# Can a Tesla car work in space, moon, mars unmodified? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471 "2018-02-08T20:35:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/1 "2018-02-08T20:35:30Z")
Would ‘the’ or a Tesla electric car actually work in space (wheels turn when engaged in drive + needed driving functions), would it work on mars or the moon as in capable of being driven if it somehow got there? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/2 "2018-02-08T20:46:21Z")
I believe not because there has to be air mixed with the fuel for proper ignition. Mars does have a thin atmosphere, though. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/3 "2018-02-08T20:47:28Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I believe not because there has to be air mixed with the fuel for proper ignition. Mars does have a thin atmosphere, though. Tesla, no fuel and no ignition. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/4 "2018-02-08T21:09:54Z")
I doubt it would work for long. It would either overheat or freeze (or both). ---
**Author:** ![icbm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@icbm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icbm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/5 "2018-02-08T21:15:18Z")
I think the batteries would soon be too cold to power anything. I was wondering what (if anything) they put in Starman’s tires that they’d still be inflated at very low temperatures. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/6 "2018-02-08T21:16:08Z")
I don’t know the answer but I wonder if the weakness would be the temperature of the battery. I know that the batteries require both heating and cooling to remain in a narrow operating temperature window. I don’t think these systems would work right in space or on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/7 "2018-02-08T21:16:30Z")
Probably not in their stock form, at least not long. Thermal build up would be an issue, as would lubrication. Electric motors are used in many space applications, but hey are designed and built differently than those in a standard Tesla. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/8 "2018-02-08T21:16:59Z")
Electric motors work in airless, or nearly so, conditions. There have been[electric cars on the moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Roving_Vehicle). I think the Tesla would require a good bit of modification if you want more than just the wheels turned for a moment to count as working. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/9 "2018-02-08T21:20:33Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Would ‘the’ or a Tesla electric car actually work in space (wheels turn when engaged in drive + needed driving functions), would it work on mars or the moon as in capable of being driven if it somehow got there? no. it would eventually get too cold for the battery to work. and if the battery cooling system can’t keep the coolant contained, it would boil off first. And it’s not going to take very long for the much higher ionizing radiation to start trashing the cars organic and soft parts (rubber, plastic, leather, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/10 "2018-02-08T21:44:11Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Would ‘the’ or a Tesla electric car actually work in space (wheels turn when engaged in drive + needed driving functions), would it work on mars or the moon as in capable of being driven if it somehow got there? No, or at least not for very long (maybe a couple of minutes, max). Consider all of the various probes sent to the Moon or Mars and they were specifically designed for those environments. Several of them worked for very limited times (like the Russian or Chinese probes). ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/11 "2018-02-08T23:50:13Z")
So get this. Here’s another thing that would fail : the radiator is air cooled. “Electric cars have a radiator?!”, you say. Yep, they do. Those motors and batteries are not 100% efficient. The battery doesn’t give you all the power you put into it back (maybe 95%). The power then flows into a motor controller on a Tesla that produces the signals to drive the motor. That motor controller also is only 95-98% or so efficient, give or take. And finally, the motor itself is again in the mid 90s in efficiency, depending on conditions. So eventually that heat will build up in the components to the point that they fail. So cooling water is run through it. The first problem is the cooling water loop is going to use a reservoir that is open to the atmosphere. So if the Tesla had been launched with coolant in it, it would have boiled and vented through the cap on the coolant reservoir. And the second problem is that radiators meant for air flowing through them do not work at all in a vacuum. A different type of radiator works in a vacuum, with a totally different arrangement of piping and slats. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/12 "2018-02-08T23:53:41Z")
A good [article](http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2017/07/all-radiators.html)on radiators in space. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/13 "2018-02-09T00:20:08Z")
well, to be technically correct (the BEST kind of correct!) they’re not really “radiators,” per se. they were called that because they resembled the steam radiators in a lot of people’s residences way back in the day. they’re actually [cross-flow heat exchangers.](http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/12-13/Domestic_flue_gas/technical-analysis/heat-exchanger-analysis/crossflow-air-hx.html) edit: though in space, they _would_ be radiators since radiation would be the only way for them to reject heat. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/14 "2018-02-09T01:58:22Z")
I think **Stranger On A Train** ’s mentioned here a few times that moon dust is a stone bitch to engineer around: it’s abrasive, fine, and gets into absolutely everything. Not sure if Mars dust is anywhere near as bad. In vacuum, you also have vacuum welding to deal with, hard radiation exposure, maybe even elemental oxygen and the like, wreaking havoc on your materials. In addition to the heat transfer and buildup issues already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/15 "2018-02-09T02:31:01Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I think **Stranger On A Train** ’s mentioned here a few times that moon dust is a stone bitch to engineer around It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. There were a lot of engineering challenges that had to be overcome to get the lunar rovers to work in no atmosphere (and lots of moon dust.) They used passive phase-change cooling with big ugly fold-out radiators. The astronauts had to manually dust them every so often to get rid of the build-up. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/16 "2018-02-09T02:52:44Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. > > There were a lot of engineering challenges that had to be overcome to get the lunar rovers to work in no atmosphere (and lots of moon dust.) They used passive phase-change cooling with big ugly fold-out radiators. The astronauts had to manually dust them every so often to get rid of the build-up. So the phase change cooling acts like a temporary heat capacitor? So after a rover trip it has to cool back down ? Oh, and you ninjaed me on the prequel meme. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/17 "2018-02-09T03:33:38Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > So the phase change cooling acts like a temporary heat capacitor? Pretty much. > [@](#): > > So after a rover trip it has to cool back down ? Well, yeah. That’s how every radiator works. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/18 "2018-02-09T05:05:42Z")
My first question was about the tires. What keeps them from ballooning up or bursting? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/19 "2018-02-09T05:13:04Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > My first question was about the tires. What keeps them from ballooning up or bursting? I’m guessing that they are holed, so that the pressure is equalised inside and out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471/20 "2018-02-09T05:22:31Z")
Speaking of air cooling… I knew a group of people working on a cubesat. They had some high-end image processing needs, so they wanted to use a GPU-based accelerator board. They’re figured out the power requirements and it was in their budget, at least for short periods. Somehow, they had spent a fair amount of time working through the design before someone pointed out that the GPU had a fairly large heatsink for heat dissipation. With a little fan attached to keep the airflow going. In the vacuum of space. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-tesla-car-work-in-space-moon-mars-unmodified/808471.md?page=2)