Becky
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In case you haven't seen it in the news, SpaceX have been working on a new heavy-duty rocket that will be capable of putting far bigger payloads into orbit than existing tech is able to do. The Falcon Heavy rocket essentially comprises three of their Falcon 9 rockets, and after launch each booster separately returns to Earth for reuse. It's currently the world's most powerful rocket.
The first launch was yesterday, and in order to test the payload capabilities the rocket bore an unusual cargo - Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, bearing a mannequin dressed in a Spacex pressure suit, with "DON'T PANIC!" written on the dashboard! The car is also playing David Bowie songs on repeat, naturally
The car successfully made it to low-Earth orbit and the plan was for a thruster burn to take it to orbit Mars, but unfortunately it overshot and is headed to the asteroid belt instead. Still, not bad.
It's all a bit mad, but what a feat! For SpaceX to achieve this bodes well for their plans to reach Mars. What a time to be alive!
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/space-oddity-elon-musk-spacex-car-mars-falcon-heavy
The first launch was yesterday, and in order to test the payload capabilities the rocket bore an unusual cargo - Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, bearing a mannequin dressed in a Spacex pressure suit, with "DON'T PANIC!" written on the dashboard! The car is also playing David Bowie songs on repeat, naturally
The car successfully made it to low-Earth orbit and the plan was for a thruster burn to take it to orbit Mars, but unfortunately it overshot and is headed to the asteroid belt instead. Still, not bad.
It's all a bit mad, but what a feat! For SpaceX to achieve this bodes well for their plans to reach Mars. What a time to be alive!
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/space-oddity-elon-musk-spacex-car-mars-falcon-heavy
