Tesla aimed for Mars will be the payload on first Falcon Heavy launch
Capitalism in space: Elon Musk announced today that the first test launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket next month will carry a Tesla car which will be aimed for a solar orbit about the same distance from the Sun as Mars.
Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.
Musk definitely knows how to generate publicity, even as he lowers expectations for the launch. Richard Branson could learn something from him.
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Capitalism in space: Elon Musk announced today that the first test launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket next month will carry a Tesla car which will be aimed for a solar orbit about the same distance from the Sun as Mars.
Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.
Musk definitely knows how to generate publicity, even as he lowers expectations for the launch. Richard Branson could learn something from him.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The Verge seems to think that this was all a prank: https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/1/16726822/spacex-falcon-heavy-tesla-roadster-launch-elon-musk
“Musk first tweeted out the idea on Friday evening, but in an email response to our inquiry confirming the plan, Musk wrote “it’s so real.” After this story was published, Musk told us he “totally made it up.”
To further complicate the story, Musk reportedly told Ars Technica’s Eric Berger that his Tesla-to-Mars plan was “100% real.” ”
I’d be surprised if this just turns out to be a four month premature joke, but we don’t really know. As far as I can tell, the note on The Verge’s article is the only hint that it might be a joke.
Musk said he wanted to launch the silliest thing he could think of, so who knows?
Imagine if he does it and a century from now a ship gets into an interplanetary fender-bender.
Wouldn’t be the first time a spacecraft of the future had an unfortunate encounter with a much older land vehicle…
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/star-trek—the-last-voyage/n8636?snl=1
I would like it if it was programed to loudly play “Radar Rider” as it entered mars atmosphere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWMPe3wF9jQ
Considering his net worth when he sent up a wheel of cheese to his net worth today, it seems about right. But in reality he’s just preparing in advance for the eventual conflict with an aggressive artificial intelligence (following James T. Kirk’s many fine examples.)
Regarding the strange reports coming from the Verge, it looks like this (2008 Roadster payload for FH demo launch) is for real, and it is unclear what the context of the “totally made it up” message was which lead them to thinking it was all joke.
Phil Plait has some more details, specifically about it being sent not into an orbit around Mars, but “a precessing Earth-Mars elliptical orbit around the sun”.
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/elon-musk-on-the-roadster-to-mars
I hope he doesn’t lock his keys in the car.
Not quite the flying cars we expected, but it’ll do for now.
Another Tesla wondering around looking for a charging station – and expecting free energy at that!
“Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale”
http://farmacologiaclinica.info/scales/BPRS/
“Elon Musk: How I Wrecked My Uninsured McClaren F1”
2012
https://youtu.be/mOI8GWoMF4M
4:11
In all seriousness however, informative long-form interview with Musk from 2012.
PandoMonthly:
“Fireside Chat With Elon Musk”
https://youtu.be/uegOUmgKB4E
(1:03:10)
Wayne,
It’s always a better bet to self insure if you have the means. Insurance only works because of positive expectations. Of course, this means driving like you’ve self insured.