Launching a Car into Space

[Finlam]

So, this is a real thing:

Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, which launched on top of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy on Tuesday, is going farther out into the Solar System than originally planned. The car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the vehicle out to the distance of Mars’ orbit. But the rocket carrying the car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an orbit that extends beyond the Red Planet’s path.

Mankind has officially launched a normal car into space where it will drift out past Mars. A stunning feat of technology.

Is this a tribute to mankind's technological prowess? Has someone watched Heavy Metal a few too many times? What should we launch into space next?


Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16...elon-musk-mars

[Peelee]

They didn't overshoot at all; it's on the exact path Elon Musk wanted it on. This way nobody will ever find out there's a dead body inside that "robot." Or in the trunk and frunk.

[Vinyadan]

What was the point of the launch? I guess they wanted to test out something.

[pendell]

As I am usually on the side of cool stuff, I can't help but note that it's yet another piece of superfluous orbital debris in an already crowded space. Do they have plans to deorbit it at some point?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Peelee]

I can't help but note that it's yet another piece of superfluous orbital debris in an already crowded space.

The car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the vehicle out to the distance of Mars’ orbit. But the rocket carrying the car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an orbit that extends beyond the Red Planet’s path.

I don't think the car is going to significantly contribute to the overcrowding in LEO. It's just more space trash.

[Binks]

What was the point of the launch? I guess they wanted to test out something.

Testing their new Falcon Heavy launch platform and the system they're planning to use to launch stuff to Mars. Needed to weigh it down with something, and the car (plus other stuff) got them lots of publicity in the progress.

[Cikomyr]

The simultaneous landing of the booster rockets really left me speechless.

These guys must be Kerbal GODS

[Sermil]

As I am usually on the side of cool stuff, I can't help but note that it's yet another piece of superfluous orbital debris in an already crowded space. Do they have plans to deorbit it at some point?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

LEO is crowded. Geosynchronous is crowded. Heliocentric orbits are really not. I don't think having a car in a heliocentric orbit is going to be an issue, since the orbit shouldn't really pass near earth again in the next few centuries.

[Rakaydos]

LEO is crowded. Geosynchronous is crowded. Heliocentric orbits are really not. I don't think having a car in a heliocentric orbit is going to be an issue, since the orbit shouldn't really pass near earth again in the next few centuries.

The numbers I saw said a 2.6 year orbit... so 13 years or so.

[S@tanicoaldo]

This kind of **** is why aliens don't talk to us. So rude.

[Razade]

As I am usually on the side of cool stuff, I can't help but note that it's yet another piece of superfluous orbital debris in an already crowded space. Do they have plans to deorbit it at some point?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Considering it's head towards Mars, I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal.

Focusing on the "car" part at all seems to be missing the point. This is a vital step to private space missions, which is the only way we're getting off this rock if the near past has shown any indication.

[Excession]

What was the point of the launch? I guess they wanted to test out something.

The whole rocket was new. It turned that strapping three Falcon 9 first stages together was not nearly as simple they first thought. Even with modern computer modelling, there are things like vibration that can't be tested without actually launching it.

The test did double duty in testing their second stage against the Van Allen belts; areas of high radiation above low earth orbit. The initial parking orbit had it flying through them for hours longer than most flights would, and they then had to relight the engines to make sure they would still work after that abuse. Once they were relit, there wasn't much reason to turn them off. Throwing the second stage out toward Mars was good advertising, and gets in out of the way.

The car was whimsy, the second stage was already going that way so it just caught a ride.

Speculating now: I think this means the Falcon Heavy, or maybe any Falcon, can launch directly to geosynchronous or geostationary orbit. Normally the rocket launches a satellite into a transfer orbit, and it's up to the satellite to circularise that orbit to get into geosync, which takes time. If the second stage can do that itself then it seems to me like it would be faster because the second stage has bigger engines.

[Binks]

Speculating now: I think this means the Falcon Heavy, or maybe any Falcon, can launch directly to geosynchronous or geostationary orbit. Normally the rocket launches a satellite into a transfer orbit, and it's up to the satellite to circularise that orbit to get into geosync, which takes time. If the second stage can do that itself then it seems to me like it would be faster because the second stage has bigger engines.

They advertise just that on their site for it (http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy)

"The engine can be restarted multiple times to place payloads into a variety of orbits including low Earth, geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and geosynchronous orbit (GSO)." - Second stage description

So your speculation seems well founded :)

[KillingAScarab]

I don't think the car is going to significantly contribute to the overcrowding in LEO. It's just more space trash.

The difference is that, since they wanted to test the rocket's ability to carry a payload, it is much greater space trash than what they could have used to accomplish its other purpose. They could have released a media player if they just wanted "Space Oddity" to be playing somewhere.

[Peelee]

The difference is that, since they wanted to test the rocket's ability to carry a payload, it is much greater space trash than what they could have used to accomplish its other purpose. They could have released a media player if they just wanted "Space Oddity" to be playing somewhere.

Look, there's a non-zero chance of getting into a car accident in space now. Wouldn't happen with a media player. Besides, not like it can play Space Oddity up there anyway.

[Gnoman]

The difference is that, since they wanted to test the rocket's ability to carry a payload, it is much greater space trash than what they could have used to accomplish its other purpose. They could have released a media player if they just wanted "Space Oddity" to be playing somewhere.

Rockets are designed to carry a payload. Launching the rocket with no payload whatsoever would have caused it to crash, because the balance would have been awful. They had to use something to simulate the mass of a satellite if they were to test the rocket at all. Sure, they could have simply used a metal blivet or something, but there would have been no effective difference other than losing some publicity.

[factotum]

Just a note here: the actual lift capacity to GSO of the Heavy when it's running in reusable mode (e.g. the boosters need to return to base) is actually about the same as the non-reusable regular Falcon, so I'm not sure this is as big an advance as people think it is. Heavy isn't useful for Elon's eventual goal of getting people to Mars, either, they're going to build the Big F'ing Rocket for that job. So, while I've no doubt they learned stuff from this, it was really just an experiment that might well go nowhere in the long run.

[Giggling Ghast]

Wake up, sheeple. Don't you know the Falcon Heavy launch and all those images of the car in space were fake? (I am not a member of the Flat Earth Society and I do not share their beliefs. Just sharing for larfs.)

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/worl...-a3761471.html

[aspi]

As I am usually on the side of cool stuff, I can't help but note that it's yet another piece of superfluous orbital debris in an already crowded space. Do they have plans to deorbit it at some point?

While there's pretty much zero chance of this happening since it overshot Mars orbit, I like to imagine that a couple of centuries from now, it crashes into some city on mars - right into the last existing statue of "Elon Musk, colonizer of Mars"

[Vinyadan]

I'm just surprised that Takuma Sato wasn't the chosen driver. Best man to send a car into Space.

[gomipile]

I'm just surprised that Takuma Sato wasn't the chosen driver. Best man to send a car into Space.

Or maybe The Stig.

[Vinyadan]

Or maybe The Stig.

In Space, no one can hear The Stig.

[FreddyNoNose]

Testing their new Falcon Heavy launch platform and the system they're planning to use to launch stuff to Mars. Needed to weigh it down with something, and the car (plus other stuff) got them lots of publicity in the progress.

There are lots of talk amongst business types that this is an example of great "free" advertising.

[Peelee]

There are lots of talk amongst business types that this is an example of great "free" advertising.

Even if he's already launching a ship, he's still giving up a car for the advertising. That's not in any way "free." It's damned effective advertising, is what they should be saying.

[FreddyNoNose]

Even if he's already launching a ship, he's still giving up a car for the advertising. That's not in any way "free." It's damned effective advertising, is what they should be saying.

Exactly. Perhaps I am being a bit nitpicky about the term free. I don't like phrase buy one get one free either.

[Rakaydos]

Even if he's already launching a ship, he's still giving up a car for the advertising. That's not in any way "free." It's damned effective advertising, is what they should be saying.

It's already been driven for years, and he owns the factory that is building the souped-up Roadster2 that leaves the model he launched in the dust.

He's not giving it up, he's giving it a viking funeral. And making room in his garage.

[Peelee]

It's already been driven for years, and he owns the factory that is building the souped-up Roadster2 that leaves the model he launched in the dust.

So it still has value, and as owner, he pays for the materials and labor to make the new one he'll be taking?

[Vinyadan]

"Free" is a relative concept. This is worldwide publicity, for, what, 200.000-250.000 dollars? Compare Super Bowl XLIX, where a 30 sec spot cost $ 4.5 million. And keep in mind how less effective TV spots have become with the splintering of the audience in so many different video channels, + internet. Last year, a 30 seconds spot in Grey's Anatomy cost more than $ 190,000.

It may not be free, but it's still dirty cheap, and transmedial.

[Max_Killjoy]

Could have auctioned it off for charity instead, I suppose.

[Vinyadan]

Could have auctioned it off for charity instead, I suppose.

http://dilbert.com/strip/2002-10-10