Was it worth it?

Memes aside, why send a payload like this when they could have done something useful?

It has worked for Musk so far. Space X is still built on debt and equity financing. Hype has helped that so far.

Loosing "something useful" in case of failure would've cost more money.

Because nobody wants to risk sending a satellite on the maiden flight of a new rocket family. Satellites are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the satellite insurance industry is very risk adverse for (what should be) obvious reasons.
For the maiden flight, it's either a hunk of concrete or a Roadster with cameras attached. Now that the rocket worked without a hitch, they already have orders lined up for big-ass satellites to go up soon.

the primary* mission was to demonstrate direct to GTO capability in order to certify for launching large Air Force/NRO payloads. It's an EELV thing.


So the weird orbit/6hr coast was on purpose - it will make them more money in the future. That's more important that blowing up some poor students' cubesats.

What is more useful to the mememan than a meme? Elon doesn't really have to answer to anyone so he has no direct incentive to send something useful. What Elon does have is a fanbase of brainlet branless pseudo-intellectuals and he knows that increasing their liking for him elevates his status. So he did something dumb that only braindeath retard Elon Musk fans would enjoy: Watching le cool WE DID IT REDDIT xD video of le MEME CAR turning 360 360 weeee in spacee!!! !!!!! 1111 !!! 1

>Last pic of Starman in Roadster on its journey to Mars orbit and then the Asteroid Belt

See ya space cowboy...

wait, there's footage of it during the interplanetary insertion burn? i thought they cut the feed before that

Not sure, Elon posted this one.

what is it with people not understanding such words as "test flight" and "boilerplate payload"?

they were continually downloading the raw 5k as they streamed the super compressed stuff. Those are custom RED Gemini 5k cameras you know....

rip sweet prince

people hear "launched a car into space" and get pre-outraged

Because that would have been more expensive than strapping a car with cameras to a rocket. Getting data back costs money. Also they are way the fuck off from their original trajectory.

It was useful to do this. It will eventually help us better understand the effects of space weathering on consumer automotive materials

I also originally thought this was a waste. But now that I've seen the reactions, I think it was a brilliant PR move. These images of Starman in a car in front of the Earth really connect with the average person, the guy that thought space was boring and over since Apollo and Shuttle retired. This is worth billions in good publicity for SpaceX and Tesla and Musk and space flight, similar to the Deep Blue chess victory for IBM.

Even so, I think it would have been even cooler to toss some student cubesats in the seats and trunk.

Remember also how Elon positioned the launch to the public, by saying ahead of time that the FH was probably going to explode.

This way, even though one of the cores was lost it now appears to most people as if everything went much better than expected. He preemptively put a positive spin on what would've normally been a catastrophic failure.

Tests are hardly ever (if ever) done with "useful" payloads.

No car is tested with a baby strapped in the back.

F

Why feed so much medicine to lab rats when it can be given to people who need it right now?

Testing is useful.

PR stunt you brainlet

spacex and tesla both have constant deficits. this PR stunt helps them to survive. clearly it worked well. the whole world is talking about the tesla in space

It was just supposed to be a mass simulator. Better starman and his ride than a million dollar satellite.

If ever money were an innane concept to me, I'd do this. Buy a big fucking rocket, the best space suit science can provide, and an expensive-looking car, and just float through space for a day. Then a shuttle would come pick me up, fly me back to the surface, and I could watch as my car burned up in the atmosphere.

There is more to this than just scientific discovery.
Money is involved and this increases the reputation of the company.

underrated

>I think it would have been even cooler to toss some student cubesats in the seats and trunk.
Trunk is already full with a dead hooker. Musk is a genius.

>Memes aside, why send a payload like this when they could have done something useful?

First flight of an untested rocket with a high estimated probability of failure. Who's paying to put what inside of the payload fairing? Most of the time, no one. Most first flights literally fill the payload fairings of their new vehicles with concrete and steel blocks. This is just an extra shiny version of that, and one that elicits a huge public response.

it was a test flight

This. He's reignited public interest in space.

just like amazon

>Why spend money on space when blacks are starving in Africa?
>Why send up a stupid car when they could send up sciencey stuff or astronauts?
>Why can't we see the stars behind the car, like in all those Hollywood movies?
>Why did it miss Mars and go to Ceres?
>Why ...

Rockets are too expensive and difficult to be wasted on useless payloads such as "boilerplates".

Unironically to trigger flat earthers beyond infinite, best shitpost in history

To gain more recognition. We still have lots of idiots who think going into space is some amazing endeavor.

What "something useful"? It's not like there's big science sats or rovers just rotting in some dudebro's garage waiting for free rocket rides to do big discoveries. The pictures were useful enough judging by how popular they are.