Car to land on Mars!

The photos released by SpaceX show one of the still-unreleased Tesla Roadster perched on a large cone inside the Falcon Heavy on what appears to be a secure mount to keep it stationary as the rocket makes its maiden flight.

'Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks,' Musk said.

'That seemed extremely boring.

'Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel.

'The payload will be an original Tesla Roadster, playing Space Oddity, on a billion year elliptic Mars orbit.'

Musk also last week tweeted an incredible image of people next to a landed rocket to give an idea of the scale of the machines.

He said 'Falcon Heavy launching from same @NASA pad as the Saturn V Apollo 11 moon rocket.

'It was 50% higher thrust with five F-1 engines at 7.5M lb-F.

'I love that rocket so much.'

He also confirmed the rocket will have a 'max thrust at lift-off is 5.1 million pounds or 2300 metric tons,' adding the first mission will run at 92%.

'Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape.

'Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another,' Musk originally posted.

However, some reports claimed Musk's plan to launch a Tesla Roadster to Mars next month blaring David Bowie on the stereo may not be all it seems.

Musk, 46, made the announcement via Twitter earlier this month, telling his followers the first flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, will blast off from Cape Canaveral, site of the historic Apollo 11 mission with his car on board.

However, he has since told The Verge he 'totally made it up' - although insiders say the plan is actually real.  

However, the site says 'a person familiar with the matter told The Verge Saturday evening that the payload is in fact real.'

Daily Mail/GY