r/spaceporn • u/feeling_impossible • Feb 07 '18

Surreal, absurd, outlandish, preposterous... But there it is. The entire earth clearly reflected off the side of a car. [1920x1080]

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u/BlahYourHamster Feb 07 '18

In retrospect this is a bit of a missed opportunity. You would have thought they'd put at least a solar powered tracker on it.

Heck, even a solar powered camera that takes periodic pictures every so often would have been good enough.

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u/Redexe Feb 07 '18

Well it would have been awesome, but would have also increased the complexity of the system and the number of things that could ho wrong. The main mission was the successful launch of the rocket and the separation and navigation of the booster stages, and they needed as much manpower as possible for that. The roadster was the cherry on top.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '18

How exactly would it have added an appreciable amount complexity to put a small solar powered camera on the car? They already put a space suit in there for shits and giggles

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u/thelostcause8432 Feb 07 '18

This is reddit. You can't swing a cat around here without hitting a devil's advocate

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u/Mattyoungbull Feb 07 '18

I beg to differ.

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u/aworon21 Feb 07 '18

I’d say it’s good that people question things, even if the answers are obvious to enthusiasts or professionals in a particular field. Think of it as a learning experience.