First car in space today!

[Stu]

I reckon 143205 is a red herring. I entered that on the JPL site yesterday and it seems to relate to a satellite launched some time ago.

I asked on the SkySafari forum and they said they were working on getting the correct data in for it. I will update this thread when they confirm they have done it.

[Saganite]

19 hours ago, F15Rules said:

If only...

I'd happily contribute to a crowd funding appeal for that particular project!

Dave

Ha Ha.....me too 

[SilverAstro]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

and it seems to relate to a satellite launched some time ago.

Minor planet

143205     2002 XQ92     December 5, 2002     Kitt Peak     M. W. Buie ; from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_planets:_143001–144000

enter "-"   in front of 143205 to get the roadster in the Horizon site

 

[SilverAstro]

using the current revised orbit it will be zooming round the sun for a while, and so will we, and we will both meet up again in 11years* time, so he could try for a recovery mission then

* but there is still some uncertainty about the aphelion number so dont hold your breath y'all now.

 

[Macavity]

An amazing thing! But Elon Musk seems even to have silenced (usual suspect)
science apatheists and media sneering! Bit sorry for NASA? Reliance on Govt.
funding and public goodwill does not foster risk taking / adventurous science?

E.M. doesn't seem a bad bloke on the face of it? But who knows, these days!
Just watched Brian Cox narrating the Winter Olympics opening ceremony...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/42989431  

"Demand for spatial awareness and extrasensory perception  is palpable!" 

What is a 60+ year Amateur Astronomer to do re. a scientific role model ?

[SilverAstro]

9 minutes ago, Macavity said:

What is a 60+ year Amateur Astronomer to do

Live in hope of making it to 70+  ?

then you can don rose tinted specs and remember the heady days of Eddington and Hoyle

are we not too old to have role models, thems for the young?    (ah! at heart as well ?)

[Sunshine]

So as per SpaceX this is the final photo shot before batt’s gave out, breathtaking image, so surreal!

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 06/02/2018 at 18:06, Philip R said:

I used to have respect for Mr Elon Musk... but after reading and seeing a video on a news site, he has invented a 'toy' flame-thrower... and now this publicity for a publicity stunt... I am having second doubts.

elon... isn't that an abbreviation for elongated. 

 

15 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

Ha ! I have underestimated EM, he is a man of culture it would seem, I didnt know till now that he had included ' Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels '.  Gosh, it must be getting on 50y since I last read the trilogy !!

I too have underestimated Elon's idea as per my original post, as above, so I take back what I said.

As for the 'toy' flame thrower... no! ...that is the most stupid of ideas ever from the mind of his genius.   

[SilverAstro]

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

So as per SpaceX this is the final photo shot before batt’s gave out, breathtaking image, so surreal!

Thanks, I hadnt seen that one.

Shudav been one of those solar cell powered cars, not just a battery.  Or a hybrid with a Bussard ramscoop LOL!

[Sunshine]

Crazy as it sounds I’d like that photo beside my moon landing photo, both are a snapshot of their times, equally inspiring.

[Sunshine]

Ok so here we go, official interplanetary ID!

[VNA]

Surreal to say the least--so bizarre--it has to be fake--and yet so real--the conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day!

[Sunshine]

Yes, hundreds of grown men are already putting down their video game controllers as we speak and formulating wild theories to expose spaceX, all while mommy yells down to the basement asking if they need their undies washed.

[Chris]

4 hours ago, Sunshine said:

So as per SpaceX this is the final photo shot before batt’s gave out, breathtaking image, so surreal!

Sunshine, that's your new avatar right there, go on do it  

My 3 year old just looked at this and said "you don't get car in space?....you get rocket in space" haha! to which I replied yes, normally that's right but this is the first car in space....she then looked rightfully confused 

[Sunshine]

15 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Sunshine, that's your new avatar right there, go on do it  

You've twisted my leg sir! unfortunately the whole photo does not fit within constraints though, ill take it anyway!!

[Ruud]

I only began to feel this after first seeing the car in space: There is something very wrong with the whole thing! 

Seeing picture above feels like having a nightmare.

[Chris]

2 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

You've twisted my leg sir! unfortunately the whole photo does not fit within constraints though, ill take it anyway!!

Still looks good mate  

[impactcrater]

some thoughts about the use of a car in Space...

it could be used to study ways to alter  the path of near Earth objects

to study the effects of Space on common materials

And most importantly, to study the potential for hitchhiking in this Galaxy 

[Sunshine]

I was wondering, i really think SpaceX should eventually recover the Roadster in lets say 20 years if they survive, they should then display it in their headquarters lobby area.

If the car was faded and sandblasted by micro meteorites it would be cool to have it displayed with a plaque stating its mileage reading however many billions of Km's lol.

[Chris]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

I was wondering, i really think SpaceX should eventually recover the Roadster in lets say 20 years if they survive, they should then display it in their headquarters lobby area.

If the car was faded and sandblasted by micro meteorites it would be cool to have it displayed with a plaque stating its mileage reading however many billions of Km's lol.

It's a cool idea, and I wouldn't dare discount it happening from what I know about Elon and SpaceX. 

Watching the launch really got my 6 year old excited about space and rockets, so this weekend we built a water rocket and had quite a bit of fun launching it. I'm more than happy to encourage this and needed very little excuse. I filmed a couple of the attempts for prosperity 

 

 

[Sunshine]

You know, you mentioned your kid got excited about space and rockets which is superb, this may well be the most important achievement by far surrounding this past weeks events.

You would be hard pressed to find someone at NASA who wasn’t at some point inspired by an event like this in their lives. Heck who wasn’t moved by the past weeks events, i read that countless schools were streaming this and both my young nephews are waiting for their little rockets from amazon.

One cannot understate the power such things can have on a child’s mind, we adults for whom it’s too late think it’s plain cool, but for young children today something that seems to us a great marketing opportunity can open a child’s mind and the doors to who knows where.

Today your kid is playing with a water rocket, tomorrow, designing the next generation of rockets and talking about the day dad showed him a red car in space.

 

Good height on that second launch BTW!!

[VNA]

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I was wondering, i really think SpaceX should eventually recover the Roadster in lets say 20 years if they survive, they should then display it in their headquarters lobby area.

If the car was faded and sandblasted by micro meteorites it would be cool to have it displayed with a plaque stating its mileage reading however many billions of Km's lol.

It is more likely the car will be in pieces, because of minus 120 Celsius on the shady side and plus 120 Celcius on the sunny side, the body will shatter or melt or both. 

[Sunshine]

hmm, good point but i would guess nothing in space would survive that including satellites, maybe if you were to kick it it may shatter from the blow but as it will not be encountering any shocks like that it may be ok.

i stuck a hot dog into liquid nitrogen once, it remained a hot dog until i dropped it,  and a hot dog is much softer than a car lol, hilarious example i know.  I'm pretty sure if you launched a giant banger into space, it would remain a banger

until it got nailed by a meteor then it would just shatter into banger shrapnel right hahaha this is getting real scientific and technical!.

i can almost bet that the temperature difference will only either excite or slow down the atoms which make up the car and not change its shape until it is struck somehow, other than on re entry i don't think i've ever heard of anything melting in space.

All this talk is making me seriously want a hot plate of "bangers and mash"

 

[Chris]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

You know, you mentioned your kid got excited about space and rockets which is superb, this may well be the most important achievement by far surrounding this past weeks events.

You would be hard pressed to find someone at NASA who wasn’t at some point inspired by an event like this in their lives. Heck who wasn’t moved by the past weeks events, i read that countless schools were streaming this and both my young nephews are waiting for their little rockets from amazon.

One cannot understate the power such things can have on a child’s mind, we adults for whom it’s too late think it’s plain cool, but for young children today something that seems to us a great marketing opportunity can open a child’s mind and the doors to who knows where.

Today your kid is playing with a water rocket, tomorrow, designing the next generation of rockets and talking about the day dad showed him a red car in space.

 

Good height on that second launch BTW!!

lol Thanks, had to lose the parachute though, too much wind drag.

I think that's a very good point how inspirational this event must have been for the younger generation. Lets see how many space scientists and engineers recall the car in space story 20-30 years from now  

[Ags]

36 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Lets see how many space scientists and engineers recall the car in space story 20-30 years from now

...at my age I will be happy if I still remember the roadster launch in 30 years time!