Tesla's can fly

jmodge

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I just saw on the news where a Tesla Roadster that was launched into space earlier this year just passed mars. Open cockpit with a mannequin in a spacesuit.
 

jmodge

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I am glad you posted that, I was beginning to think I was hallucinating
 

JSWTDI09

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I just saw on the news where a Tesla Roadster that was launched into space earlier this year just passed mars. Open cockpit with a mannequin in a spacesuit.
Actually it is slightly inaccurate to say it just passed Mars. It didn't get very close to Mars at all. It would be more accurate to say that it just passed Mars's orbit. It is now farther from the sun that Mars is. This was an expensive advertising stunt but since it is still in the news, I guess it was an effective one.

Have Fun!

Don
 

jmodge

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Actually it is slightly inaccurate to say it just passed Mars. It didn't get very close to Mars at all. It would be more accurate to say that it just passed Mars's orbit. It is now farther from the sun that Mars is. This was an expensive advertising stunt but since it is still in the news, I guess it was an effective one.

Have Fun!

Don
https://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2018/11/spacex_starman_location.html

Now I suppose your going to tell me there is no restaurant at the end of the universe:confused::eek:
 

turbobrick240

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Actually it is slightly inaccurate to say it just passed Mars. It didn't get very close to Mars at all. It would be more accurate to say that it just passed Mars's orbit. It is now farther from the sun that Mars is. This was an expensive advertising stunt but since it is still in the news, I guess it was an effective one.

Have Fun!

Don
I'd call it cheap and effective advertising. It really only cost as much as the used roadsters value and a handful of go pro cameras. A dummy load used instead probably would have cost nearly as much. Judging by the crowds that gathered at Cape Canaveral, a lot of people were quite excited by the launch.
 

nwdiver

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I'd call it cheap and effective advertising. It really only cost as much as the used roadsters value and a handful of go pro cameras. A dummy load used instead probably would have cost nearly as much. Judging by the crowds that gathered at Cape Canaveral, a lot of people were quite excited by the launch.
The Space X team made a nice little montage clip;

FH & Starman

Yup, here's a quick cut of video taken at the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0FZIwabctw
Aw... you beat me to it... love that clip!

I think the nearly simultaneous landing was almost more impressive than the launch.
 
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compu_85

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I think the nearly simultaneous landing was almost more impressive than the launch.[/URL]
When I saw that, I thought it was an optical illusion or reflection or something. My mind couldn't process 2 massive rockets landing simultaneously.

-J
 

El Dobro

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A great way to save some money.
 

oilhammer

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There are just too many to list....
Funny thing is, they removed a bunch of stuff from the car, much of what makes it a "Tesla", so... they launched a Lotus into space sans the Toyota powertrain. :p

But it was a fun thing for a mega-gajillionaire and his disciples to get enthused about. So that's cool.

To me the best part of the whole project is the reusable boosters that can land themselves. For getting non-human stuff into space quickly, the FH is the ticket. Russians are working on something even bigger.
 

compu_85

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Funny thing is, they removed a bunch of stuff from the car, much of what makes it a "Tesla", so... they launched a Lotus into space sans the Toyota powertrain. :p
What did they remove? I wasn't aware they took anything out :confused:

The only major things the Tesla Roadster and Lotus share are the dash and windshield. 93% of the parts are different.

-J
 

oilhammer

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There are just too many to list....
You can see straight through the front fender well to the other side, and in the NASA channel special they talked about how they removed some of the battery stuff and few other items. It actually wasn't for weight reduction as much as weight distribution. They actually WANTED weight up there because that was the whole point, to test the lifting capability of the FH launch vehicle. They offered to lift something for NASA but NASA refused. LMAO.... so it is extra awesome that it went off without any hiccups to thumb the eye of the goons at NASA. :D

Believe it or not, they usually use cement as a weight for experimental lifts like that. Cheap, inert, and can be made into any shape you like, and it is heavy.
 
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jmodge

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I like the tag on the dash that reads, Made in America by Humans, or USA, whichever the case is. I did not find the photo again.
 

turbobrick240

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I like the tag on the dash that reads, Made in America by Humans, or USA, whichever the case is. I did not find the photo again.
I thought that was a good touch on the circuit board too. "Made on Earth by humans". I think that's so the lizard people living on Earth in a million years can appreciate mammalian technology. :D

Edit: that image is at the very end of the video linked above
 
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quartersaw

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Funny thing is, they removed a bunch of stuff from the car, much of what makes it a "Tesla", so... they launched a Lotus into space sans the Toyota powertrain. :p

But it was a fun thing for a mega-gajillionaire and his disciples to get enthused about. So that's cool.
To me the best part of the whole project is the reusable boosters that can land themselves. For getting non-human stuff into space quickly, the FH is the ticket. Russians are working on something even bigger.
I'm quite sure the Tesla is in an eccentric orbit, and will be headed back towards us, at some point. It won't be leaving the Solar System, and the orbit has likely been already plotted.
 

oilhammer

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There are just too many to list....
It is in a near-Mars orbit. But orbital mechanics are complex, as in addition to the planets going around the sun in a non-circular orbit at different speeds and being bounced around by each other, the sun itself is being spun around an arm of the Milky Way galaxy. So the planets (and everything else spinning around the sun) are actually going through space in a giant corkscrew pattern.

It is amazing they can plot things with the accuracy that they do, given it is really a crap ton of math and most of it is done by gravity. A lot of which is just now (like, within the last 10 years) becoming possible. Because we finally have the computing power to actually chomp through these vast and lengthy calculations within a human's lifetime.

The Tesla Spaceman's solar orbit will no doubt be influenced to some degree by these gravitational forces, especially by our system's gentle giant watchdog, Jupiter, which sends things all over the system wobbling. It even gives the SUN a "tide" of sorts, in the same manner the moon effects our oceans! :eek:

And when Jupiter and Saturn are in a line together, which happens every so often, it pulls the sun towards them due to both those gas giants' combined gravity. This happens over a long period, as their solar orbits take much, much longer. When the clockwork is such that Earth finds its way in the middle, we have hotter, harsher weather, which can last for a thousand years. When they are apart, we get colder, dryer weather, which can also last for a thousand years. Ice Ages. Fascinating stuff, and like I said much of this science is still unfolding (we JUST found out more about Pluto last year than we knew from its discovery until then).

You can probably tell I read WAY too much and spend WAY too much time watching the NASA channel, LOL. Still, an interest of mine outside of cars, as few as those interests are. :)
 

turbobrick240

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^ Yeah, Jupiter is huge. So massive that it actually orbits a point in space just outside of the sun. It has some pretty awesome moons too.
 

jmodge

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2091 was the estimate to come close to earth, every 30 years after that. Not thinking I will stay up that late
 
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