Starship Asterisk*

by **bystander** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:22 pm

Elon Musk explains why he launched a car toward Mars

by **eaglekepr** » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:57 am

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:But it really does look a little fake. Why the 'halos' around bright objects? Did they use an iPhone to take the photo?

These 'halos' are an artefact of the the exposure limits of the camera trying to balance a mostly dark (space!) field of view with very brightly lit planets and spacesuits. Also it's a screen grab from a video, so there's almost always a reduction in quality. I would have liked to have seen this taken with HDR techniques, but then more people would accuse them of being fake.

by **eaglekepr** » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:40 am

JohnD wrote:Excellent, eaglekepr!
It was the cubesat market I was mostly thinking of.

I did a search, using 'clearing house' and 'sorting' but was inundated by Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat references.
What was your search?
John

Just "satellite launch service", a few links down

by **Franky Baby** » Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:39 pm

I think Musk just pulled off the perfect murder!
With millions of witnesses!

by **puhbrox** » Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:02 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lERqGULWxs

by **DrFaustus** » Mon Feb 12, 2018 2:27 pm

Reminds me of the intro to the movie "Heavy Metal"

by **Guest** » Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:46 am

sillyworm2 wrote:My opinion may differ from most...all I see is a tacky piece of Space debris/flotsam.Yes..I loved the movie HEAVY METAL.

I agree. At the earliest opportunity, commercial space showed its true colors. Easy to laugh this off and give "Ol' Musky" two thumbs up for sticking it to stuffy old NASA protocols. For most of the great unwashed, space is a concept they hold no reverence for. A billionaire flamboyantly displaying his lack of reverence is so verifying for them. And Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic will doubtless have to outdo SpaceX. All while the dimbulbs cheer and clap.

by **geckzilla** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:42 pm

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:Photoshopped!! jk

But it really does look a little fake. Why the 'halos' around bright objects? Did they use an iPhone to take the photo?

Kind of scary to think that in 10 years or so, even videos will be able to be faked with such believability that it would take an expert to verify their authenticity.

The halos/glare/haze aren't what make it look fake. There's some kind of sharpening applied afterward. Glare is perfectly natural in optical systems, including your own eyes, as people are apt to notice especially at night. This is a little fuzzy, and there may be some moisture somewhere in or on the camera.

by **FLPhotoCatcher** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:25 pm

Photoshopped!! jk

But it really does look a little fake. Why the 'halos' around bright objects? Did they use an iPhone to take the photo?

Kind of scary to think that in 10 years or so, even videos will be able to be faked with such believability that it would take an expert to verify their authenticity.

by **Chris Peterson** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:33 pm

ta152h0 wrote:no NASA Clean Room required for private endeavours

Perhaps not. But lets see what happens if a private enterprise decides to place a lander on something that could be biologically contaminated (Mars or a Jovian moon) without following all the decontamination protocols. Getting to space, and operating in space, are governed by law. It's not the Wild West.

by **ta152h0** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:29 pm

no NASA Clean Room required for private endeavours

by **JohnD** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:01 pm

Excellent, eaglekepr!
It was the cubesat market I was mostly thinking of.

I did a search, using 'clearing house' and 'sorting' but was inundated by Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat references.
What was your search?
John

by **sillyworm2** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:01 pm

My opinion may differ from most...all I see is a tacky piece of Space debris/flotsam.Yes..I loved the movie HEAVY METAL.

by **eaglekepr** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:34 am

JohnD wrote:This might be the time for some enterprising person to set up a clearing house, seeking room on launches and offering them to universities and businesses. For a fee, of course.
John

There are several, this is one of the first search responses:
http://spaceflight.com/services/launch-services/
Tagline: "Buy a seat, not a rocket"

FWIW, I'm firmly in the camp of "Launching a Tesla = Awesome!" To launch a satellite or science payload on this, the owner-operator would have needed a self-sufficient spacecraft (not requiring more from the launch provider other than a "lift") that was OK with being put into an as-yet unknown orbit/trajectory (probably not conducive to the science they were seeking) which was launching at an unknown time (+/- a few weeks) and would be cool with watching their payload explode over the Cape and crash into the Atlantic.

I could potentially see a cubesat launcher as part of that payload, but that's about it.

by **Antony Rawlinson** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:29 am

Joules wrote:Is there a teapot in the trunk? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot
It'd be nice to finally get this Russell conundrum out of the way.

I already raised this point (with the link to Wikipedia). But to satisfy (or confound) Russell, it would need to be in free orbit IMO.

by **Guest** » Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:39 am

richardschumacher wrote:
HellCat wrote:I'm curious about this:
in this final image of the payload
What makes this "final?"
The camera/transmitter batteries ran down, as expected. No other power source.

Well, what can you expect from a used car with that many miles on it?

by **Chris Peterson** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:48 pm

richardschumacher wrote:
HellCat wrote:I'm curious about this:
in this final image of the payload
What makes this "final?"
The camera/transmitter batteries ran down, as expected. No other power source.

The last image from the onboard camera. But the object is visible from telescopes on the ground. Not resolvable, but imageable.

by **JohnD** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:46 pm

bystander wrote:
JohnD wrote:
Elon Musk launched a useless, worn out car and a dummy, when surely he could have offered the launch for a scientific package?

What? and risk a billion dollar pay load on a "TEST" launch?

Depends. Not all payloads cost a billion. Lamented Beagle II cost 'only' £50 million - I looked for that because I knew it was done on the cheap.
Cubesats cost about $50K, WITH the launch, so a lot less to build

This might be the time for some enterprising person to set up a clearing house, seeking room on launches and offering them to universities and businesses. For a fee, of course.
John

by **ta152h0** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:13 pm

This is an IFO. " Identified Flying Object ". Pass the ice cold one

by **richardschumacher** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:12 pm

HellCat wrote:I'm curious about this:
in this final image of the payload
What makes this "final?"

The camera/transmitter batteries ran down, as expected. No other power source.

by **HellCat** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:30 pm

I'm curious about this:

in this final image of the payload

What makes this "final?"

by **Chris Peterson** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:18 pm

neufer wrote:Unless it was a Schrödinger's cat teapot.

That would be a cool teapot if it features a dead cat on the opposite side. I'd buy one.

by **richardschumacher** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:15 pm

Maybe there is a green teapot in the trunk. Can you prove there isn't? :_>

by **neufer** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 4:02 pm

Joules wrote:
Is there a teapot in the trunk?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot

It'd be nice to finally get this Russell conundrum out of the way.

Unless it was a Schrödinger's cat teapot.

by **NGC3314** » Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:52 pm

JohnD wrote:Elon Musk launched a useless, worn out car and a dummy, when surely he could have offered the launch for a scientific package?

I didn't feel so bad about it when word came in from a science writer at the launch that SpaceX had at least informally offered to include payloads from NASA and the USAF, but neither had one they thought appropriate. And Starman is a SpaceX spacesuit; one would hope they instrumented it to get useful nfrmaetion on how well it held pressure in vacuum...

Starship Asterisk*

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