How hard can it be to send a little red Tesla into space? Armed with a meaty balloon, a GoPro, and a tracking device, the dudes at Doughnut Media attempted to join the ranks of Elon Musk in miniature by sending a toy Tesla Model X into space. Key word: attempt. Space is hard.
The balloon they sent into the heavens flew over 402km, forcing the team to road trip for 18 hours just to track it down.
Problem is, they let Elon Musk and their whole Tiny Amateur SpaceX crew down. The GoPro they attached to the rig came gracefully back down to earth, but the car itself didn’t make it. The structure holding the car under the balloon hit the side of a mountain, snapping the little car right off.
Maybe they need a bigger balloon or some other meatier form of propulsion that will climb faster, such that the car’s trajectory doesn’t whack into a mountain. Or maybe it’s best that we leave the idea of creating fancy car- and car-related space-junk behind forever, so we don’t pollute the heavens with shiny objects.
Either way, this was a valiant effort from our friends over at Doughnut, which they have vowed to try again. I mean, if Elon Musk is basically Tony Stark, this stunt pretty much makes the Doughnut team the action figure version of Iron Man.