From Engadget · Mariella Moon · · 1m 10s
Tesla's Roadster gets thrusters and upside-down stunts
Tesla unveiled its redesigned Roadster with cold-gas thrusters borrowed from SpaceX, performing gravity-defying stunts at a Texas test site.
In brief
Tesla unveiled its redesigned Roadster with cold-gas thrusters borrowed from SpaceX, performing gravity-defying stunts at a Texas test site. Tesla unveiled the redesigned Roadster with SpaceX-derived cold-gas thrusters, performing stunts including driving upside-down and hovering to the ground, with production planned…
Tesla unveils next-generation Roadster
Tesla introduced the redesigned Roadster at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, nine years after showing its concept prototype and after years of launch delays.
Roadster performs gravity-defying stunts
The vehicle drove up a C-shaped ramp and stopped upside-down, then jumped off and flipped while its thruster system kicked in to safely hover to the ground.
How the stunts actually worked
A suction system at the car's bottom held it upside-down to the ramp. Attitude-control thrusters and rear thrusters using SpaceX technology enabled the vehicle to land safely after jumping.
Pricing and production timeline
Reservations cost two hundred fifty thousand dollars for the Thrust package with suction and acceleration thrusters. Production begins in twenty twenty-eight. The Rocket version with full-flight systems is invite-only.
The key point
Tesla unveiled the redesigned Roadster with SpaceX-derived cold-gas thrusters, performing stunts including driving upside-down and hovering to the ground, with production planned for twenty twenty-eight.
