Footage of Tesla's Roadster in Space (Featuring Starman)

[GTFraker]

Tesla put one of their roadsters in orbit instead of a block of concrete or some other mundane object - simulating mass - which is common practice when sending a rocket into space, however, since Elon Musk dislikes boring practices: "That seemed extremely boring," said Musk, "Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel". Tesla decided to replace a block of steel with a roadster produced by their automotive branch. It did not seem practical nor exciting to Elon to have a car without a driver - yes, it's a bit ironic considering their driverless cars project - thus, Starman the mannequin, clad in a fully functioning space suit, took it on himself to fill in. Needless to say, Starman will be blasting David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on his billion year mission, orbiting Mars.

 

[Danoff]

orbiting Mars.

Not really orbiting mars. But maybe accidentally coming close to Mars on occasion.

 

[-Fred-]

It's just more useless garbage floating around in space.

 

[Danoff]

It's just more useless garbage floating around in space.

It gave humanity this photo, which is worth the price of admission all by itself.

 

[CodeRedR51]

It's just more useless garbage floating around in space.

If it was just orbiting Earth I might agree with you. But it's going WAY out there. Pretty harmless.

 

[Famine]

"That seemed extremely boring," said Musk

Just like mass-production of automobiles apparently is.

To be a bit more boring, the Roadster will not orbit anything for a billion years. Or a million years. Or probably even two years.

Firstly, the environmental conditions - solar radiation, pressure and temperature - will rot all of the organic materials. Tyres, bushings, plastics, carpets, seats, insulation, adhesives and even the carbon fibre will perish in exceptionally short order. All that will survive is the vehicle structure and windows...

... until the micrometeorites have their say. They will shatter the glass and puncture holes in the car's body. If one gets as far as the lithium ion battery pack, you can say goodnight to the whole thing. It won't set on fire - no oxygen - but there's nothing to stop the thermal runaway, which will melt the battery and anything nearby.

Assuming it lives long enough for that. The final stage overshot and the Roadster will now occupy a roughly heliocentric orbit which intersects the asteroid belt. That's the asteroid belt that's full of enormous rocks.


But hey, look over here at the giant rocket, supersonic vacuum trains and mass transit tunnels. Model 3? What's that? We've got flamethrowers!

 

[GTFraker]

You all must be fun at parties.

 

[Famine]

You all must be fun at parties.

Only at LAN parties.

 

[XJ40]

Just like mass-production of automobiles apparently is.

To be a bit more boring, the Roadster will not orbit anything for a billion years. Or a million years. Or probably even two years.

Firstly, the environmental conditions - solar radiation, pressure and temperature - will rot all of the organic materials. Tyres, bushings, plastics, carpets, seats, insulation, adhesives and even the carbon fibre will perish in exceptionally short order. All that will survive is the vehicle structure and windows...

... until the micrometeorites have their say. They will shatter the glass and puncture holes in the car's body. If one gets as far as the lithium ion battery pack, you can say goodnight to the whole thing. It won't set on fire - no oxygen - but there's nothing to stop the thermal runaway, which will melt the battery and anything nearby.

Assuming it lives long enough for that. The final stage overshot and the Roadster will now occupy a roughly heliocentric orbit which intersects the asteroid belt. That's the asteroid belt that's full of enormous rocks.


But hey, look over here at the giant rocket, supersonic vacuum trains and mass transit tunnels. Model 3? What's that? We've got flamethrowers!

There is now a car in space. Not a space designed vehicle, but a car that has been driven by an earthling. No matter how many pieces it may or may not end up in, that's still cool to me.

I really want a Martian or Plutonian or Milky Wayian to drive this on their home planet and send back a road test, hopefully before all that is left is a frame with windows.

 

[Famine]

There is now a car in space. Not a space designed vehicle, but a car that has been driven by an earthling. No matter how many pieces it may or may not end up in, that's still cool to me.

There's three of them on the Moon. They've been there for just over 45 years.

 

[Danoff]

There's three of them on the Moon. They've been there for just over 45 years.

This one is moving faster.

 

[CodeRedR51]

If one gets as far as the lithium ion battery pack, you can say goodnight to the whole thing. It won't set on fire - no oxygen - but there's nothing to stop the thermal runaway, which will melt the battery and anything nearby.

Pretty sure they removed the battery pack.

There's three of them on the Moon. They've been there for just over 45 years.

*Earth driven automobiles

 

[XJ40]

There's three of them on the Moon. They've been there for just over 45 years.

Yep. All three driven by earthlings... (now 4 inc. Tesla?)
I await the road test comparison between handling on earth and wherever it ends up.

 

[Joey D]

I really want a Martian or Plutonian or Milky Wayian to drive this on their home planet and send back a road test, hopefully before all that is left is a frame with windows.

And they'll still get a Tesla before people here on Earth waiting for their Model 3.

 

[XJ40]

And they'll still get a Tesla before people here on Earth waiting for their Model 3.

Oh that's harsh!

 

[Famine]

This one is moving faster.

I reckon they're about equal - this one's penned in at 11km/s, and Apollo 10 holds the manned record at 11.08km/s. The LRVs went up on Apollo 15-17 and were probably not far from 10's pace. And it depends on your frame of reference; the LRVs sit on the lunar surface, which scooches round Earth at 28km/s

Of course the LRVs could be driven much faster than the Tesla can too. If you can get there, you should be able to get 10km/h out of one. Or just drive it on GT6

Pretty sure they removed the battery pack.

Well, that's just boring.

 

[XJ40]

I wonder what a Martian Grand Tour would look like...

 

[Danoff]

I reckon they're about equal - this one's penned in at 11km/s, and Apollo 10 holds the manned record at 11.08km/s. The LRVs went up on Apollo 15-17 and were probably not far from 10's pace. And it depends on your frame of reference; the LRVs sit on the lunar surface, which scooches round Earth at 28km/s

Of course the LRVs could be driven much faster than the Tesla can too. If you can get there, you should be able to get 10km/h out of one. Or just drive it on GT6

Not sure where 28km/s is coming from. Lunar orbital velocity is 1 km/s. The Tesla is already moving faster (over 11 km/s) compared to the Earth (possibly the earth-moon barycenter - nobody cites their reference frames) than the Apollo missions achieved (I think), but it has a much higher orbital energy, so it will ultimately achieve a WAY faster speed relative to the Earth without it having to do anything. So I'm calling it the fastest car ever (long as it doesn't hit the moon on the way out).

 

[Famine]

Not sure where 28km/s is coming from. Lunar orbital velocity is 1 km/s.

I forgot to carry the month.

 

[HarVee]

If it was just orbiting Earth I might agree with you. But it's going WAY out there. Pretty harmless.

Until an extraterrestrial civilization manages to reverse engineer it.

Future generations are going to pay a hefty price for all our space experiments.

 

[Rage Racer]

UAZ (the Russian off-road car maker) published this photo, with a comment:

"When Tesla finally gets to Mars, somebody will have to pull it out of craters".

 

[Danoff]

UAZ (the Russian off-road car maker) published this photo, with a comment:

"When Tesla finally gets to Mars, somebody will have to pull it out of craters".

When the Tesla finally gets to mars, we'll have already terraformed it a thousand years ago.

 

[TexRex]

UAZ (the Russian off-road car maker) published this photo image, with a comment:

FTFY.

 

[Northstar]

*Earth driven automobiles

You were saying?

 

[CodeRedR51]

You were saying?

*Vehicles that were meant to be driven on Earth and not designed for off world travel.

Anything else?

 

[Northstar]

*Vehicles that were meant to be driven on Earth and not designed for off world travel.

Anything else?

No, your ability to move goalposts far exceeds my giving a damn.

 

[CodeRedR51]

No, your ability to move goalposts far exceeds my giving a damn.

Original comment that started this mess:

There is now a car in space. Not a space designed vehicle, but a car that has been driven by an earthling. No matter how many pieces it may or may not end up in, that's still cool to me.

Doesn't get any more clear than that. Shouldn't have to spell it out for anyone that likes to make a big deal out of nothing which you clearly are. Goal posts my ass.

 

[Northstar]

Delete, you're not worth a ban.

 

[Pedinhuh]

I, for one, thinks this is very cool, and the shot of the car with planet in the backdrop speaks for itself.

I just find it incredible really, that means we are finally going to explore the space again, can't wait until mankind finally step on Mars.

 

[Danoff]

I just find it incredible really, that means we are finally going to explore the space again

I doesn't mean that and "we" didn't stop. It is cool though.