Earlier this year, it was revealed that Tesla will finally be launching its customer’s pictures to space. Four years after the program ended, the company is launching the pictures on the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission. It will be launched by SpaceX next week and is with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute of South Korea.
Back in 2018, Tesla had a referral program to help sell vehicles – owners could share a referral code with new buyers who would receive Supercharging credits. In exchange, referrers would get prizes based on how many people they referred. One of the prizes was launching a picture into deep space. “Launch Your Photo into Deep Space Orbit We’ll laser-etch any image onto glass and send it into deep space orbit for millions of years. Refer more friends while you wait for an alien race to discover your payload.”
Last month, we reported that Tesla had yet to deliver on the prize – four years after the program ended. A week later, Tesla finally launched a system for referral program prize winners to send their pictures in space, but we didn’t know when Tesla was actually going to launch the pictures or how.
Demonstration
In February 2018, SpaceX launched its first Falcon Heavy rocket, and it needed a “dummy load” to send into space in order to demonstrate its capability. Musk, who is the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, decided to launch his own Tesla Roadster.
Due to the higher risk of failure with a brand-new rocket, SpaceX didn’t want to put something too valuable out there, like a satellite, but at the same time, Musk didn’t want to just launch a weight into space. He figured that launching a Tesla Roadster would be more interesting and inspiring – and that it was. The video of the launch became extremely popular, and it created stunning images of the Tesla Roadster in space. As Tesla confirmed the launch, it stated, “Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy — thank you for your support in making it a reality. Your photo will be launched into space on the KPLO mission on August 4, 2022.”
In June, Tesla stated to its customers, “Our records show that you earned the chance to launch a photo into space under a previous Tesla Referral Program. After much anticipation, we are excited to begin your photo’s journey to space. To participate, please submit your photo before June 30, 2022.”
