Editorial: Ready for lift-off of one of the world's biggest space rockets (and a Tesla Roadster electric car)

An unsual payload and possibly the first car in space.

January is an exciting month for space fans.

SpaceX is likely to launch its much-anticipated Falcon Heavy rocket – a far bigger version of the successful Falcon rocket that launched - and returned to Earth - many times in 2017.

Head man Elon Musk says there is a "good chance" the launch will go awry. The Falcon Heavy, which was first scheduled for launch in 2015, has proven to be more of a technical challenge than first thought.

But it now sits on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Centre and both anticipation and excitement is building.

If successful the reusable rocket will move Humanity one step closer to colonising Mars. Musk hopes to send cargo ships to supply and explore the Red Planet by 2022, and human colonists by 2024.

There's another reason the test launch will be notable and that is it is likely to carry an unusual payload – a Tesla Roadster.

At the risk of being labelled an eccentric billionaire, Musk has teased that the first payload will be a red Tesla Roadster electric car (made by another of Musk's many companies).

While bizarre, it probably makes sense given that nobody is likely to want to risk an expensive satellite on an untested rocket that could very well blow up. If it doesn't Tesla will snare the prize for the world's most audacious marketing gimmick yet.

Much is riding on this rocket's success. While it will be wonderful if the first Heavy launch goes off without a hitch, many a launch of early Falcon rockets "went awry" until the technology was perfected.

They call it rocket science for a reason.