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hiraethified
How much has it cost you?
Live! Falcon Heavy, world's most powerful rocket, maiden flight
- Thread starter Crispy
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hiraethified
How many science related posts have you made in the last few months? And how many have you made today? And have you learnt a bit about science today?
2hats
Dust.
This. Their manned spaceflight drowns in politics. Still well ahead on the unmanned interplanetary exploration front though.
gosub
~#
It's trajectory is changeable... Once it's finished its gig they can boot it in into the sun
joustmaster
offcumdun
I think it's meant to be quite hard to put things in the sun.
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
It won't have enough delta V to lower its orbit.
TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
Mind you, only state actors (or entities that might as well be) have put a human into orbit so far. That's a big test for the private companies, coming soon.
gosub
~#
It would take more ^V to keep it where it is... (SwiftKey no Alt J)
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
What do you mean?
2hats
Dust.
No it would take additional deltaV, that the upper stage doesn’t have, to lower aphelion, or alternatively arrange a gravity assist. It’ll stay in a heliocentric orbit for many many millions of years. Though there is a slim change it’ll impact a co-orbiting Apollo asteroid or similar. Not that it’ll be recognisable for much longer - the plastics will already be outgassing in the extreme UV environment, despite the barbecue roll, and getting roasted in the van Allen belts.
Musk confirms loss of core in post-flight press conference - impacted ocean at around 300mph as only centre engine lit and not side engines, missing barge by around 100m.
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hiraethified
Bit of a stupid question given all the amazing tech on display, but where was Space Oddity playing (inside the car?) and how long is it expected to play for? And yes, I know that in space no one can hear your Major Tomfoolery.
2hats
Dust.
No idea. Maybe it’s an MP3 looping on the in-car entertainment system? Maybe it’s being fed into the audio stream from their production facilities? *shrugs*
If the former, I won’t be surprised if that gets fried in the van Allen belts around about now (at this moment the car is climbing back to apogee over the Indian Ocean). e2a: The battery driving the cameras and downlink (and thus any audio) will only last another 12 hours or so anyway.
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NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
Is the radioactive flux in the Van Allen belts strong to melt plastic?
2hats
Dust.
The energetic protons and electrons in the lower belts may fry the car electronics (I wouldn’t be surprised if the car was largely gutted for this exercise though). They will damage plastics too but not as rapidly as the UV. However the stream will end long before you notice any significant damage as the upper stage battery supply will run down. The car would likely look a little used if inspected near aphelion.
Mumbles274
running from law and the press and the parents
"One careful owner"
Trump has naturally claimed credit for this regardless. I’d wager a lot of the scientists working on it were not actually American and Elon musk sure as hell isnt.
Baronage-Phase
Well-Known Member
It's his rocket..
His car..
His idea...
His money...
His whimsy.
It represents what humans are becoming...money grubbing car obsessed dummies...
Eta...it's heading for the asteroid belt...
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
This shows quite a misunderstanding of what has happened here.
bimble
floofy
The batteries in the cameras will run out this morning ? I'm sad that we don't get to tune in and see how he's doing for at least a few days (yes i know this is silly). What might it look like in a week - would the car's metal get bent out of shape and will the spacesuit stay pristine white?
nuffsaid
But this goes up to 11
Thought we had freedom of speech.
felixthecat
are we there yet?
I don't care about the intricacies of the science tbh - its all so unbelievably cool and bloody clever.
And Elon Musk is a dude
And Elon Musk is a dude
Car body is a composite structure, fibreglass, carbon fibre, also the only material that could damage it will be dust, UV light and other radiation will be more damaging i would think.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
EM has been a US citizen since 2000.
nuffsaid
But this goes up to 11
With cosmologists and astronomers the world over vying for time on various telescopes he could have slung some data there way to help out the overall effort of advancing our scientific understanding....rather than chuck a car up there...he could have maybe put some instruments on the car at least to send back some useful data for someone to use.
But don't get me wrong, the rocket is an awesome achievement and I'm very glad space exploration has been given a boost by someone and I'm amazed how much Musk has accomplished so quickly compared to NASA, I'm more disappointed at NASA for not reaching this type of re usability by now. Just...........a car in space?
