SpaceX

[Day]

Tonight there is a Tesla floating around in space and you can watch it live, why? Because they can. 

It's ever so slightly more entertaining than that Perrigine webcam on the Cathedral.

 

[Carl Sagan]

In perhaps the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV, tonight Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX did their first test launch of what is now the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy. It's basically three of their Falcon 9 rockets (which send supplies to the International Space Station) strapped together. Here are two of them, having done their job, coming back down to land at Cape Canaveral:

Meanwhile, the dummy payload was literally a dummy (called Starman), dressed in a SpaceX spacesuit behind the wheel of Elon Musk's own Tesla Roadster (Tesla is another of his companies) on its journey to Mars. The stereo is playing David Bowie for good measure, and the touchscreen bears the words of Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic".

In yet another nod to a science fiction genius, the floating "droneship" out at sea that was meant to catch the third rocket is called Of Course I Still Love You, an Iain (M) Banks Culture spaceship name. Sadly, at this point it doesn't seem as though it ended well for OCISLY. But it was a test flight that many thought would blow up very quickly. The cushy aerospace industry has laughed at SpaceX until recently while pocketing billion dollar contracts to build ships that fly once and crash - like going on a jumbo to New York and parachuting out over Manhattan while the plane ditches in the ocean and they have to build another one to bring you home. That would be one very expensive ticket.

SpaceX's rocket reuse is just one way they have revolutionized the industry and are bringing costs down to the extent that, before the end of the century, most people will be able to afford to emigrate to Mars and help build a new society. Also helping to safeguard the future of humanity by giving us a second biosphere. To see Falcon Heavy lift off was an incredible sight.

This is a real game changer. If you want to watch Starman's progress heading away from Earth, that's here:

The full Falcon Heavy launch coverage can be seen here (starting 9 minutes in with the launch at 29 minutes and those rockets lannding at 37:45). Enjoy!

 

[Carl Sagan]

Was writing mine while you were writing yours! Feel free to merge them threads. Just don't put it in transfer talk

[Day]

5 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Was writing mine while you were writing yours! Feel free to merge them threads. Just don't put it in transfer talk

That topic move had a point to it, sending a car into space has none what so ever.

It's back by the way, I have no interest in running a crèche, only a forum   

[ViewsFromTheMiddle]

This is bonkers.

[eddie]

Whilst there are visionaries like Elon Musk, there is hope for the monkeys.

[Day]

5 minutes ago, eddie said:

Whilst there are visionaries like Elon Musk, there is hope for the monkeys.

Not sure any monkey would be up for being strapped to a rocket whilst being ridden by a mannequin 

[eddie]

Just now, David said:

Not sure any monkey would be up for being strapped to a rocket whilst being ridden by a mannequin 

I'm referring to the primates supposedly at the top of the food chain.

[maxjam]

Was an awesome watch tbh, they just proved they can lift more into space at a vastly cheaper cost than NASA 

I'm old enough to have been alive when man walked on the Moon - but not old enough to remember it!  I'd like to see man on the Moon (or Mars) in my lifetime (and this time in high-def!) An active space program us ultimately the key to mans survival.

[eddie]

[Carl Sagan]

It's about another 80 minutes before the next engine burn that will hopefully set the Starman on a trajectory towards Mars. Until then, here's a version with music for @Inverurie Ram& the rest of you:

 

[RamNut]

The engineering may be clever but the idea of a second biosphere seems hopelessly flawed.

They may be physicists but they aint biologists.

[Carl Sagan]

5 minutes ago, RamNut said:

The engineering may be clever but the idea of a second biosphere seems hopelessly flawed.

They may be physicists but they aint biologists.

SpaceX see themselves as the builders of the space equivalent of the Pacific Railroad, building the trannsportation system to make colonization of the solar system possible. My mistake to conflate the rest of the enterprise with them. It will take a lot of work by a lot of other people to create a viable biosphere on Mars, but for the sake of the species I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Just because something is hard (which it will be) doesn't mean it's not worth doing. The evidence is that Mars was once warm and wet and the raw materials are still all there to recreate that.

[eddie]

This is just stunning

 

[RamNut]

Any such plan would be doomed to abject and total failure.

I read a book about Mars written by Patrick Moore in the 60s. He genuinely believed that the surface of Mars would be covered in lichen. I couldn't believe what i was reading. Absolutely stunning naivety. 

[ViewsFromTheMiddle]

 

[Carl Sagan]

33 minutes ago, RamNut said:

Any such plan would be doomed to abject and total failure.

I read a book about Mars written by Patrick Moore in the 60s. He genuinely believed that the surface of Mars would be covered in lichen. I couldn't believe what i was reading. Absolutely stunning naivety. 

We've learnt a lot in the last 50/60 years. I hope you'll be surprised by what becomes possible.

With autonomous robot workers, artificial intelligence, genetic and bioengineering and much more, coupled with the incredible pace of learning now that access to knowledge has been made childsplay, there are grounds for hoping a Martian terraforming project will work well. I'm at a conference on Mars colonization in three weeks, so will report back after that!

[Sith Happens]

 

5 hours ago, RamNut said:

Any such plan would be doomed to abject and total failure.

I read a book about Mars written by Patrick Moore in the 60s. He genuinely believed that the surface of Mars would be covered in lichen. I couldn't believe what i was reading. Absolutely stunning naivety. 

In fairness it wasnt that many years before that they thought there were canals on mars, in fairness you can understand why.

 

[TigerTedd]

5 hours ago, eddie said:

This is just stunning

 

Not impressed. The Tracey’s beat Musk to it by about 40 years, and we’re able to land it in a swimming pool, which is way cooler. 

[McRamFan]

5 hours ago, RamNut said:

Any such plan would be doomed to abject and total failure.

I read a book about Mars written by Patrick Moore in the 60s. He genuinely believed that the surface of Mars would be covered in lichen. I couldn't believe what i was reading. Absolutely stunning naivety. 

You do know that the world is not flat and not balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle??