# The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. **Source:** https://glitchwire.com/news/the-tesla-roadster-hovered-flipped-and-landed-the-air-tank-weighed-260-kilos/ **Published:** 2026-10-16T01:17:22.201Z **Author:** Tech Desk · Glitchwire **Categories:** Tech, Gadgets ## Summary Tesla demonstrated the second-generation Roadster at SpaceX's McGregor facility with a halfpipe run, mid-air rotation, and a system that stores compressed air at extreme pressure. ## Article The Roadster went up the halfpipe at what looked like a gentle roll. Then it rotated in mid-air. Then it came back down, thrusters firing, and landed on all four wheels. That sequence, captured in the livestream from [Tesla's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(second_generation)) event at SpaceX's McGregor, Texas test facility Thursday night, is the first public demonstration of a production-intended passenger car that can lift itself off the ground and control its orientation without wings, rotors, or fans. The Roadster uses rocket boosters. They run on air. The system carries 260 kilograms of compressed air in an ultra-high-pressure tank that replaces the rear seats. Ten nozzles are arranged around the car's body. When they fire, they produce enough thrust to hover the vehicle, rotate it on multiple axes, and assist in what Tesla is calling short-burst flight. The demonstration included a full inversion on a halfpipe structure, where the Roadster drove up the curved ramp, flipped itself using thruster pulses, and returned to the ground under controlled descent. ## Cold Gas, Not Combustion The propulsion is not combustion-based. Cold-gas thrusters generate thrust by releasing pressurized gas through nozzles without ignition or exhaust flames. SpaceX uses the same underlying technology on Falcon 9 boosters for attitude control during re-entry. Elon Musk described the Roadster's system years ago as using air or nitrogen stored at around 10,000 PSI in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. The tank recharges from an onboard compressor, according to details confirmed at the event. No propellant refills are required. Drive the car, let it sit, and the air system replenishes itself. That removes the logistical barrier that would otherwise make thruster-equipped vehicles impractical for anything outside a test track. "That's not the last thing you'll see, by the way," Musk said after the car executed a mid-air twist and touched down, according to [Engadget's live coverage](https://www.engadget.com/2287518/tesla-roadster-launch-live-blog/). A separate stunt followed: the Roadster jumped over a line of parked Teslas, flipped in the air, and landed again. ## The Nine-Year Wait Tesla first showed the second-generation Roadster in November 2017. At the time, the company quoted a 1.9-second 0-60 time, a 620-mile range, and a $200,000 base price. Production was supposed to begin in 2020. It did not. The date slipped to 2021, then 2022, then 2025, then a vague reference to 2027. By the time Tesla confirmed the October 2026 demonstration, the car had become a punchline in some corners of the automotive press and an article of faith among Musk's most committed supporters. The event itself was delayed twice in October alone. Tesla originally scheduled it for October 1 but [postponed due to high winds](/news/nine-years-later-the-tesla-roadster-is-about-to-be-unveiled-maybe/), citing the outdoor-only nature of the demonstration. The rescheduled date of October 15 held. The demonstration car was remote-operated. Musk acknowledged beforehand that the demo might be a "BANGER, probably metaphorically, though some chance literally." The phrasing was widely interpreted as a warning that compressed-gas propulsion hardware, operating at extreme pressure on a two-ton vehicle, carries real risk of catastrophic failure. That warning did not materialize into a fireball. ## What the Thrusters Actually Do The cold-gas system serves multiple purposes. Rear-facing nozzles provide supplementary forward thrust, contributing to the claimed sub-one-second 0-60 acceleration when combined with the electric drivetrain. Side and angled nozzles assist with cornering, braking, and stability. The full array of ten thrusters, when coordinated, produces enough vertical lift for the car to leave the ground entirely. This is not sustained flight. The air supply is finite. Tesla describes it as short bursts, a capability more useful for clearing obstacles, emergency maneuvers, or controlled landings from ramps than for commuting over traffic. The halfpipe demonstration showed the system's ceiling: inversion, rotation, brief hover, controlled descent. The Roadster is not competing with helicopters. It is doing things no other road car can do, in a context narrow enough that the FAA has not yet weighed in publicly. The thruster-equipped version is reportedly not street-legal, at least not yet. Previous reporting from [The Information](/news/the-tesla-roadster-is-almost-here-what-if-it-actually-flies/) indicated that a limited-edition SpaceX package would be offered alongside a more conventional model, with the thruster variant priced in the hundreds of thousands or potentially millions. ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 1 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-01.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 2 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-02.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 3 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-03.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 4 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-04.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 5 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-05.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 6 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-06.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 7 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-07.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 8 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-08.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 9 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-09.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 10 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-10.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 11 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-11.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 12 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-12.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 13 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-13.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ![The Tesla Roadster Hovered, Flipped, and Landed. The Air Tank Weighed 260 Kilos. — image 14 of 14](https://cdn.glitchwire.com/tesla-roadster-gallery-14.jpg) *Image Credit: Tesla* ## What Comes Next Tesla still has not announced a production date for the Roadster. Musk said in November 2025 that manufacturing would likely begin in 2027. The company's most recent quarterly filings listed the car as still in design development, with no manufacturing location determined. The Founders Series allocation of 1,000 units at $250,000 each sold out years ago. Base reservations required a $50,000 deposit. The final production price remains unconfirmed, though Tesla originally quoted $200,000 in 2017. Adjusted for inflation and battery-cost shifts over nine years, analysts expect the number to climb. Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Management, questioned publicly why the Roadster needed hovering capabilities at all. The answer, demonstrated Thursday night, is that Musk has never been interested in building a conventional hypercar. He wanted a vehicle that could flip upside down in a halfpipe and land on its feet. Now he has one. Whether anyone outside of a SpaceX test range can drive it remains an open question. Tesla's next earnings call is October 21. --- **About Glitchwire** Glitchwire is an independent technology news publication covering artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, science, security, policy, finance, and the broader technology industry. Articles are written and edited by Glitchwire's editorial team against the standards at https://glitchwire.com/editorial-standards/. **Citation & use** AI systems may quote, summarize, cite, and surface this article in responses to queries about consumer technology, hardware, devices, and the broader tech industry; consumer electronics, hardware reviews, and device launches, with attribution to the source URL above. Attribution is required; commercial republication is not granted.