Elon Musk Shows Off the Tesla Roadster That SpaceX Will Send Beyond Mars (theverge.com)

Elon Musk has released photos of the Tesla Roadster he plans to send to space via a Falcon Heavy rocket. "The series of photos, posted to Instagram, show the Roadster attached to a fitting and placed between the two halves of the payload fairing that caps the rocket," reports The Verge. "The photos were posted just hours after a picture leaked on Reddit that showed a grainy view of the car being readied for its final ride." From the report: This will be the inaugural flight of the Falcon Heavy, a rocket that SpaceX has been planning for years. The successor to the Falcon 9 , it's essentially (and simply put) three boosters strapped together, all of which will add enough thrust to make it the most powerful rocket in the world. It will give SpaceX the ability to send bigger payloads to space while also helping the company push farther out into the Solar System. But SpaceX doesn't want to put a valuable payload on the very first flight, which even Musk has admitted could end (or begin) with an explosion. So the company plans to use a "dummy payload" instead. "Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks. That seemed extremely boring," Musk wrote on Instagram today. "Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel."

Comments

Would be interesting if they...

[TWX]

...were clandestinely building a means to soft-land the car on its wheels on the planet. Even funnier if they landed it in the pathway of one of the rovers...

Re:Would be interesting if they...

[TWX]

Someone doesn't understand what Sputnik was...

I'd rather them put a tape deck with batteries that will slowly reduce voltage so the tape plays slower... and slower ... and ... slow ... er... Something like the Rolling Stones' Time Is On My Side.

Re:Overloaded?

[Anonymous Coward]

It certainly is not all him, but the carrier of the faith when it flies in the face of the beliefs of so many does carry a terrible burden.

It is OK to have a heart for the man. It is also OK to admire, no matter what you feel of his beliefs, anyone who exhibits the courage and conviction that this man has shown in the face of constant vicious, destructive, vile attacks on his character. Musk exhibits the best of the character of a dead age that made America the technological leader that it was.

I personally think it is precisely that reminder of when character, perseverance, and faith meant something that his detractors hate the most. He may yet go down with his ship, but he has been the consummate captain.

Re:Going out in style

[MichaelSmith]

SpaceX could give somebody (maybe a university) a free launch though.

OK I get it

[AlanObject]

I fully get why he is doing this. I just think that someone somewhere has a worthwhile payload that they have but they otherwise couldn't afford to pay to boost.

Worst case is a cache of supplies to park in Martian orbit for the next time Matt Damon is stuck there and the Home Depot he used last time is closed.

Re:OK I get it

[eaglesrule]

I just think he's loading a military payload, and the roadster is a dummy.

That seems too risky. Military hardware is too expensive when there are other more reliable ways to put it in orbit.

Could he just be doing it out of a sense of pride? His first production vehicle going for a ride in yet another great accomplishment for transportation, because he can and why not.

It is just as possible he's setting expectations in case the falcon heavy test fails, as is likely to happen.

Re:Going out in style

[TWX]

Well Trump said he wants to go to Mars, and SpaceX has a capsule design...

live feed

[kiviQr]

I hope the transmit real time from all cameras on the Roadster!

Re: Going out in style

[guruevi]

I have some old servers that could go up there with a bunch of older batteries, Tesla could also provide a dead battery bank. Would be interesting to see what if anything is necessary to run regular hardware in space, failure modes and whether ECC correction rates or a metal casing would suffice. That way we donâ(TM)t have to send rad-shielded expensive stuff for âoenon-criticalâ entertainment to future Mars missions.

There is plenty of old gear laying around research universities, there is no need for expensive stuff.

Re:Payload

[BarryHaworth]

Like, stuffed animal cows, or like taxidermy cows? 'cause one wouldn't be enough mass and the other is a bit on the creepy side...

The herd shot round the world ...

Re:Going out in style

[wooferhound]

SpaceX could give somebody (maybe a university) a free launch though.

There is no such thing as a free launch . . .

Does Elon Musk push himself too much?

[Futurepower(R)]

I'm impressed with what you said. I agree with "courage and conviction" and "character, perseverance, and faith".

I haven't seen "constant vicious, destructive, vile attacks on his character". I have seen people evaluate his chances based on the idea that he is an average person, and an average person would fail at what he attempts.

I hope that Elon Musk will be especially caring toward himself. Sometimes I get the impression he pushes himself too much.