It's now been half a decade since SpaceX turned heads around the world with its decision to launch Elon Musk's personal Tesla roadster into outer space, sending the car on an endless journey into the cosmic wilderness where it's expected to remain for millennia to come.

As of Monday, February 6, the cherry-colored sports car has officially been in space for exactly five years.

At the time of its anniversary, data estimates show that it had completed about three and one quarter loops around the sun and was positioned about 327 million kilometers from Earth, according to the tracking website whereisroadster.com.

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The roadster has logged more than four billion kilometers, mostly through a barren vacuum.

Though, in 2020, the vehicle made its first close approach to Mars, passing within eight million kilometers of the planet, or about 20 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.

It is difficult, however, to say where the vehicle is with absolute certainty — or to determine if it's still in one piece, as it's possible the car may have been dinged or obliterated by a meteoroid or eroded beyond recognition by radiation.

There haven't been any direct observations of the roadster since 2018, in the weeks just after it was blasted into orbit atop a three-million-pound Falcon Heavy rocket.

Current data is based only on calculated estimates of the car's trajectory.

Astronomers don't have much incentive to actively track the car, as it doesn't offer much scientific value.

The Tesla was ultimately intended to serve as a throw-away "dummy payload" for the Falcon Heavy's first mission in February 2018, a launch that even Musk had predicted would have only a 50-50 shot at success.

But the launch did, after all, go off without a hitch.

And the car has been circling the sun ever since, taking an oblong path that swings as far out as Mars' orbital path and as close to the sun as Earth's orbit.

As of Monday, it was just intersecting with Mars' path, though the planet itself was on the opposite side of the sun.

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Before its 2018 launch, SpaceX loaded up the car with various Easter eggs.

Behind the wheel was a spacesuit-clad mannequin, nicknamed Starman, and on the dashboard, a sign that read "Don't Panic," a reference to the famed science fiction story, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

There was also a data storage device loaded with the works of sci-fi writer Isaac Asminov and a plaque inscribed with the names of thousands of SpaceX employees.

Musk said at the time of launch that he hoped humans will one day establish settlements on other planets in the solar system — a long-running Musk fantasy that also underpins SpaceX's stated mission to colonize Mars.

If and when that happens, Musk said he hopes his "descendants will be able to drag (the roadster) back to a museum."

For now, however, the roadster isn't likely to pass near another planet until 2035 when it'll brush by Mars again.

It'll then make two passes within a few million kilometres of Earth in 2047 and 2050, according to NASA data.

One 2018 academic paper also estimated that the chances the car collides with the Earth within the next 15 million years at about 22 per cent

The odds of it crashing into Venus or the Sun each stand at 12 per cent

If the car does wind up taking a crash course with Earth, we'll have to hope it's ripped into pieces as it slams back into the thick atmosphere.

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(Spaceborne objects running into Earth are actually fairly common, and typically burn up in the atmosphere during entry. Such hits rarely impact populated areas.)

To keep tabs on the roadster's predicted location, it has its own entry in NASA's Horizons database, which follows all the "bodies" of the solar system, including exploration probes, planets, moons, comets and asteroids.

The Tesla is listed as object -143205, "SpaceX Roadster (spacecraft) (Tesla)."

To view a simulation of the Tesla's orbit (based on the data in Horizons), go to OrbitSimulator.com and search for "roadster."

Two social housing tenants say they're concerned for their health due to a mould infestation in their Newcastle apartment.

The mother and her adult daughter, who have asked not to be identified, have been living in the two-bedroom flat in the New South Wales Hunter region since June 2021.

They say they noticed the mould soon after they moved in and that within months it had spread through their furniture and clothing, forcing them to throw out some of their possessions.

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"I've got it as much as I can get it, but it just keeps coming back," said one of the residents.

"The amount of money I've spent just trying to clean this place is amazing, and I'm only on the disability pension and so is my daughter."

The pair are now sleeping in the same room after mould spread through the daughter's bedroom.

They have been in contact with the Department of Communities and Justice and began lobbying for a transfer soon after they moved in.

"I feel they have left me down," says the resident.

"They have let my daughter down, severely."

A Department of Communities and Justice Spokesperson said "an inspection of the property was arranged to follow up on the tenant's concerns".

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"If repairs or maintenance are required, they will be undertaken," the spokesperson said.

The housing authority also added that it's "working with the tenant involved to address her concerns and will continue to communicate with her regarding her request to be transferred to an alternative property."

57,550 people are on the list for social housing across New South Wales, according to the latest figures.

Meanwhile, the wait time can be more than ten years.

In the lead-up to the March election, both major parties have made commitments to tackle the housing crisis.

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NSW Member for Newcastle and Labor Party MP Tim Crakanthorp says his party has committed 30 per cent of all government surplus land having social and affordable housing and pointed to the party's plan to set up a new agency called Homes NSW.

"It will be a one-stop shop for social housing," he says.

"Currently they're a number of different departments that people in social housing have to go through."

"We're drawing them all together to make it easier for them, to hopefully create more efficiencies and save taxpayers' money."

The Liberal Candidate for Newcastle, Thomas Triebsees, says "the state government is delivering $1.2 billion for homelessness, social and affordable housing services as we speak".

"To improve social and affordable housing options in Newcastle, the government is right now delivering a $16 million worth of social housing over the next three years, in partnership with the local council," he said.

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A motorcyclist has escaped serious injury after he was smashed on the head with a shovel in New South Wales.

Video filmed in the town of Leeton at about 11pm on Sunday shows the teenager standing over a motorbike with a helmet on, when a man runs from behind and hits him on the head with the garden tool, causing him to fall over.

NSW Police said a man had been charged with serious assault of the teenager.

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"Police have been told an 18-year-old man was riding an allegedly unregistered motorbike through the township of Leeton," NSW Police said in a statement.

The rider was followed by motorists before he hit a car on Wamoon Avenue.

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"The rider was wearing a helmet and was not seriously injured," NSW Police said.

A 42-year-old man was charged with common assault.

The man was granted bail and will face court later this month.

Some Auckland pest controllers are warning about an influx in rodents and pests.

DOC is worried the voracious forager’s reappearance could threaten recovering ecosystems.

A group of armed offenders are on the run after attempting to break into homes and vehicles during a crime spree on the Mornington Peninsula.

Chris Borg and his fiance Nigan were asleep on Monday morning when the intruders broke into their garage and attempted to steal their Mercedes.

However, without access to the car keys, the group fled empty-handed before a neighbour who chased after them.

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"The idiots don't even wear a bloody mask, they don't care and they have no respect," Borg said.

"We are lucky they couldn't get into the house and cause something more serious."

Another resident on the street, Sonja, told 9News that having the incident occur nearby was unsettling.

"It's frightening. I feel like everyone has a right to feel safe in their home," she said.

Police are investigating whether the same offenders are responsible for other break-ins in the area.

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The 27-year-old woman appeared in the North Shore District Court on multiple charges.

The tenant’s family and friends stopped visiting her and she became depressed and anxious.

Benjamin Coman held delusions that his ex-partner's unborn baby was not his when he killed the mother-of-two at their former family home.

He was also paranoid she was tracking him using a chip in his brain, believed supermarkets were poisoning his food and that he was being spied on, a Melbourne court has been told.

Coman, 31, faced the second day of a pre-sentence hearing on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to the October 2021 murder of Michelle Darragh, 32, inside the home they once shared with their children in Bayswater North.

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The couple had an on-and-off relationship.

She was 12 weeks pregnant when she died, and Coman wanted her to abort their unborn child.

Darragh was staying with her parents when she went to the house on October 9 to collect some belongings.

Her father became concerned after she didn't return home to her children, so he drove to the house, where he found his daughter's lifeless body.

Coman claims there was a struggle with a kitchen knife before he stabbed Darragh to death and then turned the blade on himself.

He was taken to hospital with internal stomach injuries.

His mental health had deteriorated in the weeks prior to her death and he was admitted to Maroondah Mental Health ward in mid-September for psychiatric help after he tried to take his own life.

Forensic psychiatrist Andrew Carroll was called to give evidence on Tuesday about Coman's mental health leading up to the murder.

Following years of drug use, he said Coman had developed psychotic depression, which included paranoia, voices, hallucinations and delusions.

"Objectively Mr Coman had no reason to be angry with Ms Darragh. He did feel angry at the time. His thinking the child was the product of an affair, was a delusional belief," he told the Supreme Court.

He said Coman, a regular methamphetamine, speed and cannabis user, also believed Darragh was tracking him using a chip in his brain.

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"He came to believe his partner could read his mind through some device that had been inserted into his head through an operation a few years prior," Carroll said.

Earlier, Darragh's siblings read statements to the court and stared down Coman, who kept his eyes closed while in the dock.

"Don't be such a coward, open your eyes," her brother, James, said to Coman.

Samantha Darragh described the heartbreaking 10-second call she received from her mother on the day her sister was murdered.

"I think about mum screaming down the phone to me … 'Ben's killed Michelle'," she said.

"We trusted Ben, we trusted him with Shell. For him to take the life of someone who he was supposed to love and protect just shows everyone who he really is: a monster."

Coman's eyes remained closed until Darragh's niece read her statement.

He cried as the young girl explained how Coman had comforted her at a family member's funeral before he killed her aunty.

"The fact someone could do this to my beautiful aunty makes me sick," she said.

The hearing before Justice Andrew Tinney will continue on Thursday.

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ANZ is the first of the big four banks to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia's ninth consecutive interest rate hike.

The central bank decided to lift the nation's official cash rate by 25 basis points, taking the baseline rate from 3.1 per cent to 3.35 per cent.

Variable interest rates on ANZ's home loans will increase by the full 0.25 per cent from February 17.

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