Interesting detail from the pad pics are these three points on all the cores, facing the same way, even with the west booster being rotated 180degs. I assume these are telemetry transmitters? As they would be facing downwards as the vehicle pitches over during accent.
But yes, I'll happily take charge of organizing something surrounding Falcon Heavy. I'll be at KSC press site for the launch, but as we'll likely have A LOT of people coming for this, maybe I can dust off the old Shuttle dinner gatherings I used to organize and we can see who all wants to meet up for dinner/drinks the night before the first launch?
Interesting detail from the pad pics are these three points on all the cores, facing the same way, even with the west booster being rotated 180degs.
That moment when you find a poll with your name on it and you've got the most votes and you go "What?"But yes, I'll happily take charge of organizing something surrounding Falcon Heavy. I'll be at KSC press site for the launch, but as we'll likely have A LOT of people coming for this, maybe I can dust off the old Shuttle dinner gatherings I used to organize and we can see who all wants to meet up for dinner/drinks the night before the first launch?
Are there any viable slingshot orbits to enable trans-Martian injection coming up (via Venus or the Moon perhaps)?
Quote from: ChrisGebhardt on 01/02/2018 09:31 pmBut yes, I'll happily take charge of organizing something surrounding Falcon Heavy. I'll be at KSC press site for the launch, but as we'll likely have A LOT of people coming for this, maybe I can dust off the old Shuttle dinner gatherings I used to organize and we can see who all wants to meet up for dinner/drinks the night before the first launch?Always meant to go to one of these. As long as it doesn't conflict with remotes, I'll definitely try to join in.
AIUI the inclination-from-the-ecliptic difference between Earth and Mars is "maximally bad" this month, so you'd either have to do something fancy---or else refire S2 after a couple months of coasting.I'm starting to be persuaded that the "fancy" orbit is just a "simple" apogee-at-Mars-distance elliptical orbit, and the inclination difference is going to be sold as a planetary-protection "feature".
1 - Do we know if this is going to a direct TMI (or Mars-distance orbital injection) or whether they'll coast in earth orbit for a bit?2 - I would assume for publicity purposes that Elon will have arranged an epic live video shot of the Tesla payload separating from the upper stage. Or do we think that they'll just have it remain attached to stage 2 for total simplicity?
Consensus seems to be direct injection and no separation, but there's no a lot of evidence either way. Only: longest S2 coast was for DSCOVR (30 min) & it would require S2 modifications for significantly longer; and no obvious hardware on the roadster (solar panels, comm antennas) to support a mission apart from the S2. Of course there could be surprises.