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SpaceX Plans To Blast a Tesla Roadster Into Orbit Around Mars (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica:
Previously, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said he intends to launch the "silliest thing we can imagine" on the maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy. This is partly because the rocket is experimental -- there is a non-trivial chance the rocket will explode on the launch pad, or shortly after launch. It is also partly because Musk is a master showman who knows how to grab attention. On Friday evening, Musk tweeted what that payload would be -- his "midnight cherry Tesla Roadster."
And the car will be playing Space Oddity, by David Bowie; the song which begins, "Ground Control to Major Tom." Oh, and the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will send the Tesla into orbit around Mars. "Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent," Musk added. Ars was able to confirm Friday night from a company source that this is definitely a legitimate payload. Earlier on Friday, Musk also said the Falcon Heavy launch would come "next month" from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meaning in January.
"No private company has ever launched a spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit, let alone to another planet," according to the article, adding that SpaceX's new rocket "could play a major role in any plans the agency has to send humans to the Moon." In addition, Musk added on Twitter, "Red car for a red planet."
UPDATE (12/2/17): Saturday Elon Musk told The Verge that he "totally made it up" about sending a Tesla Roadster to Mars. Then in "multiple emails" to Ars Technica --- sent Saturday afternoon -- "Musk confirmed that this plan is, indeed, real."
And the car will be playing Space Oddity, by David Bowie; the song which begins, "Ground Control to Major Tom." Oh, and the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will send the Tesla into orbit around Mars. "Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent," Musk added. Ars was able to confirm Friday night from a company source that this is definitely a legitimate payload. Earlier on Friday, Musk also said the Falcon Heavy launch would come "next month" from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meaning in January.
"No private company has ever launched a spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit, let alone to another planet," according to the article, adding that SpaceX's new rocket "could play a major role in any plans the agency has to send humans to the Moon." In addition, Musk added on Twitter, "Red car for a red planet."
UPDATE (12/2/17): Saturday Elon Musk told The Verge that he "totally made it up" about sending a Tesla Roadster to Mars. Then in "multiple emails" to Ars Technica --- sent Saturday afternoon -- "Musk confirmed that this plan is, indeed, real."
So, I clicked on the comments section thinking, "A private company launching the highest payload rocket since the Saturn V, with game-changing launch costs even without reuse, designed to land on barges and landing pads, and rather than risking a super-expensive satellite on the maiden launch, they're doing it in the most hilarious manner possible, at the CEO's expense? There's no way anyone is going to be turning this into a negative!"
Hello Slashdot. Thanks for finding new ways to disappoint.
Pinkypants -- my favorite!
This is the first launch of the Falcon Heavy. They're not getting a paying customer until they can prove that the rocket works. That means they don't have any important payload, so why not pull a stunt like this?
Well, they will have to do some work to make sure any liquids or gasses in the vehicle don't cause explosions and mess up the test. Obviously they need to remove the valve stems on the tires, but they'll have to look at lots of other fluids and places where air is trapped to be sure it won't be a problem.
Of course, there are other things they could launch. Perhaps they could do a resupply to the ISS--one of the few launches where the cargo isn't as expensive as the launch. They could also stage some supplies for a future Mars mission in Mars orbit. But if doing something like that would delay the launch as they prepare the payload, it might not be worth it.
Is building a heavy launch vehicle an ego trip as well, according you you? Normally first launches like this have just a dummy load: bags of sand or whatever else can make up sufficient payload. If somebody wants to stretch the goals by adding a car to this dummy load and aiming for Mars in this first launch, I fail to see why that deserves so much grousing. Personally I think it is a waste of a perfectly fine car, but hey, he built the thing himself, and he seems to like to have fun with things like this, so who am I to judge him on that.
In which case why not launch something useful? I realise he doesn't want to risk a commercial satellite but he could launch fuel.
Pro tip: if you suspect that your launch vehicle stands a higher-than-usual chance of blowing up, don't launch stuff that is going to increase the blast radius or be unsuitable as a new artificial reef in the ocean off Florida.
Or he could get a bunch of cube sats and put those into orbit, assuming the launch works.
...but which will still leave a bunch of dissatisfied customers, sunk costs and bad publicity if it doesn't.
Even if this ends in a fireball, Musk wants to be able to present it as a "learning experience": try and launch anything useful and it looks like a failure.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
>> Do we really want to turn Mars into a publicity stunt laden dumping ground?
Yes. Yes we do.
The only way an average Joe is ever going to get affordable commercial space travel is if the "Only governments can do spaceflight" meme dies a fiery death. Putting a Tesla around Mars is a fantastic way to light that pyre.
If the BFR delivers on its promise of dirt-cheap space travel we can tidy up after ourselves later.