When I was supposed to be sleeping the other day I woke up with a stomach ache (long story), and went downstairs for some soda crackers and 7 Up. (They're called soda crackers, so you have to drink soda with them. That's the law.) Naturally I flipped on the TV, only to discover we were thirty second from launching a car into space.
By "we" I mean Elon Musk, the rather eccentric rich guy head of SpaceX, who I now love more than ever in a not creepy sort of way.
So I got to see it live, and it was so much fun I could almost forget the part about how I spent the rest of that afternoon in the bathroom, doing a little launching of my own. (Long story. Never mind, I'll write about it later.)
Musk was testing the Falcon Heavy rocket, the biggest space vehicle since the shuttle. He intends to use it to send people to interesting places like the Moon, Mars, and Uranus, which I understand is infested with asteroids. Since this was a test--Musk actually said pre-launch that the chance of failure was high--he decided not to put any important cargo on board. But he needed something to test its payload capacity, some weight ... and, looking around, he spotted the vast warehouse that contained his collection of over ten thousand cars.
I'm making that part up. All I can say is that if I had several billion dollars, I'd be launching stuff into space, and I'd also have a collection of antique fire trucks in a vast warehouse. Clearly he and I are virtual twins.
Anyway, he did happen to have a Tesla roadster sitting around, and also a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit. I'm trying hard not to judge, here. Besides, I'd have a spacesuit, too.
So he set the spaceman in the Tesla, a detail I didn't know about when I turned on the TV and found a giant spaceship on the pad. After launch the two booster rockets, in a display worthy of an Olympic event, landed simultaneously, ready to be reused. The main booster ... not so much, but two out of three ain't bad. Then the spaceship went into orbit around the Earth, and its roof retracted, and ... wow.
The last official Instagram from "Starman". |
When Emily came in I got the footage online and played the whole thing over, still grinning ear to ear. It was just so cool. Elon Musk, in addition to understanding that the future of mankind lies in space, also has a great sense of showmanship and humor. When I grow up I want to be just like him, especially the rich part.
Musk sent the Tesla into deep space, having said there was a slim chance it might actually hit Mars, although apparently it wasn't aimed directly at the Red Planet. Instead the rocket overshot its mark, and is now on a long loop that will take it into the Asteroid Belt. I wouldn't be surprised if Musk did that on purpose, just to show off the capabilities of his rocket. I mean, the thing can haul 64 tons, so what's a sports car and an astronaut? Talk about an off-road race.
I applaud Elon Musk, and not just because I want him to send me seed money to launch my writing career. Space is still hard and dangerous, but it's also full of possibilities in resources, knowledge, innovation, and just plain being neat. One of the problems with the world today is that so many of us no longer have a sense of wonder, or understand the value of exploration for the sake of discovery. We need to get that back. And with our politicians busy infighting and backstabbing, it may be innovators like Musk who will take us into the next phase of the human adventure.
Or at least send me some cash.
Comments
Many societal resources are wasted through these efforts. And then there are various government projects and initiatives that are band-aid solutions, not that effective, and take 30 years to unravel the bad legislation.
We could have--and should have--more Eldon Musks. The TDG will unlock more of humanity's potential.
I would like to be building learning simulations for high school students. Check out my Food Chain simulation. Rather than just memorize a few facts and terminology, students will actually have to problem solve with Food Chain Science to achieve a certain goal.
"But why a car?"
"He has a car company, he has cars, and the really cool photos may sell a couple million of his cars, so why not the car?"
"I think he missed."
"Yeah, and that's why they did a practice launch with a car, before the astronauts risk not getting their groceries."
"Is the car setting a speed record?"
"Turns out, it only counts if you're running it on the ground. But it is setting some sort of record."
And he launched a rocket into space and landed it on a platform in the ocean!
That's a lot of work you did on that food chain simulation! It's exactly the kind of thing I'd have found fascinating when I was in school.
A little-reported fact is that the sports car was Mr Musk's own Tesla Roadster. His own car! It had a logo on the dash, set there by Musk long ago that stated, "DON'T PANIC". You can see this in the video feed from space.
Of course, there has been plenty of reasons for Musk to panic in the past decade . . . having invested his life savings in Tesla and SpaceX, he was down to his last cool million in 2008.
Have you written to him? You should, you just never know. Sometimes that infectious "wonder" just needs a spark. Use your imagination...try to remember he invented paypal, SolarCity, electric cars that are fast, computers calling landlines (patented), electric jets, the railway from LA to SF and pushed all boundaries.
Think on it..then send your letter. Maybe he will want you along for his triumphs. He really is an inspiration.
the battery one would be a game-changer because the main drawback of solar power is you cannot store the power being generated in the heat of the day, to feed the grid at night. The latest i read was that solar power is used to pump water up a tall cylinder all day long. At night the water is released generating hydro-electric power.
You can understand why the petro-chemical people are creating all the false narratives they can, until all the fossil fuels get milked out of the ground.