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Rear view of the new Tesla Roadster with a full-width red light bar, an RDSTR plate and a row of thruster nozzles
Photo: Tesla, via @Tesla on X

Tech

Emergency - Tesla has just changed the world

Tesla just showed its new Roadster flying. SpaceX thrusters lifted it over a row of Teslas, a ramp sent it upside down, and it landed. Here's the official replay, the numbers Tesla gave, and the best fan reactions.

· ~5 min read

Stop what you're doing. I mean it. Put the grouper sandwich down.

Tonight, at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, Tesla rolled out the new Roadster. Then the car left the ground. It wasn't a stunt double or a rendering. It was the car, on a livestream, in front of everybody, with SpaceX thrusters firing.

Here's Tesla's own replay of the whole event. The flight is in there, and you're going to want to watch it twice.

What just happened

I've watched a lot of product launches. Usually somebody walks out in a black shirt and says "one more thing." This time the one more thing was gravity, and Tesla won.

  • It flew over a lineup of Teslas. While moving, the Roadster used its thrusters to hop up and over a Cybercab, a Cybertruck, a Semi, a Model Y and a Model 3, then came back down onto the pavement.
  • It went upside down. The car drove up a curved, inverted ramp, spun around in the air and eased itself down to a landing.
  • It's fast before it even flies. Tesla showed it doing 0 to 60 mph in about one second.
  • It's built for real roads. Elon Musk said on stage this is "the actual car that's on the roads," and that it can do these maneuvers "whenever you'd like."

Musk's own summary on the night: "I've never seen anything like this." Neither have we, Elon. Neither have we.

How a car flies (Tesla's version)

Tesla posted the engineering details on X while everyone was still picking their jaws up off the floor. The short version is that the car runs on rocket science. Actually, it's real rocket science.

  • Cold-gas thrusters, SpaceX-style. The thrusters work like the ones SpaceX uses to steer spacecraft. Tesla says making them work in open air instead of a vacuum took all-new hardware and controls.
  • Packed with air tanks. Tesla says every usable void in the car holds carbon fiber overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs). On stage, it described 10 nozzles fed by about 600 liters of compressed air, and said the tanks can be recharged.
  • More push than the tires. Per Tesla, the thruster system makes four to five times the force the tires can. Normal cars are limited by grip. This one apparently files an appeal.

And it transforms

When it's not airborne, the Roadster has a Track Mode. The bodywork reshapes itself for downforce, and the wings are moved by the same actuator system Tesla built for its Optimus robot. Tesla says it's the best passive downforce package of any road car, "approaching F1 levels."

Tesla says the design is inspired by the SR-71 and the F-35, which is the most honest thing a car company has ever said. It's a jet that happens to have a license plate. (The plate says RDSTR. Of course it does.)

The internet lost its mind (in the best way)

Here are some of my favorite reactions from people who watched the flight live, with credit to each of them for getting the clips up so fast.

Wall Street Mav summed it up in one sentence:

Kevin Logan made the point everyone was thinking:

Iorel caught the launch, thrusters and landing:

Tesla Hype had round two, the flight over the row of Teslas:

And Jayme and Andy's Tesla Adventures spoke for every Tesla owner in Manatee County:

What we still don't know

Calm down for one second. Okay, one second's up. But here's what Tesla did not say tonight:

  • No price yet. Reservations still take a $50,000 deposit.
  • No final range or battery numbers.
  • Timing: Musk said Tesla will build it in 2028.

So no, you can't jump the Manatee Avenue traffic by Thanksgiving. But for the first time, that sentence is about a schedule, not physics.

Sandy's take

I write about weather for a living. I spend most days telling you which way the sky is headed. Tonight a car went up into it, on purpose, and came back down in one piece.

The original Roadster went to space on a rocket back in 2018. The new one doesn't need the rocket. It brought the thrusters with it.

Tesla just changed the world. Fasten your seatbelts, and maybe check the skies.

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