Falcon Heavy Launch 3pm EST

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Thanks for pointing to the Asimov... Worth rereading and it brought me back to why I really enjoyed reading his work. 

Partially because he was a 'hard' scientist as well as writer. Partly because "Spaceship!"

The BFR is interesting. Though I didn't hear it as Big Falcon, I heard it as Big Effing Rocket :)

Robbie said:

In reply to Chris_V :

Science is about the hypothesis: if this, then that, because of _____. Every single hypothesis is a belief

As I said, you don't seem to understand what science is.  A hypothesis is not a belief.  A hypothesis is a proposed answer to a question, to be tested.  A theory is a proposed answer to question that has been tested rigorously, and is in agreement with the results.  A law is a subset of theories that has survived a lot of rigorous testing and is in total agreement with the results so far.

Note that a law is a SUBSET of theories.  A law can be 'demoted' at any time new and improved testing does not support it.  That does not invalidate science.  That is how science works - a process of continuously refining our understanding.

Robbie said:

Current scientific beliefs don't seem to be able to make human society happier or fairly distribute the Earth's resources and bounty.

Because those things are not what science does.

In reply to paranoid_android :

My understanding is that the point of Starman and the roadster are to prove that Falcon Heavy can lift enough payload to orbit to put a mass of a roadster and person (plus whatever else they put in there with it) on to a course with Mars.

Meaning, SpaceX can put satilletes into Mars orbit.  Meaning big $$$ for SpaceX from NASA/private research missions.  Meaning eventually landing more stuff on Mars, like some friends for Curiosity, habitats, and people.

Well, I'll step back on this because I think you guys are missing my point. I'm truly reading your responses and considering your points, thank you for your feedback, even the snide. It's the assumption that the difference between currently scientifically proven ideas/laws/beliefs/whatever and truth is too small to be relevant that I have a significant problem with.

I'm not anti-science, nor do I believe science is bad. I have a degree in science (but I'd much rather deal with technology).

We don't know what we don't know is all I am trying to say. And we have to remember that.

The Falcon 9 is capable of putting almost 9,000 lbs into a Mars orbit (not sure if this include circularizing the orbit).  The Falcon Heavy can do that with 37,000 lbs!  Both of these numbers apparently sacrifice the boosters though.

http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities

Greg Smith said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Thanks for pointing to the Asimov... Worth rereading and it brought me back to why I really enjoyed reading his work. 

Partially because he was a 'hard' scientist as well as writer. Partly because "Spaceship!"

The BFR is interesting. Though I didn't hear it as Big Falcon, I heard it as Big Effing Rocket :)

My son and I suspect the announcer guy was chosen specifically because he said heavy falcon the way he did.. Even on replay mentally expecting "falcon" it does not sound like falcon.  Several times too.

Possibly another geek homage? To the BFG in the Doom games

Now that we have an orbiting Tesla, does anyone else wonder what's in the trunk?

found out I have connections to SpaceX.. An old boss works there and an old colleague is a supplier.  Supre cool.

In reply to Robbie :

I'm pretty sure I get what you're generally trying to say.  It's just that your apparent belief of science being at odds with what you're saying, seems to show a fundamental misunderstanding of what science is trying to say. This is why the definitions I posted earlier are so critically important to understanding science.  It is my 'belief' that science is actually saying the same thing as you...And then some: 

We'll never know what we don't know, unless we try.

In reply to Jerry From LA :

Absolutely and I refuse to open the trunk

I wonder if musk signed the title to the car and put it in the glove box.  Finders keepers?

Robbie said:
Maybe it sounds like I am splitting hairs here, but remember how dumb everyone thought Columbus was? And how dumb we now think everyone who thought Columbus was dumb was? It's because our collective scientific belief changed between then and now, and lots of people like to confuse a scientific belief with an absolute truth.

No; I do not remember how dumb everyone thought Columbus was. At that point, most educated people believed the earth was round. "Educated" being a pretty low bar at that time. By the sixth century BC, Pythagoras was talking about the round (as in spherical) earth and Columbus was fully 2000 years later.

Great, now instead of people selling off their old cars on Craigslist, FB Marketplace, or donating them for charity auction, they're going to start sending them into orbit. So much for cheap Challenge car fodder...

Red Tesla Roadster

8,000,000 miles and that will go up.  It's my commuter right now.

Don't lowball me.  I know what I got.

Crxpilot said:

Red Tesla Roadster

8,000,000 miles and that will go up.  It's my commuter right now.

Don't lowball me.  I know what I got.

"One of a kind"

Jerry From LA said:

Now that we have an orbiting Tesla, does anyone else wonder what's in the trunk?

How about Bertrand Russel's invisible teapot?

dculberson said:

No; I do not remember how dumb everyone thought Columbus was. At that point, most educated people believed the earth was round. "Educated" being a pretty low bar at that time. By the sixth century BC, Pythagoras was talking about the round (as in spherical) earth and Columbus was fully 2000 years later.

Not only that - in Columbus's time, geographers would have had a pretty good idea of the distance from Spain to China if you sailed west, and would have known the ship Columbus was using wouldn't have the range to make it. Cue conspiracy theories that Columbus knew he'd find something halfway along the trip.

In reply to Apexcarver :

I don't think anyone here is denying science (whatever that even means). Not sure what posts or which posters you are even referring to.

You guys heard that they overdid the burn so the roadster is now headed to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter right?

If not for the vacuum of space, poor Starman would be hearing “recalculating” in that nasal voice foreverrrrrrr.

In reply to RX Reven' :

So there is a chance we can get footage of an asteriod slamming into the Tesla? I think I'd like to see that.

T.J. said:

In reply to Apexcarver :

I don't think anyone here is denying science (whatever that even means). Not sure what posts or which posters you are even referring to.

T.J. said:

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

I thought politics weren't allowed here anymore? That dude may be a celebrity, but not really much to do with science.

T.J.'s signature says:

“Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts”

Did you mistake Bill Nye for somebody else?

Nick Comstock said:

In reply to RX Reven' :

So there is a chance we can get footage of an asteriod slamming into the Tesla? I think I'd like to see that.

Dream big man…let’s have Starman throw the roadster into autonomous mode so he can buy some more bitcoin with his smartphone and then BAAAM!!!, right into an asteroid.

So looking at the rocket names I'm assuming (as others have) that Falcon is the PC version of another word.  Much in the same way the model 3 was to originally be the model E, making Tesla's lineup the model S, model E, and model X.