So he's off to Mars after all. Yay !
Confirming the rocket firing, SpaceX released initial data indicating the Roadster was headed for an elliptical orbit around the sun with a high point, or aphelion, out in the asteroid belt, well beyond the orbit of Mars.
But experienced satellite analysts said the numbers provided by SpaceX didn’t quite add up and on Wednesday, the company provided an update that clarified the trajectory.
Jonathon McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a noted space analyst, said the new data show the Tesla is, in fact, in a solar orbit with a high point just beyond Mars, as initially predicted by SpaceX, and not on a long drive deep into the asteroid belt.
The data show that when the Tesla finally climbs out of the Earth-moon gravity well its velocity — reflected in a number known as C3 — will be 12 kilometers squared per second squared, which translates into a speed of about 3.5 kilometers per second, or 6,700 mph faster than Earth’s velocity as they both orbit the sun.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/08/starman-puts-earth-in-the-rearview-mirror/
I still haven't seen any photo of the whole spaceship heading for Mars orbit. All we're shown is the car - and it can't possibly be the whole thing, right? I wonder if any of auxiliary cameras caught it leaving, someone from ISS, or amateur stargazer?
ReplyDeleteIvan Petkovic The Tesla launched mounted to a support system which in turn was mounted to a Falcon 9 second stage -- which is just the M9 engine, pumps, propellant tank.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it the F9 second stage remained with the vehicle through the six hour cruse through the Van Allen Belt, then it performed TMI (trans Mars injection burn) and so far as I would imagine, the F9 stage would be ejected at that point. Perhaps it remains with the payload mount, I actually don't know. But what you are seeing is pretty much all there is.
This animation shows what it would look like if the F9 S2 stage is still there -- near the end, right after the launch fairing is ejected and you see the car -- that is what it would look like.
youtube.com - Falcon Heavy Animation
William Black thank you, I've since seen the animation, and the second stage that was left with the car. Near the end of that animation, we can see the car flying all by itself toward Mars, and I can't say if that's how it's really going to look like (as everything else in animation is as close to realistic as possible) or is an artistic impression.
ReplyDeleteIvan Petkovic There are reasons to eject the F9 S2, just to lose the mass -- that is part of the trick with staged rockets, which work according to Newton's laws of motion, dropping that mass lends an extra little kick even after the propellant is burned too low for the engine to fire. So it is very likely it is just the roadster and its mounting cradle left.
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