• Tesla's long-delayed launch of the second-generation Roadster is set for October 1.
• There have been a lot of rumors about the car’s potential onboard SpaceX tech, including thrusters.
• A patent shows a folding wing that's capable of providing actual downforce at speed or tilting to reduce drag.

With Tesla set to debut its second-generation Roadster at the SpaceX test site in Texas at the beginning of October, a recently published patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reveals something of a spoiler alert. No, not a leak of specifications or cost, an actual vehicle spoiler.

Or, more properly, an active aerodynamic wing. Technically speaking, a spoiler manages airflow for aerodynamic advantage, while a wing—like that on the back of a 911 GT3—actually generates downforce for added grip.

Tesla's patented wing looks to do just that, but it also appears to have several functions. Sitting flush with the bodywork when not deployed, it can extend out to provide maximum downforce, pivot to reduce drag in certain instances, and also be retracted in the event of an impending collision.

The patent notes that the wing will be integrated into the vehicle's automated driver-assist software, specifically for responsiveness in the event a collision is predicted. The system appears to be more complex than the speed-deployable spoiler you get in a normal Porsche 911, and depending on how the software is programmed, could deliver either downforce for grip or reduced drag for speed depending on what the car is doing.

The drawings accompanying the patent appear to show the wing attached to a two-door coupe, rather than the Roadster's projected targa roof layout. There's also no guarantee this tech will debut on the current car, which is closing in on a decade since being shown off as a prototype.

Much conjecture has swirled around the Roadster's mooted SpaceX package, which could theoretically get some kind of compressed-gas thruster package. Far-fetched, but there’s already a Chinese EV manufacturer, Dreame, that has done a production car with twin solid-fuel rocket boosters.

Still, will the long-anticipated Tesla Roadster be capable of flight, even briefly? Probably not. However, odds are that it'll come with a wing.