Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless

[Deadborder]

They say that he was boosted into orbit, and that he's now floating in a most peculiar way...

[Cache]

Sure? I was listening to the mission control audio (alternative without the talking heads) and I heard "we lost the center core".

at about 38:30, audio in the background...
https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c?t=38m25s

...then you see as the drone ship feed becomes obscured by smoke and then freezes.
 :-\

[Moonsword]

Even if the Falcon Heavy isn't successfully commercialized, this is a pretty nifty engineering milestone considering all the engines that had to be synchronized and balanced, and the thing actually worked on its first flight.  They put the heaviest rocket to lift off from Kennedy since the Saturn V into orbit, using a complicated design, and got two of the boosters back on the ground in vertical landings. This is just plain cool and probably did have some useful research data for SpaceX, even if it's not immediately commercially valuable.

[Wrangler]

https://youtu.be/-B_tWbjFIGI?t=2277 This is the alternate feed. The loss of the center core can be clearly heard at 38:31.

engadget has article, with Elon Musk going into some detail what appears to have happen.  Heavy winds with return of the core booster caused it to use up too much fuel thus running out as it was suppose to have thrusted to land.  The booster hit the water 300 miles per hour, with shrapnel flying across the drone ship.

Still it was mostly successful mission. From what I've read, the Central Booster has to be made while the side boosters are standard Falcon 9 stage ones with caps on them.  I just hope they can work out kinks with the Central Booster.  I would imagine that increasing the fuel tank (making Central Booster taller) would be a problem and cause further delays in next launch.

[Lazarus Jaguar]

They say that he was boosted into orbit, and that he's now floating in a most peculiar way...

That was Major Tom.  Starman was Ziggy Stardust

[Bedwyr]

Apparently SpaceX reposted the launch video with the correct views of the side boosters instead of doubling the shot of one booster. Also, the press conference, I think Elon said for some reason there wasn't enough TEA-TEB hypergolic fuel for ignition of the outboard engines. Mainstream press sites misread that as "not having enough fuel" which I'll give a pass for given how Elon phrased that.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Youtube saved the livestream of Starman's meandering past Earth.
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/6/16981144/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-live-stream
Damn, is all I can say.  Seems it's headed to the asteroid belt instead of Mars, not sure why; either way?  That imagery is going to advertise the hell out of the Tesla.

[Wrangler]

Youtube saved the livestream of Starman's meandering past Earth.
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/6/16981144/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-live-stream
Damn, is all I can say.  Seems it's headed to the asteroid belt instead of Mars, not sure why; either way?  That imagery is going to advertise the hell out of the Tesla.

Yep, best mileage on one charge any Tesla has ever gotten.  It's suppose to have 12 hours of charge before the battery fades.

I'm curious how well the car will hold up.  I kept excepting the paint to suddenly fade or nicks appear with all that orbital junk in orbit of Earth as it was making it's way out of Earth Orbit. 

[marauder648]

As long as it don't hit anything, the worst it will suffer is that the solar radiation will bleach the paint and the fittings of the car.





And what 5 million pounds of Thrust looks like

[ColBosch]

This may sound trite, but I am very happy I was alive to see this.

[marauder648]

This may sound trite, but I am very happy I was alive to see this.

Its not trite at all! We watched history being made, and by doing so, we was part of it!  I would assume that we are young enough to have missed the Apollo missions, and whilst we may vaguely recall the fall of the Berlin Wall but we're also probably at the age when we didn't really realise its significance, so for us. This is our Apollo. 

[Sharpnel]

I remember the Apollo missions with much joy and some sadness.

[Wrangler]

It would be funny if the dummy was animatronic and suddenly wave to the hood camera for moment.  ;D

I do wonder if the car was stripped of it's standard equipment like the car's original Ion Batteries to avoid any accidental fire or something.  I was surprise to see the tires hadn't suddenly had a reaction while in space. I didn't expect them to be filled with air or anything thou.

[Bedwyr]

Almost certainly. Any fluids or other potentially volatile materials would be removed (within reason). One thing that surprised me but shouldn't have on reflection is that stage 2 will be mated to the car for its heliocentric journey. Apparently (see Scott Manley again), they performed the third burn all the way down to unusable fuel. That's the main reason the orbit went way out past Mars instead of putting the apohelion at Mars's orbit or thereabouts. I thought they were going to detach and deorbit stage 2.

[Bedwyr]

Also a great video from Smarter Every Day using binaural audio (you need a headset) to hear the  amazing launch sounds as Destin's friend took shots and footage of the launch from atop the VAB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImoQqNyRL8Y

[Van Gogh]

Starman floats above space in his car:

You know, if Elon Musk shows an interest in B17's after de-orbiting this Corvette Tesla, I'll start to panic.

[worktroll]

[Wrangler]

I keep thinking that he was motivated to do this, because partially because of the opening part of the ye olde Heavy Metal movie.  Corvette with astronaut dropped into orbit to some land on earth.

[Weirdo]

Knowing what we do about Musk? Decent odds.

[ColBosch]

Yeah, I immediately thought of that sequence. Even shared it on Facebook. :D

[Weirdo]

So which is more dangerous from a space junk perspective? A single multi-ton object like it is right now, or what's left of it after it t-bones an asteroid out in the Belt?

A single large object is certainly easier to track and avoid, but that thing isn't a solid hunk of steel - would there be anything bigger than dust left after it hits a rock(or Klingon) at system-transit speeds?

[kato]

From a space junk perspective if they went anywhere near Mars with it they'd probably be banned from ever launching a rocket again that direction based on trampling all over planetary protection protocols.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Wouldn't change much.  There'd be scattering and some momentum exchange but whatever solar orbit the thing's on now, it'll mostly stay that way even if it's pulverized.  Then again, with Jupiter acting a lot more strongly, there's a chance that the orbit is measured in decades before it's either absorbed into the jovian system, kicked out completely, or drops into the sun.

Either way, first private spacecraft to the asteroid belt AND BEYOND!

[Colt Ward]

Unfortunately I was in a children's hospital for my niece when this went on, but I shared the story and video link to my other sister.  Her son has been getting into STEM, building his own simple robots and we got him a model FCE car to test out.  He thought it was cool and decided space was something he wanted to get involved with in his future.  His sister I had already converted to a spacenut- she had no hope, her first TV coming home from the hospital was BSG miniseries.

To me THAT is one of the biggest things with Elon's efforts, it shared the dream with a whole new generation.  We can do great things NOW instead of 15-20 years like you hear whenever NASA speaks.

[Bedwyr]

Plus Kerbal. Now everyone has the opportunity to understand how to increase and decrease orbital altitude.

[Feenix74]

"Blessed are the geek: for they shall inherit the earth." - Matthew 5:5  :D

My favourite photo so far, note the message on the entertainment unit display  O0



Only things that Starman is missing is a towel, 100% peril protection sunglasses and a babel fish.

[hoosierhick]

"Blessed are the geek: for they shall inherit the earth." - Matthew 5:5  :D

My favourite photo so far, note the message on the entertainment unit display  O0



Only things that Starman is missing is a towel, 100% peril protection sunglasses and a babel fish.

There's a towel and a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glove box.  No sunglasses or babel fish, from what I've seen.

[Cache]

Apparently SpaceX reposted the launch video with the correct views of the side boosters instead of doubling the shot of one booster.

So I wasn't losing my mind (about that).

[Feenix74]

There's a towel and a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glove box.  No sunglasses or babel fish, from what I've seen.

Thanks for the info, I did not know that. That has just made my day 8)

[Bedwyr]

Thanks for the info, I did not know that. That has just made my day 8)

You know Starman is a totally hoopy frood who keeps a close eye on his towel.