Tesla bobble-head, please...

... with a chunk of change going to Special Effects. And/Or reach out to Space X, get Musk to match a bit per sale, and send it to one of Douglas Adams' favoured charities like Save the Rhino or the Gorilla Fund.

Maybe even colour-code them by charity?

Just a thought...

[edit: with a spaceman, just chillin']
 
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For one, "copyright".

For the other, it'd be nice to have in-game items for endeavours that are actually good for something, like JAXA launching a satellite on what would pass as an "enthusiast toy" rocket, instead of getting all excited about a manchild launching a semi-useless car and a few webcams nowhere in particular.

How about a bobblehead of a vehicle that actually drove on the ' moon?
 
For one, "copyright".

For the other, it'd be nice to have in-game items for endeavours that are actually good for something, like JAXA launching a satellite on what would pass as an "enthusiast toy" rocket, instead of getting all excited about a manchild launching a semi-useless car and a few webcams nowhere in particular.

How about a bobblehead of a vehicle that actually drove on the ' moon?

A rather harsh dismissal of someone whose persistence has been allowing us to lower the cost of access to space.
 
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For one, "copyright".

For the other, it'd be nice to have in-game items for endeavours that are actually good for something, like JAXA launching a satellite on what would pass as an "enthusiast toy" rocket, instead of getting all excited about a manchild launching a semi-useless car and a few webcams nowhere in particular.

How about a bobblehead of a vehicle that actually drove on the ' moon?

So, who ejected a canister of biowaste into your cornflakes?

Copyright: No. If FDEV were just making tons of money out of it then maybe, but do you see the word "Charity"? No, Neither SpaceX or Tesla are going to hound Fdev for that. I mean, yes, it makes sense to talk if only to get a 3D model of a Tesla out of them, but all the copyright is down to engineering tech, not the shape of the thing or the name of an inventor (who is dead and has nothing to do with the company, btw).

JAXA: Do me a lemon. Yes, what JAXA can do with a sounding rocket is amazing (I question your use of "Enthusiast toy" btw) but they are well behind the likes of NASA, RSA, ESA and SpaceX. Heck, I'm in NZ and we just launched a giant glitterball (Because Disco, Baby!) for biowaste and giggles. And when a bunch of cannibals in grass skirts have a better space program than Japan or Britain, it may be time to re-evaluate.
 
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For one, "copyright".
Licenses can be granted quite easily.

instead of getting all excited about a manchild launching a semi-useless car and a few webcams nowhere in particular.
The rocket needed a mass simulator. So instead of launching a boilerplate, or a block of concrete, why not launch something that excites people and gets them involved? Why not bring people a live view of the earth, to inspire them?

Let's build on that, and have a bobblehead and a POI in the game, which demonstrates science and why it's important.
 
Licenses can be granted quite easily.


The rocket needed a mass simulator. So instead of launching a boilerplate, or a block of concrete, why not launch something that excites people and gets them involved? Why not bring people a live view of the earth, to inspire them?

Let's build on that, and have a bobblehead and a POI in the game, which demonstrates science and why it's important.
I'm usually among the first to be on board with inspiring more people to be enthusiastic about science and especially space travel but even I don't see the point of sending a car into Earth's orbit.

We already have a big problem of over 500,000 tracked pieces of "space junk" orbiting Earth. How is adding another piece of space debris helping anything? Eventually if we keep polluting the "sky" around Earth willy nilly like this we'll end up walling ourselves off from space. Unable to leave our own planet cos launching orbiting items became a fashion statement in the early 21st Century.
 
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We already have a big problem of over 500,000 tracked pieces of "space junk" orbiting Earth. How is adding another piece of space debris helping anything? Eventually if we keep polluting the "sky" around Earth willy nilly like this we'll end up walling ourselves off from space. Unable to leave our own planet cos launching orbiting items became a fashion statement in the early 21st Century.

Space debris is a huge problem, but I don't see how a payload launched into an elliptic heliocentric orbit is really adding to it. It won't be even remotely near Earth again until about 2030 or so I think.
 
A rather harsh dismissal of someone whose persistence has been allowing us to lower the cost of access to space.
And a hash overvaluation of an individual who is being discussed for what could be called "sub-prime" employment tactics to the point where an advertising stunt (that, as it turns out, will missing its target by quite a margin, but that can be sold as a success too) gets more attention than, say, real scientific achievements that required hitting and a target and prolonged manoeuvring with extreme precision or launching satellites into orbit with what almost passes as a toy rocket.

This stunt now is really far less exciting that what's going on every day, and nobody gives a damn. It's sad, and it's damning.
 
What about the achievements SpaceX have produced? Those are real people making these happen too.

We can't go and visit the ESA experiment in the game because it won't still be there. We can't go and visit the JAXA satellite because its orbit is so low that it won't be there either. The Tesla will still be there though.

Let's look at what SpaceX have done so far.

  • Densified LOX as an oxidiser, resulting in greater payload capacities
  • First 100% privately developed orbital class rocket and payload delivery
  • First privately developed spacecraft to visit the ISS
  • First vertical orbital class rocket landing
  • First orbital class rocket re-use
  • Heaviest lift capability currently extant
  • Fourth electric car in space

Launching a car into space didn't excite me. In fact I would have felt as excited if it was a block of concrete as a mass simulator. What excites me is, this brings ready and easy access to space a step closer. In my lifetime I will be able to buy a ticket on a space ship in the same way as I can buy one on an airliner now. The Falcon Heavy was the achievement, but the Tesla is a symbol, and it brought many millions more people into thinking about science and space than were before. That's why it was done, and that's why it was important. I'm sad to say that JAXA's grown-up sounding rocket doesn't excite many people, but a car on a rocket? That captures people's imagination.

Why is the Falcon Heavy so important? Well this is the science now. It's not that great for human spaceflight, if you want to do special things there, I think it's better to wait for the BFR. On the other hand, if you want to send devices to study Jupiter, any of the outer planets, or Kuiper Belt objects, we now have a way to do that without a gravity assist, and/or have a much higher mass limit than previously possible. Science teams might have to wait just a couple of years to carry out their science, instead of waiting five to ten years. More science, more quickly, and cheaper.

We're living in the future! Isn't this amazing? This is where it starts!
 
... with a chunk of change going to Special Effects. And/Or reach out to Space X, get Musk to match a bit per sale, and send it to one of Douglas Adams' favoured charities like Save the Rhino or the Gorilla Fund.

Maybe even colour-code them by charity?

Just a thought...

[edit: with a spaceman, just chillin']

I like this idea! If they can't get the rights to use a Tesla, a red generic-looking roadster with a mannequin would likely be safe to use!

(I was going to say something regarding the SpaceX hate and general unnecessary grumpiness of some of the other commenters, but I can't a nice way to say "you're not wrong, you're just an a*****e".)
 
... with a chunk of change going to Special Effects. And/Or reach out to Space X, get Musk to match a bit per sale, and send it to one of Douglas Adams' favoured charities like Save the Rhino or the Gorilla Fund.

Maybe even colour-code them by charity?

Just a thought...

[edit: with a spaceman, just chillin']

Yes, please! Insta-buy!
 
And a hash overvaluation of an individual who is being discussed for what could be called "sub-prime" employment tactics to the point where an advertising stunt (that, as it turns out, will missing its target by quite a margin, but that can be sold as a success too) gets more attention than, say, real scientific achievements that required hitting and a target and prolonged manoeuvring with extreme precision or launching satellites into orbit with what almost passes as a toy rocket.

This stunt now is really far less exciting that what's going on every day, and nobody gives a damn. It's sad, and it's damning.

Dude, roll them all together. SpaceX are doing remarkable stuff with re-usability. JAXA are squeezing every drop out out of "toy rockets" like no one else. Down in Middle-Earth, we're building carbon fibre rockets with 3D printed engines.

Imagine what will happen when this all rolls together.

And yes, Musk works 80 hours a week and expects to go down in history. I work 18 and expect to go down the pub: We both expect our staff to do the same. But, Life goals, yo.

No one is building me a statue, and no-one is dropping crayfish off to Elon for fixing their wifi. Life is what you make it.
 
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