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It’s perfect if you think about it. They need weight for the launch, but why use expensive equipment when the odds are high it won’t even leave Earth atmosphere

It’s perfect if you think about it. They need weight for the launch, but why use expensive equipment when the odds are high it won’t even leave Earth atmosphere. It’s a massive PR stunt, I mean, what other car company has a car just orbiting Mars casually... and yeah, I guess a large orbit around Mars would just keep orbiting for a Billion years haha. 25 years from now: Did we get station five’s orbit around Mars set yet? No sir, we had to move it because Elon’s damn car was orbiting too close to us... dammit Elon

justinator 9y ago
How about use the weight/space as an orbiting time capsule put together by elementary students to help them be interested in space/science/math/engineering/etc? I still remember those packets of tomato seeds we received in like 6th grade whose past generations where in Earth's oribit for a few years. Like, they're just tomato seeds, but we spent a few classes talking about them, growing tomatoes, etc. :shrug:
- kijin 9y ago
  That's way too risky for a brand-new rocket that might not even leave the atmosphere. All those children will be so disappointed if their time capsule blows up on the launch pad. A car, on the hand... they crash all the time anyway. No big deal.
  - AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
    Why? At this point anything you put in a time capsule is going to be digitally reproduced a million times over anyway. There's not a massive distance between "my poem is on a usb drive orbiting mars" and "my poem got blown up when the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy accidentally flew into the sun" they're both equally interesting stories to tell at dinner parties, which is their whole utility.
    - kijin 9y ago
      For engineer types like us, you're probably right. For other people, though, it's a lot more romantic and inspiring to have a physical piece of paper orbiting Mars than to have a USB drive blown to smithereens on the coast of Florida.
- Cshelton 9y ago
  I mean, I guess we can throw some stuff in the trunk... and the frunk too ;p
  - AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
    And the glove compartment.

justinator 9y ago

How about use the weight/space as an orbiting time capsule put together by elementary students to help them be interested in space/science/math/engineering/etc? I still remember those packets of tomato seeds we received in like 6th grade whose past generations where in Earth's oribit for a few years. Like, they're just tomato seeds, but we spent a few classes talking about them, growing tomatoes, etc. :shrug:

kijin 9y ago
That's way too risky for a brand-new rocket that might not even leave the atmosphere. All those children will be so disappointed if their time capsule blows up on the launch pad. A car, on the hand... they crash all the time anyway. No big deal.
- AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
  Why? At this point anything you put in a time capsule is going to be digitally reproduced a million times over anyway. There's not a massive distance between "my poem is on a usb drive orbiting mars" and "my poem got blown up when the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy accidentally flew into the sun" they're both equally interesting stories to tell at dinner parties, which is their whole utility.
  - kijin 9y ago
    For engineer types like us, you're probably right. For other people, though, it's a lot more romantic and inspiring to have a physical piece of paper orbiting Mars than to have a USB drive blown to smithereens on the coast of Florida.
Cshelton 9y ago
I mean, I guess we can throw some stuff in the trunk... and the frunk too ;p
- AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
  And the glove compartment.