Falcon Heavy

[Taboma]

Oddly, the Earth appears to be quite round in the Tesla pics

Considering it's next close approach to Earth will be in 2021 @ 21 million miles distant, I don't think it's coming back, here at least Bye Bye Major Tom
Pretty good read on it --- https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/1...y-roadster-orbit-asteroid-belt-elon-musk-mars

 

[Tank]

It is never coming back. It was supposed to go into a orbit around the sun out by mars, but missed.

Never mind, questions answered while I was typing.

no more video / pics? WTF?

People love to hate on that guy but what a fuckin' stud. Basically a hero in my eyes...He's going to do more for space exploration and travel in a the next few years than has been done since the race for the moon. And all as a private party. Actually quite amazing what he's already done and what his goals are. He WILL land a manned mission on mars.

 

[WhatExit?]

SpaceX needed a payload to send into space. They could've used concrete, etc. but Musk donated his personal Tesla roadster. Yes, it looks like a Lotus Elise https://www.tesla.com/blog/mythbusters-part-2-tesla-roadster-not-converted-lotus-elise They don't make that anymore and so it's NOT a "subsidized $250K car").

It'll be out in space for years - who knows how many - could be tens, hundreds, thousands or more.

 

[spectra3279]

It's headed to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Gonna get pretty banged up.
We wont get to see any more pics cause the camera batteries are almost dead.

Should have hooked the camera to the cars batteries. Just plugged it into the cigarette lighter.



Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[STV_Keith]

Should have hooked the camera to the cars batteries. Just plugged it into the cigarette lighter.

Seems like they easily could have put a solar panel or 5 on that thing to keep the battery alive while transmitting video. Not like sunlight is an issue up there.

 

[Tank]

Seems like they easily could have put a solar panel or 5 on that thing to keep the battery alive while transmitting video. Not like sunlight is an issue up there.

Even if it was in orbit for however long, you'd think they'd want cameras and video for as long as possible.

 

[WhatExit?]

They weren't at all sure the rocket would get up into orbit

 

[wsuwrhr]

SpaceX needed a payload to send into space. They could've used concrete, etc. but Musk donated his personal Tesla roadster. Yes, it looks like a Lotus Elise https://www.tesla.com/blog/mythbusters-part-2-tesla-roadster-not-converted-lotus-elise They don't make that anymore and so it's NOT a "subsidized $250K car").

It'll be out in space for years - who knows how many - could be tens, hundreds, thousands or more.

So what is the value of the value of the payload since "it isn't made anymore"? More than a $250K for subsidized car? $50? $0?

Brian

 

[nowski]

Seems like they easily could have put a solar panel or 5 on that thing to keep the battery alive while transmitting video. Not like sunlight is an issue up there.

They still have an opportunity to get solar panels on that car and offer no out of pocket cost$ for the install. They just need to find an installer from Solar City willing to go to space...

 

[Racey]

Seems like they easily could have put a solar panel or 5 on that thing to keep the battery alive while transmitting video. Not like sunlight is an issue up there.

Sunlight isn't an issue, temperature is, Chemical batteries don't work for long at minus hundreds of degrees.

Solar panels only work if they are aimed at the sun, keeping them aimed at the sun means propellant systems are needed to keep position, then guidance computers, etc, etc, etc, This was just a means of putting ballast in the rocket for it's first test. Like someone else said, it could have been lead, or concrete. They just decided to use a car for great marketing.

 

[73hondo]

Here some bad ass audio from the launch and booster landing headphones needed

 

[WhatExit?]

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked enough ignition fluid to light engines, land on platform, Musk says
By SAMANTHA MASUNAGA
FEB 12, 2018 | 11:25 AM

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2018. (Terry Renna / AP)
The center core booster of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy didn't land on a floating sea platform as intended during last week's first test flight because it ran out of ignition fluid, company Chief Executive Elon Musk said Monday.

Musk took to Twitter on Monday morning to give a few more updates on the Falcon Heavy's first flight. After liftoff, the rocket's two side boosters touched down simultaneously on land, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd of SpaceX employees gathered in the company's Hawthorne headquarters, as seen on the launch livestream.

Those two boosters, which were used in previous launches of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, will not be reused again, Musk said in a post-launch news conference last week.

But the center core booster ended up hitting the Atlantic Ocean at 300 mph and about 328 feet from the floating platform where it was supposed to land. Musk said Monday that there wasn't enough ignition fluid to light the outer two engines of the booster "after several three engine relights."

The fix, he said, was "pretty obvious."

Musk also said a third floating platform, which the company calls a drone ship, is under construction to aid in first-stage recoveries for Falcon 9 and "dual ocean landings" for future Falcon Heavy side boosters. That platform will be located on the East Coast.

SpaceX already has one floating platform for the Atlantic Ocean and another for the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Never mind, questions answered while I was typing.

no more video / pics? WTF?

People love to hate on that guy but what a fuckin' stud. Basically a hero in my eyes...He's going to do more for space exploration and travel in a the next few years than has been done since the race for the moon. And all as a private party. Actually quite amazing what he's already done and what his goals are. He WILL land a manned mission on mars.

Yup the guy is a national treasure.


UD

 

[Uncle Dave]

Dumbest fucking thing I have ever heard. As far as I know it is in orbit, until it isn't.

Launching a subsidized $250K car into space, for the fuck of it, seems to be pretty silly.

There are a number of ways to test the nosecone and payload capabilities without such a monumental waste of capital.

Brian

Couple things on this as Ive read and gained some insight.


It was Musks personal car he paid for to do this.

No one wanted to anything to do with either an instrument lift - or a paid for load / commercial payload on first flight of an untested design with a 50% chance of simply blowing up.

so it was either something like symbolic and " without sentimental value' to quote musk like this - or just a weight - and for whatever reason he ponied up his very own roadster as a guinea pig.

UD

 

[wsuwrhr]

Couple things on this as Ive read and gained some insight.


It was Musks personal car he paid for to do this.

No one wanted to anything to do with either an instrument lift - or a paid for load / commercial payload on first flight of an untested design with a 50% chance of simply blowing up.

so it was either something like symbolic and " without sentimental value' to quote musk like this - or just a weight - and for whatever reason he ponied up his very own roadster as a guinea pig.

UD

First off, kudos to the guy, one hellofafeat regardless, and for the most part, total success. I get the reason while a "paying" payload wasn't going to happen, and regardless, the launch system did need to be tested and proven.

I find it funny to imagine, and likely not, musk paying retail for his "personal" car he launched into space, if that makes sense. The whole idea, while cool marketing, was still a folly waste of money.

Might as well heaved a palletohundreds and littered space with 250k worth of benjamins.

Brian

 

[Uncle Dave]

I wouldn't imagine he'd pay retail (what owner does) but the board probably made sure he at least covered cost.

As long as it isnt my money, the governments or the shareholders money I don't care if he pisses away his own moolah.

Its not like he needs the money- but yeah I get the wasteful part.

UD

 

[JRider]

First off, kudos to the guy, one hellofafeat regardless, and for the most part, total success. I get the reason while a "paying" payload wasn't going to happen, and regardless, the launch system did need to be tested and proven.

I find it funny to imagine, and likely not, musk paying retail for his "personal" car he launched into space, if that makes sense. The whole idea, while cool marketing, was still a folly waste of money.

Might as well heaved a palletohundreds and littered space with 250k worth of benjamins.

Brian

$250k? I would say that is a steal for the advertising alone. I have personally watched GM throw away millions in tooling, corporations think on a different scale. $250k for you or me would seem like a lot of capital.

 

[WhatExit?]

First off, kudos to the guy, one hellofafeat regardless, and for the most part, total success. I get the reason while a "paying" payload wasn't going to happen, and regardless, the launch system did need to be tested and proven.

I find it funny to imagine, and likely not, musk paying retail for his "personal" car he launched into space, if that makes sense. The whole idea, while cool marketing, was still a folly waste of money. Might as well heaved a palletohundreds and littered space with 250k worth of benjamins.

Maybe you don't "get it." SpaceX needed to test that monster rocket. It was going to be launched or blow up trying to prove they know what they're doing with a 27 engine huge rocket capable of putting massive payloads into space (and possibly Mars since one of Musk's goals).

The fact that they got the Falcon Heavy to do what was designed - the first time - AND used the empty rocket to put his personal (old) Tesla into space and turned that into a marketing goldmine should be appreciated. Both were huge wins for SpaceX and Musk.

 

[WhatExit?]

Starman just made another flyby of Mars in his Tesla Roadster
Shane McGlaun - Oct 10, 2020, 12:13pm CDT
0

One of the craziest things that Elon Musk has done in his days at SpaceX is to shoot his own Tesla Roadster into space. The car left Earth atop the very first Falcon 9 Heavy rocket that the company ever launched. The vehicle has been orbiting the sun ever since.


This week Starman made its closest flyby of Mars when it came within 5 million miles of the planet. The Roadster is in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Astronomer Jonathan Dowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said that at that distance, Mars would appear about 1/10 the diameter of the Moon. That means it would be small, but not just a point of light in the sky as we see it from Earth.

The astronomer also noted that in 2047 Starman would pass about 5 million kilometers from the Earth. That’s too far away to be able to resolve the vehicle as an object. Starman and his trusty ride have so far completed a bit less than two orbits around the Sun.

The vehicle passed Mars for the first time back in November 2018.

The car is currently about 37 billion miles from Earth and has traveled nearly 1.3 billion miles since it was put in orbit. The vehicle will orbit the sun between Earth and Mars for millions of years to come. That is assuming it doesn’t crash into one of the planets. Estimates are that there is a six percent chance it will crash into the Earth at some point in the future.

SpaceX stays busy sending resupply missions to the ISS and getting ready for its first crewed mission in the coming months. It’s also busy launching Starlink satellites into orbit with the most recent launch on October 6 and sending 60 new satellites into space.

 

[MooreMoney]

I just watched the documentary about launching the falcon 9. Elon has build a special company and it’s very exciting to watch what they are doing.

 

[was thatguy]

Musk is a visionary.
Yes, he knows how to fund shit.
But this guy has accomplished dreams that us mere mortals can’t even fathom.
First you have to dream it and imagine it.
Then you have to put it in motion
Then you have to accomplish it SUCCESSFULLY, then you advance it.
He’s done all of that.
He is the Werner Von Braun of our generation....but without the actual rocket scientist credentials.
If his detractors (or anyone including myself) could accomplish 1/100 of what he has it would be a successful life.
So much has happened since this thread was started, it’s a given that Musk IS the future of space travel.
Oh, and by 2047 we will easily be able to retrieve his car or take pictures of it as we fly by it.