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This is true. The engines overperformed and they're going a lot further than they meant to. This is better than anticipated news. It's only bad if you're REALL

This is true. The engines overperformed and they're going a lot further than they meant to. This is better than anticipated news. It's only bad if you're REALLY focused on the Tesla "going to Mars", which it was never really going to do, because it would need to slow down once it got to Mars to stay in orbit around it. What we've done is prove capability. Getting to Mars is 100% possible, and we've also proven fault tolerance ... that is, we have enough fuel to spare that we can make correction-burns if necessary during the trip to Mars.

pavel_lishin 9y ago
I wonder if the right transfer orbit, combined with a gravity assist, could put something into Mars orbit without further thrust. Really itching to install some Kerbal Space Program mods and try to figure it out...
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  I was thinking of right transfer orbit combined with exactly right aerobraking, though I'm not sure if Mars has a dense enough atmosphere even if you were aiming for a flyby 1 millimeter above the surface (and that's assuming an indestructible Roadster)...
  - scrumbledober 9y ago
    From Musk's talk on the BFR he says the atmosphere of mars will be sufficient to remove 99% of the ship's momentum before the rockets kick in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQ0jBKH36Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQ0jBKH36Y
  - stcredzero 9y ago
    There's one YouTuber who does car ramp jumps between different bodies in the Kerbal system!
- 0xTJ 9y ago
  I think it would have been pretty feasible, but the earliest opportunity is in May.
- mikeash 9y ago
  You need a third body to pull that off, and I think Mars’s moons are too small to be useful for this. Looking at practical considerations rather than just theoretical, you also need the ability to perform course corrections along the way. The initial trajectory won’t be precise enough to make it work from just the departure burn.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  There's a gravity assist mod for KSP?!
  - hopscotch 9y ago
    KSP has gravity assist built in: it's an expected consequence of newtonian physics (Which KSP models). Mods might be to swap to the Solar rather than Kerbol system, etc.
    - skykooler 9y ago
      Yep. Real-Scale Solar System provides that. There are also mods to add real-world rockets (like the Falcon Heavy) and real-world aerodynamics (Ferram Aerospace Research).
    - craftyguy 9y ago
      Well, it's time I fire up KSP again!
  - krastanov 9y ago
    To do a gravity assist you do not need anything more than Newtonian two-body interaction. KSP already has that. You can think of it as a small ball (the vehicle) bouncing of a big heavy ball (the planet), but the forces are not those of elastic compression, rather those of gravity.
- King-Aaron 9y ago
  > Really itching to install some Kerbal Space Program mods and try to figure it out... If someone doesn't add a Tesla Roadster mod to the VAB I'll be extremely disappointed in the entire modding community.
beached_whale 9y ago
Or carry more mass, the car didn't even have a roof
- onychomys 9y ago
  None of the Roadsters did, as far as I know.
  - coolspot 9y ago
    Tesla roadster has targa roof. You install it manually when you want.
notatoad 9y ago
> it would need to slow down once it got to Mars to stay in orbit around it. I don't think orbiting mars was ever the plan. They were talking about a mars orbit, meaning an orbit of the sun at about the distance of mars.
- dtparr 9y ago
  You're agreeing with his point. The plan was not to orbit Mars. However, your language sounds like they were going to circularize at 'about the distance of mars', which they were not (that too would have required a burn months from now). The plan they'd previously briefed was an elliptical orbit where the aphelion is ~Mars' orbitial distance (~1.5AU) and the perihelion is still at Earth's orbital distance (~1AU). However, with the extended burn, they got the aphelion up to 2.61 AU.
ohitsdom 9y ago
> that is, we have enough fuel to spare that we can make correction-burns if necessary during the trip to Mars. Stage 2 of the Falcon would not be used for long flights. This was the longest it ever coasted (6 hours). Any longer, and you run into all sorts of limitations: running out of batteries, RP-1 freezing, and LOX boiling off. For longer trips, stage 2 would separate after the earth escape burn and the craft's own propulsion system would take over.

pavel_lishin 9y ago

I wonder if the right transfer orbit, combined with a gravity assist, could put something into Mars orbit without further thrust. Really itching to install some Kerbal Space Program mods and try to figure it out...

TeMPOraL 9y ago
I was thinking of right transfer orbit combined with exactly right aerobraking, though I'm not sure if Mars has a dense enough atmosphere even if you were aiming for a flyby 1 millimeter above the surface (and that's assuming an indestructible Roadster)...
- scrumbledober 9y ago
  From Musk's talk on the BFR he says the atmosphere of mars will be sufficient to remove 99% of the ship's momentum before the rockets kick in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQ0jBKH36Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQ0jBKH36Y
- stcredzero 9y ago
  There's one YouTuber who does car ramp jumps between different bodies in the Kerbal system!
0xTJ 9y ago
I think it would have been pretty feasible, but the earliest opportunity is in May.
mikeash 9y ago
You need a third body to pull that off, and I think Mars’s moons are too small to be useful for this. Looking at practical considerations rather than just theoretical, you also need the ability to perform course corrections along the way. The initial trajectory won’t be precise enough to make it work from just the departure burn.
craftyguy 9y ago
There's a gravity assist mod for KSP?!
- hopscotch 9y ago
  KSP has gravity assist built in: it's an expected consequence of newtonian physics (Which KSP models). Mods might be to swap to the Solar rather than Kerbol system, etc.
  - skykooler 9y ago
    Yep. Real-Scale Solar System provides that. There are also mods to add real-world rockets (like the Falcon Heavy) and real-world aerodynamics (Ferram Aerospace Research).
  - craftyguy 9y ago
    Well, it's time I fire up KSP again!
- krastanov 9y ago
  To do a gravity assist you do not need anything more than Newtonian two-body interaction. KSP already has that. You can think of it as a small ball (the vehicle) bouncing of a big heavy ball (the planet), but the forces are not those of elastic compression, rather those of gravity.
King-Aaron 9y ago
> Really itching to install some Kerbal Space Program mods and try to figure it out... If someone doesn't add a Tesla Roadster mod to the VAB I'll be extremely disappointed in the entire modding community.

beached_whale 9y ago

Or carry more mass, the car didn't even have a roof

onychomys 9y ago
None of the Roadsters did, as far as I know.
- coolspot 9y ago
  Tesla roadster has targa roof. You install it manually when you want.

notatoad 9y ago

> it would need to slow down once it got to Mars to stay in orbit around it. I don't think orbiting mars was ever the plan. They were talking about a mars orbit, meaning an orbit of the sun at about the distance of mars.

dtparr 9y ago
You're agreeing with his point. The plan was not to orbit Mars. However, your language sounds like they were going to circularize at 'about the distance of mars', which they were not (that too would have required a burn months from now). The plan they'd previously briefed was an elliptical orbit where the aphelion is ~Mars' orbitial distance (~1.5AU) and the perihelion is still at Earth's orbital distance (~1AU). However, with the extended burn, they got the aphelion up to 2.61 AU.

ohitsdom 9y ago

> that is, we have enough fuel to spare that we can make correction-burns if necessary during the trip to Mars. Stage 2 of the Falcon would not be used for long flights. This was the longest it ever coasted (6 hours). Any longer, and you run into all sorts of limitations: running out of batteries, RP-1 freezing, and LOX boiling off. For longer trips, stage 2 would separate after the earth escape burn and the craft's own propulsion system would take over.