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Comment by pavel_lishin | Hacker News Reader

Oh man, I didn't realize this was going to go into a solar orbit! I thought it was just going to stay in LEO and then eventually burn up on re-entry.

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It might still end up in LEO. SpaceX wants to demonstrate to interested parties that they can coast for 6 hours then do a second burn of the upper stage. That's important for some payloads to GEO. So they're going to put the Tesla in LEO then 6 hours later do an insertion burn into solar orbit. If something about the coast fails then you will end up with a Tesla in LEO.

If you missed that, then wait until you learn what's the test payload...

For the curious, it's Musk's midnight-cherry red Tesla roadster, with a dummy in a spacesuit in the drivers seat, David Bowie playing on the stereo, and a towel in the glove box along with a copy of hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and a sign that says Don't Panic.

Not only that, it's being set into orbit around the sun.

Yep, and not just for kicks, it's also to demonstrate they can launch a payload far enough to reach the orbit of Mars if required.

I understand now. Is because of vogons that we need to colonize Mars.

That's great. Where did you find this info on the payload?

Initially from Musk's Twitter feed, but there's now also a Wikipedia entry about the car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk's_Tesla_Roadster

There's also an artists rendition of the launch and payload on spacex's YouTube channel (titled: Falcon Heavy Animation)

I wonder if this event will get a mention in marketing classes in the future...

Some discussion/speculation about the orbit the Tesla will end up in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md0K_eRSHAE

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