Elon Musk has encountered a glitch in his plan to send a red Tesla Roadster into orbit around Mars after a successful launch aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Musk tweeted late on Tuesday that the rocket carrying his Tesla exceeded its target and is now on its way to an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. He included a map showing where the car was supposed to end up and where it’s actually headed—near the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.

Musk’s announcement came hours after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket, which is the world’s largest and capable of carrying more than 140,000 pounds of cargo, is ferrying the Tesla and its passenger, a mannequin SpaceX calls Starman. The launch, the first test of the Falcon Heavy rocket,is intended to pave the way for future SpaceX missions.

Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2018

The fate of Starman and the Tesla is unclear. The capsule could remain in an orbit around the asteroid belt, be demolished by an asteroid, or continue into deep space. Musk has posted no further updates since his tweet last night.

虽然成功借助SpaceX猎鹰重型火箭把红色的跑车Tesla Roadster送上了环火星轨道，但伊隆·马斯克随后的计划却出现了一些问题。

马斯克在周二晚发推表示，携带跑车的火箭飞过了预定目标，正在飞向火星和木星之间的一个小行星带。他在推文中发了一张地图，其中标出了跑车应该在的位置以及它实际飞向的位置——矮行星刻瑞斯（Ceres）的轨道附近，这是该小行星带中最大的天体。

在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角成功发射重型猎鹰火箭数小时后，马斯克宣布了这一消息。重型猎鹰火箭是全球最大的火箭，可以运载超过14万磅的货物。本次货物中包含一辆特斯拉跑车，车上还坐了一个人体模型，SpaceX将它称作Starman。这是该火箭首次测试发射，旨在为SpaceX未来的太空任务铺平道路。

第三次点火成功。飞过了火星轨道，正在前往小行星带。——伊隆·马斯克（@elonmusk）2018年2月7日

特斯拉跑车和Starman的命运目前尚不明朗，太空舱可能停留在环小行星带的轨道上，或是被小行星撞毁，还可能继续在外太空飞行。昨晚发布这条推文之后，马斯克没有再继续更新状态。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正