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SpaceX's Starman Tesla Roadster In Space
SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket topped by Elon Musk's old Tesla Roadster "piloted" by a mannikin named "Starman" (after the David Bowie song) in 2018. But that's not the end of the story.
(Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster departing Earth with Starman at the wheel)
At the time, the SpaceX Tesla launch (for it was, indeed, Musk's personal Roadster) was a flashy flight. But that renown didn't prevent a case of mistaken identity seven years later, when an astronomer reported a sighting of the object as an asteroid. On Jan. 2, the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts — which tracks such finds — announced the discovery.A day later, once the Tesla truth was clear, the center retracted the claim. "The designation 2018 CN41 is being deleted and will be listed as omitted," the center wrote on Jan. 3.
(Via Space.com.)
I've been saying for years that science fiction writers and science fiction magazines have been predicting all manner of future technology and occurrences. Consider Biddiver, a 1941 short story by Theodore Sturgeon.
('Biddiver' by Theodore Sturgeon)
“You see,” he went on, staring at the picture, “from what you tell me, the space-travel mechanisms on the car had their master switch where any other Carrington [car] has its radio. This guy was apparently one of those people who can’t breathe unless a radio’s pounding their ear. Drunk as he was, you can bet that the first thing he did after he started the car was to turn on the radio. As soon as he did that, he took off.Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.
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Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1928.
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The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1946.
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Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
NASA Moonbase Update
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals?
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
Special Lights For Driverless Cars!
'That light is actually the Anamorphic Equalizer...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'Maybe The Woman Of Your Life Is Still Under Production'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
Biomimetic Tendons From Rochu Robotics
'... the curious parallelism to animal motions.'
Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry
'...a synthetic which air-friction would erode.'
