Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #439

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SpaceX Will Attempt To Launch A Red Tesla Roadster To The Red Planet
By Eric Berger
Previously, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said he intends to launch the "silliest thing we can imag- ine" on the maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy. This is partly because the rock- et is experimen- tal—there is a non-trivial chance the rocket will explode on the launch pad, or shortly after launch. It is also partly because Musk is a master showman who knows how to grab attention.
On Friday evening,
Musk tweeted wha t that payload would be—his "midnight cherry Tesla Roadster." And the car will be playing Space Oddity, by David Bowie; the song which begins, "Ground Control to Major Tom." Oh, and the powerful Falcon Heavy
rocket will send the Tesla into orbit around Mars. "Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent," Musk added. Ars was able to confirm Friday night from a company source that this is definite- ly a legitimate pay- load.
Earlier on Friday, Musk also said the Falcon Heavy launch would
come "next month" from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meaning in January. The company may attempt a "static fire" test of the rocket's three cores, and 27 engines, on the launch pad this month. As the Falcon Heavy rocket has been oft-delayed, launch dates should not be taken too liter- ally, but it does
seem like the rock- et and associated hardware are close to ready to fly.
Silly payloads are kind of a tradition for SpaceX. Earlier this year,
Musk explained that, inspired by the suggestion of a friend and the British comedy group Monty Python's The Cheese Shop sketch, the Dragon spacecraft's
demonstration flight in 2010 car- ried among its cargo a giant wheel of French Gruyére cheese.
In this case, send- ing a Tesla to Mars (it may be this vehicle) would not only have some panache, it would provide some cross promotion for Musk's other major company. It would also send a message to NASA and those who
fund the space agency—SpaceX's new rocket can reach Mars, and the privately devel- oped booster could play a major role in any plans the agency has to send humans to the Moon. No pri- vate company has ever launched a spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit, let alone to another planet.
"The launch of the biggest rocket since the U.S. Moon booster is a game changer for our country's space exploration future and for national security," said Phil Larson, an assistant dean at the University of Colorado, and a former SpaceX official. "The fact that development of such a capabili- ty is coming from U.S. industry is a very positive sign for our economic competitiveness.
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