Falcon Heavy - 7&8 Reuse - Elon's Roadster Demo - LC-39A

[landis]

When Elon first posted his Roadster was going to be the payload, I thought he had a little too much scotch and was just pranking everyone. But after seeing this video, I now realize just how freaking brilliant it is. Wow..

A payload wiith value should also help focus the entire team to succesfully send it on its historic journey, ;-)

 

[bxr140]

...if the roadster will separate from the payload adapter.

The pictures I’ve seen don’t appear to have a separation system.

 

[SMAlset]

I LOVE Elon's sense of humor. Have to say Starman knows how to pack for his trip to Mars and beyond. See what's in his glove box...

Is the Tesla Roadster Flying on the Falcon Heavy's Maiden Flight Just Space Junk?

 

[HankLloydRight]

Also no thruster jets (as far as I can tell) to correct it's path if it's tumbling or rotating in some manner.

 

[e-FTW]

Great video, thank you for posting . Now I'm wondering

• if the roadster will separate from the payload adapter
• If it will be rotated to align its orientation with orbital path
• If the payload adapter has extra mass to better test the system

Seems like they could use the 2nd stage to rotate the stage and Roadster before separation.

Also: if explosion(s) are avoided.

Will the Roadster stay pointed without gyros and/or thrusters?

 

[e-FTW]

Starman is ready to go! The suit is the new design from SpaceX (not for EVAs, internal use only). Two cameras mounted up in front of the Roadster looking back towards Starman. (To forestall some questions, this photo was taken weeks ago and only released now, since the FH is vertical on the pad with payload mounted)

View attachment 278212

I love the “left arm on the door”, taking in the rays. It makes me smile.
Space should be boring (no explosions, hard), but it can still be fun (whimsy, not hard).

 

[ICUDoc]

The time has come!
For those in different time zones, click on the video and after a minute the countdown should adjust for your time zone.

Thanks, Grendal: so that's 04:00 Sydney time.
But:
That ain't gonna stop me!

 

[swaltner]

I chatted with one of the A/V guys at work today. He agreed to play the webcast on the TVs and PA system in the cafeteria at work. Woohoo!

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I LOVE Elon's sense of humor. Have to say Starman knows how to pack for his trip to Mars and beyond. See what's in his glove box...

Is the Tesla Roadster Flying on the Falcon Heavy's Maiden Flight Just Space Junk?

Are we going to be able to track it?

What happens if it suddenly goes missing?

Are aliens seriously supposed to resist the temptation of a cherry red roadster?

Did Elon charge it to the proper battery percentage for temporary storage?

 

[Pricee2]

Are there any Supercharges along the route?
Oh, wait the roadster can't Supercharge.

 

[Grendal]

Elon:

News Piece:

 

[jkn]

Elon:

News Piece:

Elon in upper video: "It will be coasting for 6 hours"

When engine stops last time, orbit cannot be changed. It will travel 6 h away for Earths orbit, then change to new orbit, which will not intersect Earths orbit. This is not needed for satellites going to Mars.

 

[Grendal]

Elon in upper video: "It will be coasting for 6 hours"

When engine stops last time, orbit cannot be changed. It will travel 6 h away for Earths orbit, then change to new orbit, which will not intersect Earths orbit. This is not needed for satellites going to Mars.

It is needed for military certification. Elon mentions that in the Ars Technica article.

 

[SMAlset]

Wow is this one of the most anticipated events on the internet?! The world is watching and I think Elon has captured the hearts and minds of a lot of younger people with it too. Hope the feed holds up to the traffic. Also wonder if there will be live TV coverage or if they'll just show a replay during the news hour. So hope this goes off as planned. In any event a learning experience and great promotion for space science.

 

[ccutrer]

Elon Musk on Twitter

They even have fairing recover on that infographic. If they do that successfully, and everything else goes nominally... wow, what a red letter day for them!

 

[ccutrer]

Wow is this one of the most anticipated events on the internet?! The world is watching and I think Elon has captured the hearts and minds of a lot of younger people with it too. Hope the feed holds up to the traffic. Also wonder if there will be live TV coverage or if they'll just show a replay during the news hour. So hope this goes off as planned. In any event a learning experience and great promotion for space science.

It's hosted on YouTube, so I'm not as worried about the feed dying as for normal Tesla events where they use some third party to host. But yeah, I'm pretty giddy today!

 

[Grendal]

Aargh. Rumors are coming out of a delay. Currently thought to be 50 minutes for upper level winds to die down. Edit: Pretty much official at this point. Upper level winds improve in new time window.

So:
Launch Date: February 6th, Tuesday (backup date is Feb 7th, Wednesday)
Launch window: 14:20-16:30 EST (19:20-21:30 UTC)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing type: RTLS for Side Boosters, ASDS for Center Core
Payload: Elon's personal red Roadster into a Mars Hohmann Transfer Orbit

Buzz Aldrin and Bill Nye are there to see the launch.

 

[ccutrer]

Aargh. Rumors are coming out of a delay. Currently thought to be 50 minutes for upper level winds to die down.

Yup. 8m8 minutes ago

 

[Grendal]

More detail from Elon:
Elon Musk on Twitter

Upper atmosphere winds currently 20% above max allowable load. Holding for an hour to allow winds to diminish.

The livestream hasn't updated the time yet. Hang in there.

And...the rumors are now 2:50. No confirmation from SpaceX or Elon on that though.

 

[ccutrer]

Live stream just jumped from 53 minutes to 2 hours until start (2:50).