What is Elon Musk doing?

Shooting cars into space and selling flamethrowers online: Elon Musk has had an interesting start to 2018, to say the least.

As the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, Inc., and The Boring Company, Musk plays a vital role in the future of technological innovations. The Boring Company, which was founded in 2016, has its sights set on a system of high-speed underground travel through the use of tunnels. The company first began selling hats as a means to raise funds, but after those sold out in January, it moved on to flamethrowers. Or, as they are called on The Boring Company’s official website, “Not a Flamethrower.” In total, 10,000 flamethrowers were sold in just 48 hours.

While the so-called Not a Flamethrowers may just be blow torches shaped to resemble guns, they are illegal to use in Maryland, and Musk had to change their name to get past US Customs, hence the “Not” prefix. Fire extinguishers were included with the purchase of a Not a Flamethrower.

After January’s flamethrower event, Musk’s name returned to the news once again with the test launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. This marked a milestone for the company, as the Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket ever launched by SpaceX. Even still, Elon Musk had to add his signature mark onto the event.

As the payload for the flight of Falcon Heavy, Musk used his own car, a cherry red Tesla Roadster with a mannequin named Starman in the driver’s seat. Payloads typically consist of satellites, extra fuel containers, or even the crew of a rocket, so Musk’s choice to attach his Roadster was especially eccentric.

Originally the Roadster was planned to orbit around Mars after detaching during the second stage of Falcon Heavy’s journey, but it overshot the distance, so it is now in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Musk expects it to stay up there for millions of years, unless, of course, he decides to send up another mission to recapture the car. A live feed of Starman in the Roadster that streamed for 4 hours on February 6 can still be viewed here, and this website gives real-time data on Starman’s location in the solar system.

SpaceX’s test launch of the Falcon Heavy is just another step in their overarching goal to send astronauts to Mars. While Musk noted that the Falcon Heavy would specifically be used for cargo, SpaceX has plans to send a crew up to Mars by 2024.