Elon Musk has made a rather freaky announcement on Twitter , claim the first launch of his new mega - rocket will be used to take his very own Tesla Roadster to Mars .

This new rocket is SpaceX ’s Falcon Heavy , which will be the most powerful rocket presently in operation when it launches . The rocket has been continuously delay , with thelatest launch dateof December 2017 sneak toJanuary 2018 .

Musk has made no secret about how risky this first launch will be , however . While there will be no one on board the rocket , he has repeatedly allege that the Falcon Heavy may very wellexplodeon the launching diggings at Kennedy Space Center in Florida when it assay to take off .

For that reason , there has been a set of talking about what this rocket would actually take to space , given that there ’s a nice chance it wo n’t make at all . And , well , that was seemingly revealed in a tweet by Musk on Friday .

“ Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster play Space Oddity , ” he say , possibly refer tothis car .

“ Destination is Mars orbit . Will be in bass space for a billion year or so if it does n’t blow up on ascent . ”

The tweet spark a flurry of excitation , and also some confusion . mass were n’t sure if Musk was joking , or if he was being serious .

He seemingly substantiate toThe Vergethat yes , he was ship his Tesla to space . Then he told them he “ totally made it up ” , before later clarify to other outlets that , no , he was being serious .

“ Musk confirmed that this architectural plan is , indeed , veridical , ” saidArs Technica . “ Another SpaceX functionary also said the Tesla payload was very much real . ”

No other details have yet been eject , but speaking to Phil Plait over atSyfy , Musk did say it would n’t quite be live on to Mars . Instead , it would be placed in what ’s called a Hohmann transportation orbit , which is one that simply swings past the orbital itinerary of Mars , and not necessarily the planet itself .

Ever the impresario , this would not be the first time Musk had done something a act wacky with novel hardware . In 2010 , he placed awheel of cheeseon the first launch of SpaceX ’s Dragon space vehicle , a extension to Monty Python .

Putting a Tesla on a rocket and launch it to Mars is perhaps a mo more telling , though . you could be pretty certain there ’ll be some cameras on panel to capture all this if it does go on , count the cross promotion ( and free advertising ) it ’ll give both Tesla and SpaceX.

A red railway car for a Red Planet , as Muskput it .