Tesla Unveils Thruster-Equipped Roadster That Flips in Midair, Targets 2028 Production

WACO, Texas, Oct. 16 (TodayViralUSA) — Tesla has finally unveiled its long-delayed second-generation Roadster, staging a stunt-filled demonstration in which the electric sports car climbed an inverted ramp, flipped in midair and lowered itself to the ground using cold-gas thrusters developed with Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX.

The Thursday night event, held at a SpaceX facility outside Waco, came almost nine years to the day after Tesla first showed the car as a surprise at its 2017 Tesla Semi launch. Musk said production will begin in 2028, after repeated delays in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 and a postponed reveal earlier this month.

Fans, suction and rocket thrusters

During the demonstration, the Roadster used high-powered fans and a suction system to cling to the underside of a C-shaped ramp, then used thrusters to leap over a lineup of Tesla vehicles, including a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3, TechCrunch reported. Tesla also showed the car accelerating from zero to 60 mph in about one second.

Engineering vice president Lars Moravy said the car carries 10 thrusters fed by 600 liters of rechargeable compressed air stored in carbon-fiber pressure vessels packed into “every usable void” of the vehicle.

“This is the culmination of incredible work by Tesla and SpaceX engineers working closely together to make something you haven’t seen in any movie, better than any James Bond car,” Musk said.

Three versions, steep deposits

Tesla plans three trims, all rated for about 300 miles of range and top speeds above 230 mph:

• Performance, a two-seat “road ready” version with active aerodynamics and the suction system.
• Thrust, a “race ready” two-seater with rear cold-gas thrusters for sub-one-second acceleration.
• Rocket, a single-seat “air ready” version with 10 thrusters, offered by invitation only.

Tesla did not announce prices. Its website is taking reservations of $50,000 for the Performance model and $250,000 for Thrust, according to TechCrunch.

Questions about the road

The Associated Press noted that questions remain over price, delivery timing and whether the flying features will ever be approved for public roads, adding that the airborne version is not cleared for street use yet. Musk has described the car as a halo product that may not move Tesla’s revenue “massively,” and has said previously that safety is “not the main goal.”

The car’s angular new styling, which Tesla says draws on the SR-71 spy plane and the F-35 fighter, marks a sharp departure from the 2017 prototype. Some longtime reservation holders remain skeptical. Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee wrote after the event that a car weighing more than 4,000 pounds doing flips and shipping in 2028 sounded like “a prank.”