elon musk tesla : what did he ACTUALLY launch ?

originally posted by: burgerbuddy
Who's in the space suit and the trunk?

I bet it's Jimmy Hoffa!

I'm most definitely happy this happened in my lifetime. So far the coolest thing to happen yet.

I wonder though:

- What's in the glove compartment?
- What's (who's) in the trunk?
- Is there a body in the space suit?
- Who's ashes are stored in the car?
- If he's playing Space Oddity on a loop, who does he expect to hear it.... in space?

If no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? (trick question)

originally posted by: Spacespider
a reply to: turbonium1

Mars is going to be a very expensive voyage, far more than a moon flight.

How did you calculate that, did you compare 49 year old tech with Musk tech.. ?
I guess if you ask Musk it will be much cheaper then any moon mission, that is the whole idea with falcon rockets

But best to wait until he gets the actual trajectory right...they missed mars. this car is now the asteroid belt car.

Off-topic (response) removed.

HA...beat ya, mods!! LOL

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: Spacespider

Exactly my feelings. Stop spending billions to find new ways to kill each other and get us OFF THIS PLANET before the Universe does it for us.

My thoughts exactly. There is a wonderful universe to explore and discover out there. If we put our efforts together, and not try blowing each other up, we could achieve anything.

As to what was really sent up. I would guess some sort of spy satellite or something along those lines.

Well, let's be realistic here for a moment...

Landing on another planet such as Mars for example is extremely difficult. It can be done (as we've seen with Curiosity), but it's no easy task, not by a long shot! AND, of the successful landings on Mars to date, it's questionable whether a human being could even survive such an impact without lasting injury (or even at all). An injured space man on Mars is worse than worthless, he's a liability. So just landing on a planet like Mars is "iffy".

Then there's the 'getting there' part. This part mankind has pretty well under hand. However, getting there with living humans on board is a whole other proposition, and not something which is going to likely happen with just one spaceship. Food is heavy, and water is even heavier. You can 'dehydrate' the food to make it lighter, but then you need more water so you don't gain anything really. You can recycle (sort of), but this is a diminishing return, you can't get 100%, so eventually you run out.

It takes roughly 6 months to get to Mars.

To establish a genetically stable 'colony' takes about 160 people (80 if you're the Vegas type, but no less). Just water alone, for 160 people x 6 months is an absolutely MAMMOTH amount of weight to blast into orbit!!! On top of this, you have:
- Fuel weight
- People weight
- Supplies weight
- Shelter weight
- Sustainability (tools, equipment, supplies) weight
- Craft weight (the thing which holds all this stuff)

And this is all to just get there! Then they have to be able to survive once there. Add in more stuff. Are they going to be able to come home??? Okay, multiply everything times about 1.5x

It's not long before you've added up a staggering amount of weight, and created an overwhelming logistics problem.

Can it be done? Sure, probably...someday. But is it feasible, or even realistic? And how much of the Earth's wealth and resources would be consumed by such an effort?

And then...what if it fails???

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

And then...what if it fails???

every one dies

The answer to what did he launch would be nothing if he was thinking properly.

While deciding what to send up on a test launch one would not want much of anything .

That would be the point i believe is to test without loss.

Now i would say look to the next launch to have lots of stuff on it.

Possible even human.

originally posted by: rhynouk

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: Spacespider

Exactly my feelings. Stop spending billions to find new ways to kill each other and get us OFF THIS PLANET before the Universe does it for us.

My thoughts exactly. There is a wonderful universe to explore and discover out there. If we put our efforts together, and not try blowing each other up, we could achieve anything.

As to what was really sent up. I would guess some sort of spy satellite or something along those lines.

Not a dollar has been wasted with men going to space , the ISS houses people from multiple nationalities , even Russians and Americans are working together in this confined space centimeters from death.

This is the main reason i believe any space program is worth all the money in the world.

Because it unites humans.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
Air in the tires was most likely removed (tires would burst in the vacuum of space).

Why? Sea level pressure on Earth is almost 15 psi. Tires are pumped-up to ~35 psi. Drop the tire pressure to 20 psi, then launch it into space. The pressure difference is right back to its nominal 35 psi.

Years from now, if the air hasn't leaked-out already, UV may breakdown the rubber and any remaining pressure could escape, but at that point, who's going to notice?

a reply to: Saint Exupery

Good point.

Don't know how quickly the UV will break down the tires. However, why bother having any accidental thrust? removing the valve stems on the tires and letting the air out would have been a very minimal effort, and not like the car was going to need inflated tires.

a reply to: eriktheawful

There's a website where you can track the car in space.
whereisroadster

I believe there's a robot who looks like Elon Musk in the spacesuit, and if anyone or anything opened the helmet, it would activate him. We're talking about Musk here..so entirely plausible to me.

It would be great if Elon Musk did an Ask Me Anything on ATS. I think he would consider it. Maybe the owners know him. Or Jim Oberg....can ask him nicely.

I think the tires are on it. Low profiles, no air? Probably just kept the items that won't disintegrate the fastest.

SpaceX launch: Tesla car will be DESTROYED within a YEAR

Experts believe the organics of the car – the plastics and carbon fibre – will be torn apart as if a knife is stabbing them thanks to the intense radiation from the sun.

William Carroll, a chemist at Indiana University and expert in plastics and organic molecules, told Live Science: "All of the organics will be subjected to degradation by the various kinds of radiation that you will run into there.

“Plastics and carbon fibres are made up largely of carbon-carbon bonds and carbon-hydrogen bonds. "When you cut something with a knife, in the end, you're cutting some chemical bonds. "Those organics, in that environment, I wouldn't give them a year.”

Source

originally posted by: FinallyAwake
I heard a load of immigrants were hiding in the trunk 😜

Hope they remembered the oxygen!

originally posted by: StallionDuck
I'm most definitely happy this happened in my lifetime. So far the coolest thing to happen yet.

I wonder though:

- What's in the glove compartment?
- What's (who's) in the trunk?
- Is there a body in the space suit?
- Who's ashes are stored in the car?
- If he's playing Space Oddity on a loop, who does he expect to hear it.... in space?

If no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? (trick question)

Jerry can hear it!

a reply to: ignorant_ape

The Flux Capacitor!

a reply to: dreamingawake

Thanks for the link. I disagree with its conclusions. With all due respect to Dr. Carroll, he may know chemistry but does he know anything about the radiation environment in space? It's one thing to know that certain radiation can break certain chemical bonds, but is there a high enough flux of those radiations at sufficient energy levels to cause the damage that he suggests?

The heat shields on Mars landers (and the Huygens probe that landed on Titan) were made of carbon composites, and they spent months (years, in the case of Huygens) in interplanetary space without degradation.