Starman, traveling in space on a SpaceX rocket, turns out to be 'speeding' and passing his destination, Mars



The most powerful rocket,

Falcon Heavy , launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 6, 2018 (US time), was carrying a Tesla Roadster owned by the company's CEO, Elon Musk. A mannequin dressed in a space suit, Starman , sat in the driver's seat and enjoyed a 'drive' to Mars, but after launch it was discovered that the vehicle was going too fast . If it continued on this route, it was revealed that there was a possibility that it would pass far beyond the orbit of Mars and enter the asteroid belt, where countless large and small rocks are floating.

Elon Musk's Tesla roadster, which launched on top of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy earlier today, is going farther out into the Solar System than originally planned. - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16983744/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-orbit-asteroid-belt-elon-musk-mars

Wrong turn, dummy: Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster heads off course towards asteroid belt
https://news.sky.com/story/wrong-turn-dummy-elon-musks-tesla-roadster-heads-off-course-towards-asteroid-belt-11239916

SpaceX's giant rocket 'Falcon Heavy' is a rocket that shows the strongest launch capability in the current existence by bundling three Falcon 9 rockets. In the launch test conducted on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 (local time in the United States) at 15:45, Falcon Heavy successfully launched a total of 27 rocket engines at full power and launched the Tesla Roadster mounted on the nose into outer space.

SpaceX's super-large rocket 'Falcon Heavy' successfully launched, realizing the sci-fi world of an open car aiming for Mars - GIGAZINE



After launch, Starman will go into orbit around the Earth for a while to gauge the timing. Then, about six hours after launch, the second stage rocket will be reignited and it will head straight for Mars. The image below shows how it will accelerate to escape the Earth's gravitational field, increase in altitude, and enter a Hohmann transfer orbit to Mars.



The reignition took place over California at around 9 p.m. local time, and was visible from the ground. Several photos of the event were posted to Twitter.




However, it seems that a problem occurred during this re-ignition phase. The second stage, which was the final rocket burn to depart for Mars, burned a little too well, causing it to go faster than planned. In order to put it on the planned orbit to Mars, it is necessary to precisely maintain the speed that has been calculated in advance, but the second stage went too fast and separated Starman.

Musk tweeted, 'The third burn was a success. We've passed Mars' orbit and into the asteroid belt,' along with the predicted trajectory of Starman.




Starman is heading for Mars on the green line drawn on the upper left. However, as you can see from this illustration, it is going to go far beyond the orbit of Mars and reach the orbit of Ceres , a dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter. And here there is the 'asteroid belt' where countless rocks float in space.



On the ground, if you go too fast, you can avoid danger by stepping on the brakes. Unfortunately, in space, no matter how much you step on the brake pedal, you can't slow down the car. Moreover, the rocket engine, which is the only propulsion, has already been detached. So, the Tesla Roadster and Starman have no choice but to drift through space, relying on the laws of physics in the solar system. Hopefully, they won't collide with a rock in the asteroid belt, but the words 'Don't Panic' displayed on the center console of the Roadster give off an indescribable atmosphere.



By the way, 'Don't Panic' is one of the keywords that appears in the space science fiction series 'Space Hitchhiker's Guide', and in the work, it appears as a word written in large letters on the cover of the e-book 'Space Hitchhiker's Guide' published by Megadodo Publishing, a major publisher on the star Beta Ursa Minor. In addition to this, SpaceX also named the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' and 'Of Course I still love you' when the rocket returns to the sea from the science fiction novel ' Game Player ' by Ian Banks, which makes you feel quite space mania.

What is the Galaxy Hitchhiker's Guide? [Word article] - Niconico Encyclopedia
http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/Space Hitchhiker's Guide

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in Vehicle,   Science, Posted by darkhorse_log