SpaceX's Best Hope for Sending People to Mars Will Launch Today

[Teh One Who Knocks]

George Dvorsky - Gizmodo


https://i.imgur.com/XyPLTem.jpg

At approximately 1:30 pm ET on Tuesday February 6th, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is set to embark on its long-anticipated debut flight. Armed with 140,660 pounds of thrust, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Well, that’s assuming it doesn’t blow up on launch or come careening back toward Earth—something SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says is a distinct possibility. Success or failure, here’s what you need to know about this historic launch.

Once aloft and operational, the Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket since Saturn V and the Space Launch System. Should all go well, the private rocket firm already has contracts lined up to deliver communications satellites for Arabsat, Inmarsat, and Viasat, as well as a payload named STP-2 for the U.S. Air Force. The giant rocket may even be used to send a space tourist around the Moon later this year.

https://i.imgur.com/XBxbY5P.png

But that’s all contingent on a safe inaugural launch—something that’s far from a sure bet. Getting to space is hard, and SpaceX is no stranger to setbacks; on September 1, 2016, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral, destroying a $200 million satellite in the process. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has said publicly that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Falcon Heavy experiences a similar catastrophic failure.

“I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest,” Musk told NASA ISS program manager Kirk Shireman in July 2017 while speaking at a conference in Washington D.C. “Major pucker factor, really; that’s, like, the only way to describe it.”

https://i.imgur.com/69qxJLd.png
An imposing sight: 27 Merlin engines. (Image: SpaceX)

No doubt, there’s a lot that could go wrong. The two-stage rocket will exert five million pounds of thrust at liftoff, the equivalent of 18 747 aircraft. Its first stage consists of a pair of Falcon 9 first stage rockets, which are attached to a central “core” rocket, itself a modified Falcon 9 booster. And like the Falcon 9, the Heavy is designed to be reusable. In total, the 230-foot-tall rocket will be powered by 27 first-stage Merlin engines, and a single second-stage Merlin.

“At first, it sounds really easy. Just stick two first stages on as strap-on boosters,” Musk said at the July conference. “How hard can that be? But then everything changes. All the loads change. Aerodynamics totally change. You’ve tripled the vibration and acoustics.”

The central core is designed to handle all this stress, and it’s a major reason why the Falcon Heavy is more than three years behind schedule; the Falcon 9's core may be tried-and-true, but this one is brand new and untested.

The Heavy can be reconfigured to lift various payloads, whether it be satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), or crewed missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The rocket will be able to carry 140,660 pound payloads to LEO, 58,860 to GTO, 37,000 pounds to Mars, and 7,720 pounds to Pluto. For its first voyage, the rocket will carry a dummy payload consisting of Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster.
936782477502246912
https://i.imgur.com/4JxcOrD.png

Should the rocket explode, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Aside from the complete destruction of the Tesla Roadster (and possibly the launchpad), a failed launch would result in an investigation to determine the cause, followed by the required technical adjustments to make sure it doesn’t happen again. SpaceX is clearly in the business of making rockets, so if there’s an explosion, the company will simply pick itself up, dust off, and build again.

We can’t be certain if the Falcon Heavy launch will be successful on Tuesday, but as Musk himself has said, “It’s guaranteed to be exciting.” Come launch day, you’ll be able to watch the launch via the SpaceX webcast.

[lost in melb.]

The two-stage rocket will exert five million pounds of thrust at liftoff, the equivalent of 18 747 aircraft


jesus, that can't be real.

[DemonGeminiX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQx6YBtQZbw&ab_channel=PBSNewsHour

[Muddy]

jesus, that can't be real.

The exact opposite of energy conservation.. :lol:

[DemonGeminiX]

Launch delayed until 2:20 pm due to upper level wind shear.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

So did I read it correctly? This is destined to go to Mars so long as it makes a successful liftoff? That's what his tweet seems to say.

[DemonGeminiX]

I know that he wants this to be the vehicle ensemble to take people to Mars, but I don't know if he actually wants to send his car to Mars today.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

But the way his tweet reads it's like he's sending this rocket to Mars if it makes it off the ground.

[DemonGeminiX]

:idk:

I'd think they'd want to get the reusable rockets back as soon as possible, but who knows? Musk is a weird guy. He might do it, he might not.

[DemonGeminiX]

Delayed until 2:50 pm now.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:tapfoot:

[DemonGeminiX]

Now delayed until 3:15 pm. The weather's causing problems.

[DemonGeminiX]

Countdown is now on hold. If they don't get up before 4 pm, the launch will be scrubbed and they'll try again tomorrow.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:facepalm:

[Hal-9000]

He calls 200 million dollars of launch pad and rocket damage "major pucker factor".

:lol: what's it like to have too much money

[Teh One Who Knocks]

He calls 200 million dollars of launch pad and rocket damage "major pucker factor".

:lol: what's it like to have too much money

https://i.imgur.com/1fBHi1G.png

[Muddy]

Bezos went off the fuckin' chart didnt he?

[Hal-9000]

Look at those other three...Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft

says a lot about what's important in our society..

[Muddy]

I can see Amazon because they provide a product.. But Facebook? Give me a break.

[Hal-9000]

We are a society of consumers who need to be entertained

[Teh One Who Knocks]

We are a society of consumers who need to be entertained

https://i.imgur.com/GG7zS03.gif

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Look at those other three...Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft

says a lot about what's important in our society..

And Musk has the least out of the 4 and he's actually doing something with his money, furthering space travel and exploration. What has Zuckerberg or Bezos done? I will say that Bill Gates does a lot with his money charitably, he gives a lot of stuff away for free and donates money to good causes.

[Hal-9000]

It's so odd the way Musk frames huge cost failure...it happened and will probably happen again. Oh well :lol:

[Hal-9000]

What I don't understand is that Nasa has had a number of successful rocket types with payloads.

So why can't Musk borrow or buy some of the blueprints from things that have worked?

If Nasa is having funding problems (part of their history) why not partner with someone like Musk and make some good technology?

[DemonGeminiX]

Countdown has resumed. 3:45 pm.

[DemonGeminiX]

They're live at that PBS youtube page.

[DemonGeminiX]

What I don't understand is that Nasa has had a number of successful rocket types with payloads.

So why can't Musk borrow or buy some of the blueprints from things that have worked?

If Nasa is having funding problems (part of their history) why not partner with someone like Musk and make some good technology?

Because they're not reusable. The point was to create boosters that, instead of being scrapped in space, could be guided back down to Earth and reused. It would save billions of dollars. It has saved billions of dollars.

[Hal-9000]

Because they're not reusable. The point was to create boosters that, instead of being scrapped in space, could be guided back down to Earth and reused. It would save billions of dollars. It has saved billions of dollars.

So he's had success with reusable/recoverable boosters? I wasn't aware.

He needs to get them up into space first though, right? :lol:

[DemonGeminiX]

And Musk has the least out of the 4 and he's actually doing something with his money, furthering space travel and exploration. What has Zuckerberg or Bezos done? I will say that Bill Gates does a lot with his money charitably, he gives a lot of stuff away for free and donates money to good causes.

Bezos actually has a space company of his own called Blue Origins.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

So he's had success with reusable/recoverable boosters? I wasn't aware.

He needs to get them up into space first though, right? :lol:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ0EmJ9DlQk

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Bezos actually has a space company of his own called Blue Origins.

Yeah, but it's not even close to being as far along as SpaceX is.

[DemonGeminiX]

So he's had success with reusable/recoverable boosters? I wasn't aware.

He needs to get them up into space first though, right? :lol:

He's used them multiple times to get stuff up to the ISS. He lands the boosters on landing pads. It's actually pretty cool to watch.

[DemonGeminiX]

Yeah, but it's not even close to being as far along as SpaceX is.

Bezos was the first to actually successfully land his reusable boosters. Don't know what happened after that. Technically speaking, he should be doing all the crap that Musk's doing right now, but for some odd reason, he's not.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

He's used them multiple times to get stuff up to the ISS. He lands the boosters on landing pads. It's actually pretty cool to watch.

Posted a video of it, it's on the last page


Bezos was the first to actually successfully land his reusable boosters. Don't know what happened after that. Technically speaking, he should be doing all the crap that Musk's doing right now, but for some odd reason, he's not.

Really? I don't remember that at all. :confused:

And he's not doing it now because he's too busy funding the Washington Post to run anti-Trump stories.

[DemonGeminiX]

:lol:

You're probably right.

I remember it because I was laughing about it. I said to myself, "the American beat the South African bastard". Apparently, it didn't amount to much.

[DemonGeminiX]

... and he's actually sending his fucking car to Mars. :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

... and he's actually sending his fucking car to Mars. :lol:

Told ya :lol:

[DemonGeminiX]

I just saw an animation of the path of the payload. It looks like they put a dummy in a spacesuit in the driver's seat.

:rofl:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I just saw an animation of the path of the payload. It looks like they put a dummy in a spacesuit in the driver's seat.

:rofl:

Might as well kill two birds with one stone I guess. See if you can have a successful launch and if so, see if it can make it all the way to Mars.

[Hal-9000]

... and he's actually sending his fucking car to Mars. :lol:

Ya they talk about the Tesla payload blowing up :lol: I love it

[DemonGeminiX]

15 minutes


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbSwFU6tY1c

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok, the launch was successful. They got the payload into orbit and it's passing through the Van Nuys radiation belt. After it reaches the appropriate position, if everything's still working right (i.e. as long as the radiation hasn't fried anything), the engines will fire and send the module with the car on towards Mars orbit. What it does when it gets there is beyond me.

The two side rockets returned to Earth and touched down fine, but the center core rocket was lost at its landing site. I don't know what happened, but I bet they're already investigating, analyzing, and correcting whatever the problem was.

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok, the launch was successful. They got the payload into orbit and it's passing through the Van Allen radiation belt. After it reaches the appropriate position, if everything's still working right (i.e. as long as the radiation hasn't fried anything), the engines will fire and send the module with the car on towards Mars orbit. What it does when it gets there is beyond me.

The two side rockets returned to Earth and touched down fine, but the center core rocket was lost at its landing site. I don't know what happened, but I bet they're already investigating, analyzing, and correcting whatever the problem was.

[Godfather]

It's just too cool :lol:

https://i.redd.it/r5xx7al16oe01.jpg

[DemonGeminiX]

They should have started the final burn by now, but I can't find anything on it.

[Godfather]

Just watch it live :lol:


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

[Teh One Who Knocks]

This is the best thing to happen in the advancement in space exploration in a long time.

[DemonGeminiX]

It still kills me that there's a fucking car floating around in space, and there's a dummy in a space suit in the driver's seat, like he's rolling down Rodeo Drive.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

961083704230674438

[Teh One Who Knocks]

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Be31IJxgOoK/" data-instgrm-version="8" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAA pWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY 9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wO HiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GP T6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90G Sy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAA AElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Be31IJxgOoK/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Printed on the circuit board of a car in deep space</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elonmusk/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Elon Musk</a> (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-02-06T22:40:32+00:00">Feb 6, 2018 at 2:40pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote>
<script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>.

[Hal-9000]

Just watch it live :lol:


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

White Privilege times a million :lol:

[Hal-9000]

https://i.imgur.com/SM3FrIZ.jpg

[Hal-9000]

https://i.imgur.com/awjDChI.mp4

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/NPGN1lf.jpg

[Hal-9000]

I can hardly wait to hear the flat-earther explanation for the footage showing Earth in the background :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I can hardly wait to hear the flat-earther explanation for the footage showing Earth in the background :lol:

https://i.imgur.com/gEFXKL1.jpg

[Godfather]

It still kills me that there's a fucking car floating around in space, and there's a dummy in a space suit in the driver's seat, like he's rolling down Rodeo Drive.

Maybe it's a body Elon had to make disappear. Anyone heard from Bezos recently :-k

[DemonGeminiX]

Yeah, he just sent me a Fire HD8.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Amy Lieu | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/BhN5OOO.jpg
"Last pic of Starman in Roadster enroute to Mars orbit and then the Asteroid Belt," Elon Musk posts on his Instagram.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Telsa, on Wednesday posted the final photograph of his Tesla Roadster that was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and is headed to the astroid belt.

Musk wrote in the Instagram post, “Last pic of Starman in Roadster enroute to Mars Orbit and then the Asteroid Belt.”

Tuesday's launch marked the rocket’s first test flight and is the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V's used in the Apollo missions.

Test vehicles usually carry concrete or steel blocks, the newpaper reported, but Musk said that would be “extremely boring.”

“We decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel,” Musk told the publication.

Scientists believe that radiation will tear the car into pieces within a year.

Cameras mounted on the car fed stunning video of “Starman” tooling around Earth, looking something like a NASCAR racer out for a Sunday drive, with its right hand on the wheel and the left arm resting on the car’s door.

A sign on the dashboard read: “Don’t panic!” Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” played in the background at one point. A Hot Wheels roadster was also on the dash with a tiny spaceman on board.

The Falcon Heavy is a combination of three Falcon 9s, the rocket that the company uses to ship supplies to the International Space Station and lift satellites. SpaceX is reusing first-stage boosters to save on launch costs. Most other rocket makers discard their spent boosters in the ocean.

https://i.imgur.com/TPj4GS3.jpg

Unlike most rockets out there, the Falcon Heavy receives no government funding. The hulking rocket is intended for massive satellites, like those used by the U.S. military and communication companies. Even before the successful test flight, customers were signed up.

“It was awesome like a science fiction movie coming to reality,” said former NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Apollo professor of astronautics. “They nailed it. Good for them.”

Given the high stakes and high drama, Tuesday’s launch attracted huge crowds not seen since NASA’s final space shuttle flight seven years ago. While the shuttles had more liftoff muscle than the Heavy, the all-time leaders in both size and might were NASA’s Saturn V rockets, which first flew astronauts to the moon in 1968.

On the eve of the flight, Musk said the company had done all it could to maximize success. Musk has plenty of experience with rocket accidents, from his original Falcon 1 test flights to his follow-up Falcon 9s, one of which exploded on a nearby pad during a 2016 ignition test.

“I’ve seen rockets blow up so many different ways, so, yeah, it’s a great relief when it actually works,” Musk said after liftoff.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

[Noilly Pratt]

https://i.imgflip.com/245cx4.jpgYou're not alone in your theory, GF...

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Contributor


https://i.imgur.com/DCdEeqnl.jpg

Yesterday's successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket also sent an unusual payload into space: a cherry-red Tesla Roadster "manned" by a dummy named Starman and equipped with cameras that provided gorgeous views of Earth against the backdrop of space.

But flat-Earthers aren't buying it.

"People who believe that the Earth is a globe because 'they saw a car in space on the Internet' must be the new incarnation of 'It's true, I saw it on TV!' It's a poor argument," tweeted The Flat Earth Society, an organization dedicated to spreading the (incorrect) notion that the Earth is not round. "Why would we believe any privately held company to report the truth?" the organization added.

Trust no one

Flat-Earth conspiracy theorists have a long history of mistrusting the government when it comes to space. On forums devoted to the belief that the Earth is a flat disk, "NASA" often gets mocked as standing for "Never A Straight Answer," and astronauts' attempts to answer the common flat-Earth call of "show me the curve" are regularly dismissed as hoaxes and lies.

Now, Elon Musk's private spaceflight company has apparently joined the ranks of the hoaxers and liars, the flat-Earthers say. On Twitter, flat-Earth accounts posted about "FakeX" and insisted that photos of Starman against a round Earth were Photoshopped. On Starman's live YouTube feed, chatters trolled one another with taunts about how the video proved flat-Earthers wrong, or was part of a vast conspiracy, depending on who was doing the trolling — flat-Earth opponents or believers.

In the thread following The Flat Earth Society's tweet, the person in charge of the feed referred most challengers to the organization's Wiki page, where members posit that the planet is a flat disk with the North Pole at the center and an ice wall (what most people know as Antarctica) skirting the edge.

Believe your eyes

It's impossible to say how many people actually believe that the Earth is flat — especially online, where trolls and true believers are difficult to distinguish. The Flat Earth Society lists 555 members, and the organizer of a flat-Earth conference that took place in November 2017 in North Carolina told Live Science that about 500 people attended.

Experts in conspiracy belief say that, despite their strange insistence on ignoring more than 2,000 years of scientific observation, flat-Earth theorists may be fairly similar to believers in other conspiracies: They tend to be drawn to these beliefs out of the sense of control and special knowledge they confer, and the believers tend to like black-and-white versions of the world in which clear "bad guys" try to pull the wool over the eyes of the "good guys."

Some flat-Earth believers are motivated by their interpretations of the Bible as saying the Earth is flat. (The organizer of November's flat-Earth conference is a Christian creationist.) Others simply don't trust anything they can't see with their own eyes. There's a name for this, the Zetetic method,which holds personal sensory experiences above all other forms of information gathering. Starting from this mindset, nothing NASA or Musk releases can be considered trustworthy; only going into space to find the curve with one's own eyes counts.

Unfortunately, that's not so easy to pull off.

[Noilly Pratt]

The leaked, true picture...

http://i63.tinypic.com/1z4winc.jpg

:giggle: