Famous Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell reacted to Elon Musk’s “My car orbits Mars” post. Jonathan’s reaction was that the Falcon Heavy carrying the vehicle was actually in orbit around the Sun. On the other hand, Musk’s post consisted only of a word that was said to make what he just casually said more interesting.
The giant rocket produced by SpaceX on February 6, 2018 Falcon Heavy, was launched to pass through Mars orbit, along with a Tesla Roadster. Falcon Heavy, which we bid farewell with David Bowie’s song Starman, is currently in orbit of Mars, according to Elon Musk’s post the other day.
“My vehicle is currently in Mars orbit.” This tweet of Musk, who gave information about the current situation with his statements, drew a reaction from a professor. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard, said that Elon Musk’s vehicle was actually not orbiting Mars explained. Let’s say right now, this explanation was actually a bit unnecessary.
Not Mars bro, orbiting the Sun!
Jonathan, under Elon Musk’s post, “Actually no. your vehicle orbiting the sun and occasionally passes through Mars orbit. they are not the same” He reacted with his words. He even shared a chart showing the orbits of Mars, Sun and Falcon Heavy on top of this reaction. The graph showed Falcon Heavy orbiting the Sun in its own orbit, coinciding with the orbit of Mars at some points.
- Current position of Mars, Earth and Falcon Heavy
Of course, let’s say that all these calculations are not made with live data, because it cannot be done. Because Falcon Heavy stopped sending data to Earth shortly after takeoff. Therefore, the trajectory of the rocket was determined purely by mathematical calculations. McDowell’s orbital information of Kepler’s laws to adapt to the present He stated that he gave permission.
Mathematical calculations and McDowell’s exit to Musk aside, Falcon Heavy is actually not in orbit around Mars. it was already known. Falcon Heavy, to heliocentric orbit, that is, it was launched to go around the Sun. Both Elon Musk and anyone who knew the details of the mission and saw Musk’s tweet knew this. Many found McDowell’s exit unnecessary.
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