Falcon Heavy Test Flight in 15 mins!

steingar said:
What really gets me is in 1000 Years no one will know who I am, or who any of you are. They probably won’t know who Elon Musk was, or what the United States were. But that car will still be orbiting the sun at about the same distance as Mars. Today the solar system got an addition, and it’s a Burgandy red roadster. And that my friends is cool.
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The only nit I'll pick with that is the United States... they might call it Amerika or something like that, but they'll know it existed (assuming we don't cause ourselves to go extinct as a species before that). Just as we today know about Byzantium, Persia, the Vikings...

The real question for me is whether humanity will still be confined to one planet, or if we'll have established permanent outposts elsewhere in the Solar System... and maybe beyond. I have serious doubts about "beyond"... since we probably could not carry enough food to get there, and if we did, and assuming (extreme long shot) that we found a world on which life with compatible biology had evolved, it would likely include microorganisms against which our immune systems would have no defense.
 
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The most impressive thing was I had assumed the Tesla “payload” would remain ensconced within its capsule - kind of an “in” joke, so to speak. I was gobsmacked to see it out in the open in all its glory.

Probably one of the, if not THE, coolest things I’ve ever seen
 
Bill Jennings said:
Under promise and over deliver? Tell everyone it will go into Mars/Earth orbit, but let'er loose and see what she'll really do?
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The story makes it sound like it was an overshoot.

I see another story that states that the central rocket missed its landing barge and hit the ocean at a high rate of speed.
 
FormerHangie said:
The story makes it sound like it was an overshoot.
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I'd tend to agree with that. Part of the whole point of the mission is making sure they can actually achieve their goals. Granted in this case it didn't matter if the Tesla actually ended up in orbit or not, but it would be the most impressive if it succeeded in what they said it would do. Thinking forward, getting told you're going to Mars and ending up on Jupiter would be bad.

I see another story that states that the central rocket missed its landing barge and hit the ocean at a high rate of speed.
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That's what I heard as well. While the goal is to have all 3 boosters be retrieved and reusable, in this situation and the relative infancy of the technology, I'd say 2 out of 3 ain't bad - especially considering how the side boosters managed a perfectly coordinated landing. No doubt they'll learn from it and figure out how to improve upon the design.

I'd view the goals of the launch as follows:

1) Successful launch without crashing or blowing anything up - Achieved
2) Successful return of the boosters to earth - 2/3 Achieved
3) Launch the ballast (Tesla Roadster) into orbit between Earth and Mars - This one might be a failure, but who knows internally what their actual plans were vs. what they told the public

So overall, I'd say they did pretty well and kudos for accomplishing what they did.
 
Datadriver said:
You did. It was an electric car that had a big tax rebate.
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If you're referring to a the Federal tax credit for buying a battery electric car, it is not a rebate. They don't send you a check written on taxpayer money. It is a credit on your personal tax return allowing you to keep more of your money. Don't worry, your money did not help anyone buy any electric car.
 
Van Johnston said:
This guy only gives it a year. https://www.livescience.com/61680-will-spacex-roadster-survive-in-space.html
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He forgets something hugely important. The car itself has gravity. Even if chemical bonds degrade, parts are unlikely to "fly" off unless acted upon by something. Also, radiation in orbits beyond Earth is less, and energetically less as well (being subject to inverse square laws). Yeah, the Tesla will be beat up, but I bet its still a car long after humans themselves are extinct.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'd tend to agree with that. Part of the whole point of the mission is making sure they can actually achieve their goals. Granted in this case it didn't matter if the Tesla actually ended up in orbit or not, but it would be the most impressive if it succeeded in what they said it would do. Thinking forward, getting told you're going to Mars and ending up on Jupiter would be bad.



That's what I heard as well. While the goal is to have all 3 boosters be retrieved and reusable, in this situation and the relative infancy of the technology, I'd say 2 out of 3 ain't bad - especially considering how the side boosters managed a perfectly coordinated landing. No doubt they'll learn from it and figure out how to improve upon the design.

I'd view the goals of the launch as follows:

1) Successful launch without crashing or blowing anything up - Achieved
2) Successful return of the boosters to earth - 2/3 Achieved
3) Launch the ballast (Tesla Roadster) into orbit between Earth and Mars - This one might be a failure, but who knows internally what their actual plans were vs. what they told the public

So overall, I'd say they did pretty well and kudos for accomplishing what they did.
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From a customer standpoint, whether or not the main rocket is reusable isn't important, that's SpaceX's problem. Not putting the payload in the correct orbit is. Now in this launch, the intended orbit was not one I would think many customers would want, so it may not represent what SpaceX can do for a customer's needs. But, putting the satellite in the correct orbit is just as much part of a successful launch as is clearing the atmosphere, if that's not successful, there's really no difference between that and having the rocket explode on the launch pad. Considering that this launch was to prove the viability of the Falcon Heavy's lifting capability, I'd say it was a very successful launch. If the process and equipment used to put the car in orbit is something SpaceX would use for a customer launch, then it's back to the drawing board.
 
Seems to me that if Spacex/Tesla was really smart, they would have designed it so that the car could be used on Mars, when they finally get there.
 
FormerHangie said:
The story makes it sound like it was an overshoot.

I see another story that states that the central rocket missed its landing barge and hit the ocean at a high rate of speed.
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The middle rocket ran out of igniting chemical for relighting two of its three motors. Unknown reasons. Can’t think of the name of the stuff but it’s the same stuff the SR-71 used for lighting off the afterburners that they had only a certain quantity on board.

So it fired the center motor as hard as it could missed the barge (probably a good thing and they may have changed the trajectory to not center punch the barge anyway) and impacted the ocean at 300 MPH close by. Big boom.

Plenty of fuel on board but the press is confused and saying it was low on fuel. It was low on igniter.

Ahh here we go. TEB.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane
 
denverpilot said:
The middle rocket ran out of igniting chemical for relighting two of its three motors. Unknown reasons. Can’t think of the name of the stuff but it’s the same stuff the SR-71 used for lighting off the afterburners that they had only a certain quantity on board.

So it fired the center motor as hard as it could missed the barge (probably a good thing and they may have changed the trajectory to not center punch the barge anyway) and impacted the ocean at 300 MPH close by. Big boom.

Plenty of fuel on board but the press is confused and saying it was low on fuel. It was low on igniter.

Ahh here we go. TEB.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane
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Thank you for the clarification. Good thing it didn't center punch the barge coming down like that.
 
I wonder if they had considered a failure mode which jeopardized the drone ship? If they recognized the condition early enough, they could steer the booster away from the ship to make sure they don't lose the booster and the ship.
 
kyleb said:
I wonder if they had considered a failure mode which jeopardized the drone ship?
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I suspect that it had occurred to at least one of the 6,000+ fantastically intelligent and educated SpaceX employees, yes...
 
Katamarino said:
I suspect that it had occurred to at least one of the 6,000+ fantastically intelligent and educated SpaceX employees, yes...
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True but the Challenger o-rings and temperature issue occurred to some folks involved in that program too. It is being able to make your concerns known and accepted that matters most.
 
SkyDog58 said:
True but the Challenger o-rings and temperature issue occurred to some folks involved in that program too. It is being able to make your concerns known and accepted that matters most.
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Which reminds us that that the private venture SpaceX is built on a big US government funded foundation of research, development, and some government employee’s lives. We will be remembered...

I saw this trick in Heavy Metal but this time I’ll remember




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Bill Watson said:
Which reminds us that that the private venture SpaceX is built on a big US government funded foundation of research, development, and some government employee’s lives. We will be remembered...
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Yeah, SpaceX didn't build that. Somebody else did that.

Even the best and brightest stand on the shoulders of giants. That doesn't minimize their accomplishments.
 
JOhnH said:
Yeah, SpaceX didn't build that. Somebody else did that.
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Sorry. It just reminded me of this...

40153304871_60157e399c.jpg
 
JOhnH said:
Yeah, SpaceX didn't build that. Somebody else did that.

Even the best and brightest stand on the shoulders of giants. That doesn't minimize their accomplishments.
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Not one bit, makes their accomplishments even grander. Even if born in a sh*thole country


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JOhnH said:
Yeah, SpaceX didn't build that. Somebody else did that.

Even the best and brightest stand on the shoulders of giants. That doesn't minimize their accomplishments.
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Doesn't diminish their accomplishments at all. But it puts the lie to the claim that this was all accomplished by private effort. Elon Musk went from libertarian to the biggest rent seeker in the history of the universe. I can't think of any business he has that doesn't depend heavily on taxpayer money.
 
FormerHangie said:
Thank goodness. I'd be pretty ****ed if tax money was spent to send a car in orbit.
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if I'm not mistaken Spacex or tesla, not sure which has received billions in government subsidies. So yeah I'd say tax dollars paid for this.
 
We spend so many billions of dollars of tax money supporting useless wastes of space, it's refreshing to see tax money contributing to something interesting.
 
Ahh love the ole PoA political twist.

All I know is Spaceman is gonna Netflix and chill for the next 1000+ years...living the dream
 
CC268 said:
Ahh love the ole PoA political twist.

All I know is Spaceman is gonna Netflix and chill for the next 1000+ years...living the dream
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LOL. It’s not really a PoA thing, it’s reality. Musk wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing without a whole effing lot of politics and backroom deals none of us are privy to. The oligarchy needs things.

NRO needs a cheaper way to launch their crap. That’s the bottom line. If he wasn’t willing to play ball with them down the road, no bucks, and no Buck Rogers. They’ll make him an even richer man, as long as the spy toys get lifted. Someone didn’t want to be single sourced to USAF and the Titans and Deltas forever.

The funniest thing I’ve read yet though is that there’s probably a dead body in the trunk of the roadster where the batteries used to be. Elon got away with the perfect crime... muahahahahaha. :)
 
denverpilot said:
LOL. It’s not really a PoA thing, it’s reality. Musk wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing without a whole effing lot of politics and backroom deals none of us are privy to. The oligarchy needs things.

NRO needs a cheaper way to launch their crap. That’s the bottom line. If he wasn’t willing to play ball with them down the road, no bucks, and no Buck Rogers. They’ll make him an even richer man, as long as the spy toys get lifted. Someone didn’t want to be single sourced to USAF and the Titans and Deltas forever.

The funniest thing I’ve read yet though is that there’s probably a dead body in the trunk of the roadster where the batteries used to be. Elon got away with the perfect crime... muahahahahaha. :)
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You wrote "privy" LOL, a POA no-no.
I thought the batteries were built into the floor?
 
Well that's an alternative meaning to "junk in the trunk"
 
GlennAB1 said:
You wrote "privy" LOL, a POA no-no.
I thought the batteries were built into the floor?
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Privy? Not following on that one.

I’m sure that roadster had a bunch of mods to make it a safe payload. Big batteries punching their way through the back of the car under massive Gs and continuing on down the launch stack would ruin someone’s whole day.

I doubt the batteries are even on board. If they needed weight for the test, they probably welded lead to the frame.

If they did keep the batteries they had to do analysis to see if they’d stay in position under much larger G loads than the car was ever designed to do.

Anything that ever moved on that car is probably also welded to never move again.
 
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