Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Down

Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla  (Read 8617 times)

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« on: February 06, 2018, 08:06:32 pm »

It's a great PR maneuver but also an impressive feat of engineering and tech!  :D  If you haven't yet seen the launch and booster landings:

Short version launch:
https://youtu.be/jT1Yk0q1HBI

Short version booster stage landings (nailed 'em!):
https://youtu.be/l5I8jaMsHYk

Longer version from the SpaceX YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/j8wxV-lUsZg

The center booster narrowly missed its off-shore landing target and crashed into the ocean. This one was a trickier proposition due to distance and altitude.

Streaming real-time SpaceX video (give it time to load) of the Tesla with "Starman" onboard:
https://youtu.be/aBr2kKAHN6M

Engine burn for Mars coming up if all goes well.

-Dave-
Logged

Peter McLennan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4690
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2018, 08:28:38 pm »

An amazing achievement and a hell of a good TV show.  Watched the whole thing live.
Boeing, Lockheed and NASA will be having some interesting meetings in the near future.
Logged

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2018, 08:41:27 pm »

See the Moon (attached pic)?  :)

-Dave-
Logged

Peter McLennan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4690
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2018, 08:44:19 pm »

Heh.  Now THAT'S a shot I've never seen before.  8)
Logged

Tim Lookingbill

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2436
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2018, 09:53:36 pm »

Saw it on the news today. My mind is reeling.

The next item to launch on an orbital path to the sun should be our planet's nuclear waste and any other garbage and pollution that can be put in a container and sent out into space.

Not holding my breath on that happening in the near future, but's good there's someone like Elon Musk to give hope.
Logged

Tim Lookingbill

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2436
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2018, 09:57:46 pm »

Whata' bet the traffic in space might be just as bad as LA where that Tesla winds up hitting a satellite or some rock hurling through space. :o
Logged

Farmer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2848
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2018, 10:52:39 pm »

Whata' bet the traffic in space might be just as bad as LA where that Tesla winds up hitting a satellite or some rock hurling through space. :o

It's pretty much there already:

http://www.popsci.com.au/space/see-all-the-satellites-and-space-junk-circling-earth-in-realtime,406321

Regarding sending nuclear waste, the issue is the question of failure of launch and basically creating the world's biggest dirty bomb.
Logged
Phil Brown

degrub

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1947
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2018, 11:45:40 pm »

The center booster was reported to have crashed into the water at 300 mph due to 2 of the 3 engines not lighting during approach.
Still, a real success overall.
Logged

davidgp

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 758
    • davidgp fotografia
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2018, 01:21:24 am »

Whata' bet the traffic in space might be just as bad as LA where that Tesla winds up hitting a satellite or some rock hurling through space. :o

Highly probably... the last burn to put the Tesla next Mars was overshoot... last calculations are saying that it is going to the asteroid belt.


http://dgpfotografia.com

athegn

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 58
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2018, 04:36:31 am »

Love the nod to Douglas Adams on the dashboard.
Logged

Bart_van_der_Wolf

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8913
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2018, 08:40:19 am »

Love the nod to Douglas Adams on the dashboard.

Yeah, but it looks like he has forgotten to bring a towel. ;)

Anyway, it's impressive what has been achieved in a relatively short time.

Cheers,
Bart
Logged
== If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. ==

kers

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4388
    • Pieter Kers
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2018, 09:26:52 am »

It's pretty much there already:

http://www.popsci.com.au/space/see-all-the-satellites-and-space-junk-circling-earth-in-realtime,406321

Regarding sending nuclear waste, the issue is the question of failure of launch and basically creating the world's biggest dirty bomb.

That is one problem ( displayed in the fim 'Gravity')
An other thing is the colonization of space;  to who belongs Mars for instance?

At this moment all the Mars missions took high caution not to contaminate it with the biologic life from earth.
With sending people we are giving that virginity away as we did on the Moon.
Next thing is the exploitation of space and it will show that in some way we as a human race have not developed since 1600;  'i saw it first' will rule + the law of the jungle.
(neglecting the rights of living creatures  that were there already)
While we are so focussed on 'technology' it is obvious that we already have enough of that to make living better for everyone here on earth.
That would be a real achievement. Sadly it is not as sexy as a rocket launch.


Logged
Pieter Kers
www.beeld.nu/la

Rob C

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 24074
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #12 on: February 07, 2018, 10:18:33 am »

That is one problem ( displayed in the fim 'Gravity')
An other thing is the colonization of space;  to who belongs Mars for instance?

At this moment all the Mars missions took high caution not to contaminate it with the biologic life from earth.
With sending people we are giving that virginity away as we did on the Moon.
Next thing is the exploitation of space and it will show that in some way we as a human race have not developed since 1600;  'i saw it first' will rule + the law of the jungle.
(neglecting the rights of living creatures  that were there already)
While we are so focussed on 'technology' it is obvious that we already have enough of that to make living better for everyone here on earth.
That would be a real achievement. Sadly it is not as sexy as a rocket launch.


I agree with you 100%.

It has always struck me as absurd that we spend all this money on "space" yet there are millions of people here, on Earth, unable to find food, water or even a roof to cover them from the elements.

We fail to deliver peace, safe cities or even safe villages; we have a society where weekends turn some city streets into no-go areas at night because of the young drunks and junkies, and we have criminals on early parole because there ain't enough space to contain 'em out of our way, and that's in the so-called developed world. We can't make the trains and buses run on time and in some areas we have gone from a daily collection of domestic waste to once every two weeks. We condone a work ethic where companies are able to pretend their employees are self-employed and thus treat them like shit.

We run a medical service that is doing all that it can with the limited funds it has to supply treatment for patients, some of whom are left for hours on a stretcher in an ambulance or on a trolley in a corridor due to lack of beds and staff to cope with it all. Yet we think it desirable to throw money into rockets that, apart from communications systems, do what that we can't live without, that wasn't perfectly good enough back in the 50s?

Instead  of attending even to this tiny fraction of a lengthy list of all that's obviously wrong with our society we think about friggin' space? Are these people for real? Who gives a shit about going to the Moon except mega-rich tourists of the future or grown men who are still Superman and/or Flash Gordon fans?

If that sort of money is availabe for games and careers in sci-fi, then maybe we should seriously think about our taxation system, especially about the pockets wherein are to be found the funds to throw around on fantasies like this.

You could safely say that as a society, our sense of values can't tell its ass from its elbow.

Robert Roaldi

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4763
    • Robert's Photos
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #13 on: February 07, 2018, 01:22:46 pm »


I agree with you 100%.

It has always struck me as absurd that we spend all this money on "space" yet there are millions of people here, on Earth, unable to find food, water or even a roof to cover them from the elements.

We fail to deliver peace, safe cities or even safe villages; we have a society where weekends turn some city streets into no-go areas at night because of the young drunks and junkies, and we have criminals on early parole because there ain't enough space to contain 'em out of our way, and that's in the so-called developed world. We can't make the trains and buses run on time and in some areas we have gone from a daily collection of domestic waste to once every two weeks. We condone a work ethic where companies are able to pretend their employees are self-employed and thus treat them like shit.

We run a medical service that is doing all that it can with the limited funds it has to supply treatment for patients, some of whom are left for hours on a stretcher in an ambulance or on a trolley in a corridor due to lack of beds and staff to cope with it all. Yet we think it desirable to throw money into rockets that, apart from communications systems, do what that we can't live without, that wasn't perfectly good enough back in the 50s?

Instead  of attending even to this tiny fraction of a lengthy list of all that's obviously wrong with our society we think about friggin' space? Are these people for real? Who gives a shit about going to the Moon except mega-rich tourists of the future or grown men who are still Superman and/or Flash Gordon fans?

If that sort of money is availabe for games and careers in sci-fi, then maybe we should seriously think about our taxation system, especially about the pockets wherein are to be found the funds to throw around on fantasies like this.

You could safely say that as a society, our sense of values can't tell its ass from its elbow.

That's always been true. How much health care could be provided by all the money wasted on pro sports and the gambling industry that it supports (and that's the legal gambling).  How much did those bombs cost that were dropped on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos? Does everyone really need a new mobile (or D-SLR :) ) every year or two?

How much money has been spent on space exploration? Is it on the same order of magnitude as military spending or airport security? A lot less? A lot more? I don't know.

How large is the international illegal drug trade and how much money has spent on the "war" against it, with nothing to show for it except an increase in the power of the drug cartels?

You could argue that those rich space tourists have a pretty good reason to leave this place.  :)
Logged
--
Robert

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2018, 03:31:45 pm »

The argument that we can only do one thing, and that all our resources must be devoted to that one thing, is thoroughly authoritarian. Humans aren't a hive mind species, no matter how much some of us may yearn for that. Different people have different interests, and I think it's fantastic that we can in particular pursue the exploratory ones. I see SpaceX, especially with this launch, as in part a nice healthy Fvck You to human small-mindedness and self-absorption. Let's go back to the Moon, go to Mars, mine asteroids, do whatever we can to run the zero-sum game approach to existence through the shredder.

-Dave-
Logged

MattBurt

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3912
  • Looking for that other shot
    • Matt Burt Photography
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2018, 03:55:22 pm »

I think the tech here is mind-bogglingly awesome but the car was a little over the top. I think the car could even dilute the impact of what we witnessed here.
But whatever the payload I can't deny I'm absolutely awed by this. The boosters landing together looked like a scene from Star Wars.  8)
Logged
-MattB

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2018, 04:11:23 pm »

Matt, I'm not concerned about the Tesla. It was a PR move for sure and is getting much of the short-term media focus. But Falcon Heavy is a legitimate thing, made to do real work, and this was just its first launch.

-Dave-
Logged

Farmer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2848
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2018, 04:35:29 pm »

The reality is that space exploration and the related technologies, just as sea exploration before it and even land exploration before that, have unlocked benefits for humans and helped with many of the concerns and issues that people raise as "why aren't we spending money on THIS instead?" comments.
Logged
Phil Brown

MattBurt

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3912
  • Looking for that other shot
    • Matt Burt Photography
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #18 on: February 07, 2018, 04:37:59 pm »

Yes Dave, I know it's legit. My point was just that the car stunt might make some not believe it's real or distract from the technical accomplishment here. And that accomplishment is really, really impressive. 
Logged
-MattB

Peter McLennan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4690
Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Elon's Tesla
« Reply #19 on: February 07, 2018, 08:34:52 pm »

The "car stunt" is for me, inspiring beyond words. It shows a sense of joy and whimsy that warms my heart. Only exceeded in sheer, raw production value by the Two Shot of the Year - those two boosters landing, ballet-like, in perfect harmony.

The live stream bears close watching.  There's more there than might first be apparent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2p55BmwmJM



Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Up