Starman
A sports car, a mannequin, and a very long road trip
On February 6, 2018 the first Falcon Heavy lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying an unusual test payload: a cherry-red Tesla Roadster with a spacesuit-clad mannequin, “Starman”, at the wheel. Instead of a block of concrete, the dummy payload became a car on an endless loop around the Sun.
Close calls
It passed 7.4 million km from Mars on 7 October 2020. Its next close pass of Earth is predicted for January 2047, at about 4.8 million km, roughly 12 times the distance to the Moon.
What’s on board
A “DON’T PANIC” sign on the dashboard, a Hot Wheels Roadster with a tiny Starman, a copy of Asimov’s Foundation on a quartz data disc, and a plaque with the names of over 6,000 SpaceX employees.
How we know where it is
NASA/JPL’s Horizons system models the car’s path from telescope observations made in 2018. This site downloads its trajectory once a day and interpolates smoothly between points in your browser.
Can I see it?
Not anymore. Two days after launch amateur astronomers caught it at about magnitude 15.5, but within weeks it faded past magnitude 20. Today it is far dimmer, beyond the reach of any amateur telescope. The red marker in the 3D view is the closest you’ll get.
Looking for the new Roadster?
That one is still on Earth. Tesla’s next-generation Roadster is a different car, see tesla.com/roadster. This site tracks Elon Musk’s own 2010 Roadster (the first generation), which has been orbiting the Sun since 2018.
Is it still a car?
Probably not a pretty one. Years of unfiltered sunlight, cosmic rays and temperature swings have likely cracked the paint, faded the fabric and broken down the tyres and plastics.
