Starman completes first lap around Sol

Wonder if Spaceman is having Charging Anxiety...... I'll be he has been looking for the next charging station for a while. Hopefully it won't be clogged up with other dweebs charging their Teslas too....
 
I do recall the Tesla roadster that was launched into solar orbit. I'd never heard the "Starman" moniker before this thread, though.
 
azure said:
I do recall the Tesla roadster that was launched into solar orbit. I'd never heard the "Starman" moniker before this thread, though.
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Always liked the message on the front screen as a nod to Douglas Adams.
 
Unit74 said:
Wonder if Spaceman is having Charging Anxiety...... I'll be he has been looking for the next charging station for a while. Hopefully it won't be clogged up with other dweebs charging their Teslas too....
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Plenty of solar, and no clouds or nighttime, so it would be no worries ... except that the roadster has no batteries.
 
Saw a blue Tesla Roadster in Plano, TX today. Owner who I talked to said it was one of the last 500 built.

It was one of the first I've had a chance to look at close up. Now have a better understanding why their owners are a special set of good crazy.

IMG_0329.jpg
 
azure said:
I do recall the Tesla roadster that was launched into solar orbit. I'd never heard the "Starman" moniker before this thread, though.
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Some people pretend empty fake space suits are humans.

Matthew said:
Still one of the coolest 'murica! things I've ever seen.
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Dumping trash everywhere we go and pretending it’s cool?
 
DaleB said:
Not trash. Long term radiation exposure testing of automotive systems and finishes.
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They removed the vast majority of the systems and interior to make it light enough. Try again. LOL. It’s literally trash.
 
denverpilot said:
They removed the vast majority of the systems and interior to make it light enough. Try again. LOL. It’s literally trash.
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After the launch, me and my space buddies discussed what Range Safety would have had to say. We pretty much agreed that only a bare shell would be left.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Matthew said:
It has a GoPro, that makes it a telemetry system.
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Still wondering where they got a rad-hardened and safety approved GoPro that has hard wired power, because I don’t see that available on the GoPro website. Haha.

“Sponsored by GoPro...”

:)
 
denverpilot said:
Thanks for the space junk, Elon. LOL.
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At least it's not in low earth orbit like the rest of the space junk.

AggieMike88 said:
Saw a blue Tesla Roadster in Plano, TX today. Owner who I talked to said it was one of the last 500 built.
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Considering they only ever built 2500 of them, I don't know why that's particularly special... Except they probably figured out how to do it right by then!

Of course, they didn't build the car itself, just the drivetrain. It's a Lotus Elise with a Tesla drivetrain, Tesla bought gliders from Lotus.

It was one of the first I've had a chance to look at close up. Now have a better understanding why their owners are a special set of good crazy.
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Can you elaborate?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Can you elaborate?
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As he talked about it, he had that certain look in his eye that showed he enjoyed driving it like the sports car it is. Likely fast into the straight, into the corner just right, then punching it on the exit. When I asked if he would ever sell and go with something different, he said his primary upgrade choice would be the new generation of Tesla Roadster that will come out soon.

Videos I've watched of Tesla owners that talk about their Roadsters show the same high level of passion for them.

By the way (and don't share this with the various fuddies of the different communities we both inhabit), I did do a test drive of Model 3 LR AWD with FSD. Me like a lot. Biggest item I find different between it and the ICE cars is the regenerative braking. Sort of like learning the sight picture and flows between different aircraft, that will take a few miles to get used to. Every thing else was fun. Autopilot through the city intersections was kinda eerie to just sit there and allow the car to do it all.
 
Can't help but think of this opening clip from the movie "Heavy Metal" when I see an image of Starman in his Tesla Roadster

 
denverpilot said:
They removed the vast majority of the systems and interior to make it light enough. Try again. LOL. It’s literally trash.
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NoHeat said:
Starman won't be able to report what crumbles, because he'll crumble first, due to solar UV.
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You guys lack any sort of imagination or sense of fun. If this infinitesimally tiny speck really bothers you that much, go find it and nudge it into the sun.
 
DaleB said:
You guys lack any sort of imagination or sense of fun. If this infinitesimally tiny speck really bothers you that much, go find it and nudge it into the sun.
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Have plenty of imagination and fun. Not impressed by a CEO who pushes himself as a “genius” by launching car parts into space as a marketing gimmmick for an audience dumb enough to pretend it’s a person that he’s using most of the ground infrastructure they’re still paying off the loans on, working Jan through May of every year before they see a dime of their own income.
 
denverpilot said:
Still wondering where they got a rad-hardened and safety approved GoPro that has hard wired power, because I don’t see that available on the GoPro website. Haha.
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Rad-hardening isn't an issue unless you want guaranteed long life in orbit. One program I worked used non-hardened parts as the required on-orbit life was only 18 months. One satellite lasted 10 years, we shut down the last one at 12.

Not likely to be a lot of safety issues, other than the battery. Probably made a custom metal mount, as the stock one probably couldn't take the load.

Range Safety hates lithium batteries, but the main thing is to show any fire would be contained. Metal mounting case would probably take care of that, but you might have to run a test to prove it.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Rad-hardening isn't an issue unless you want guaranteed long life in orbit. One program I worked used non-hardened parts as the required on-orbit life was only 18 months. One satellite lasted 10 years, we shut down the last one at 12.

Not likely to be a lot of safety issues, other than the battery. Probably made a custom metal mount, as the stock one probably couldn't take the load.

Range Safety hates lithium batteries, but the main thing is to show any fire would be contained. Metal mounting case would probably take care of that, but you might have to run a test to prove it.

Ron Wanttaja
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Yeah makes sense. Why risk the battery at all, just solder the thing to a power source. **** tons of vibration and spring contacts? A micro USB cable? LOL.

Spaaaaaaaace qualified, baby. LOL.
 
I thought the whole thing was brilliant. Instead of some piece of flotsam they launched a photogenic car with lots of sic fi touches (made on Earth by humans). Tons and tons free PR. Brilliant. I'd love to see what unrestrained cosmic forces have done to the thing. There actually was a satellite that tested just that, what extra atmospheric forces do to materials. I recall it came back a real mess.
 
steingar said:
I thought the whole thing was brilliant. Instead of some piece of flotsam they launched a photogenic car with lots of sic fi touches (made on Earth by humans). Tons and tons free PR. Brilliant. I'd love to see what unrestrained cosmic forces have done to the thing. There actually was a satellite that tested just that, what extra atmospheric forces do to materials. I recall it came back a real mess.
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That’s what Elon does best. PR. Don’t expect profits. LOL.
 
steingar said:
There actually was a satellite that tested just that, what extra atmospheric forces do to materials. I recall it came back a real mess.
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I suspect you're referring to the Long Duration Exposure Facility. Ended up with a longer mission than planned, due to Challenger.

Ron Wanttaja
 
denverpilot said:
That’s what Elon does best. PR. Don’t expect profits. LOL.
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Brilliant PR, in the case of the Falcon Heavy. brand new launch vehicle, no satellite owners wanted to risk their vehicles. Rather than a hunk of lead, he spent a few hundred $K on stripping a vehicle for launch and grabbed headlines worldwide.

Ron Wanttaja
 
steingar said:
The dude is gunning for Mars. I wish him luck.
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He won’t get anywhere close without a Cold War level government contract. Enjoy working until June to pay for his shenanigans.

He doesn’t need luck. Just a PR person to keep him off of twitter and his fan boys will cheer him to debt addled “continued success”.

Maybe he will label some more detractors pedophiles. He’s a lovely person.
 
denverpilot said:
Yeah makes sense. Why risk the battery at all, just solder the thing to a power source. **** tons of vibration and spring contacts? A micro USB cable? LOL.

Spaaaaaaaace qualified, baby. LOL.
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Actually, I think I could easily "space qualify" a GoPro. Metal frame mount, epoxy the USB cable in place, set up ten in a row on a solid beam, then vibe it to 12gs in all axes and do a thermal vac test. Bet they'd pass.

Then again, my last program we calculated the loads wrong and broke the satellite structure in vibe. Got immortalized on our program logo (big crack on the spacecraft....).

Ron Wanttaja
 
denverpilot said:
He won’t get anywhere close without a Cold War level government contract. Enjoy working until June to pay for his shenanigans.

He doesn’t need luck. Just a PR person to keep him off of twitter and his fan boys will cheer him to debt addled “continued success”.
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Debt. The American way (and our gift to the world...)
 
AggieMike88 said:
Can't help but think of this opening clip from the movie "Heavy Metal" when I see an image of Starman in his Tesla Roadster

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I generally dislike animated movies, but Heavy Metal is a cult classic. It's probably my second most re-watched movie.
 
denverpilot said:
He doesn’t need luck. Just a PR person to keep him off of twitter and his fan boys will cheer him to debt addled “continued success”.
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He is one of the most successful people in the world. Tesla and SpaceX are his third generation of businesses, and they have already accomplished truly amazing things.
 
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