- Hi, it's me, Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.
So on February 6th, 2018, two of Elon Musk's companies
combined in the most bizarre way imaginable.
His rocket company, SpaceX, put one his other companies,
Tesla's cars into space, what?
This event clearly goes down as one
of the most insanely unusual events in spaceflight history
and has raised a ton of questions.
Some about the physics and others
about the authenticity in general.
Well, today we're going to figure out what happens to a car
if it's put in the punishing environment of space.
I mean, come on, plastics in space,
tires in space, paint in space?
How much of this is real
and how much of this is simply impossible?
And lastly, say there truly is
a midnight cherry red Tesla in outer space, where is it?
Can we see it, and what's going
to happen to it in the future?
So car versus outer space, let's get started!
- [Man] Three, two, one, zero, command--
- Wait, wait, wait, I've got a better idea, come with me.
(fun electronic music)
Oh hi, guys, welcome to Hawthorne, California,
home of SpaceX's headquarters.
I figured if we're gonna be talking about putting
a Tesla into space on top of a SpaceX rocket,
what better place to do it than out there in California.
So we're gonna go on a little road trip
up to Vandenberg Air Force Base
where SpaceX occasionally launches some rockets,
and meanwhile, I'm going to explain
why the paint didn't flake off, the windshield didn't crack,
the tires didn't pop, and the plastic didn't melt
in the vacuum of space.
This is gonna be fun one, come, join me, little adventure.
A little something different, a little rocket road trip.
First thing's first...
("All Systems Normal" by Everyday Astronaut)
Look, I'm Starman!
("All Systems Normal" by Everyday Astronaut)
So one of the biggest questions we'd ask is
why doesn't the Tesla get ripped apart
by the vacuum of space?
Well, this one's actually kinda cool
when you think about it.
Now I know this kinda seems weird,
but there's no pressure differential between the inside
of the car and the outside of the car.
There's no sealed containers,
and even if that convertible or a normal car like this,
it's not gonna be perfectly air tight
so the air would slowly leak out,
and it would eventually equalize until there's no air
in or out of anything and there's just no air
and therefore no vacuum.
There's no pressure differential, that's the key thing here.
Pressure differential, take a bag of chips for example.
What would happen if you put these inside a vacuum chamber?
Well, in order to find out, I'm here
at the University of Northern Iowas Physics department.
Now, you might be saying,
"Wait a second, I thought we were
"in California on a road trip.
"What are you doing in your hometown in Iowa?"
Well, that may or may not be
because I lost an entire memory card,
and now we're going to re-shoot random bits of this video
with a 2011 Hyundai Elantra standing in for the Tesla.
And it's really, really hot out so I'm just going to wear
a space suit t-shirt sometimes instead of a space suit.
Alright, so what I have here is a bell jar,
which is basically, think of it like a mini vacuum chamber.
So we can actually set it down on this tabletop here,
and we can actually suck the air right out of it.
So let's go ahead and do that here.
I'm just gonna do this, and as you can see now,
I can easily lift this back up
because the air inside the jar
and the air outside the jar is the same.
So I'm going to go ahead--
Oh, hi, wow, there's already some vacuum in the lines.
So I'm gonna go ahead and turn on the vacuum pump.
Oop, there we go, I saw it pop right there at the top,
and now, there is no difference
between the amount of pressure inside the bag of chips
and the amount of pressure outside the bag of chips
because there's now a little hole in the top of the bag.
And I can see that right away,
so even as the air actually gets sucked out
of this whole thing, the entire bag of chips
is actually starting to become in a vacuum.
There's no air, and you'd think this vacuum would just be
ripping this thing apart, but in real life now,
it's just gonna stay like this.
And this is now actually basically what it'd be like
in the vacuum of space.
There's no air inside the bag of the chips.
There's no air outside the bag of chips.
It's just kinda hanging out, and it'll do that.
And as a matter of fact, we can actually tell that we're
in a vacuum now because I can no longer lift this lid.
Instead, I lift the whole table because there is that big of
a pressure difference between the inside of the bell jar
and the outside of the bell jar.
But here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna turn this off.
We're gonna turn off the vacuum pump,
and I'm going to let the air back into the jar.
Let's see what happens.
("All Systems Normal" by Everyday Astronaut)
Again, you saw it initially,
there was a big pressure differential.
It changed and compressed the bag, and then,
as the air equalizes, the bag of chips
just kinda goes back to its normal shape.
So nothing too exciting really, it's a lot more boring
than I actually thought it would be,
which is kind of a good thing.
It shows how every day objects actually handle a vacuum.
They aren't nearly as scary or terrifying
as I think we picture in our heads.
So watch, now, the pressure differential--
There is no difference between the atmospheric pressures,
and now, we can lift this bag up.
And now you see, wah-la, we have a normal bag of chips
that's probably absolutely delicious.
Yeah, not too scary, not too crazy, actually.
That was pretty mild mannered, hm, what's next?
Why didn't the tires on that Tesla pop
once they got into the vacuum of space?
If only there was another vehicle,
which hand tires and went to space...
Oh yeah, the space shuttle, I remember that thing.
Now, these things flew on 134 missions,
and none them popped, why is that?
Well, air at sea level is 14.7 PSI.
Air in space is zero so the difference is only 14.7 PSI.
So when you're talking about a tire that's inflated
to 340 PSI, we're only talking
about a five percent difference from sea level
to the vacuum of space, that's not very much.
And if only there was some kind of way to lower the pressure
in a tire to keep it within its operational range
once it gets into the vacuum of space.
I'm sure the guys at SpaceX didn't think about this one.
Okay, so next, what about the paint?
Why didn't the paint on that Tesla,
just like the paint on this Tesla,
get ripped off as soon as it got into space?
Well, as we now know, there is no pressure difference
between the car and space to rip the paint off the car,
like we may have thought.
That being said, the paint will probably,
eventually come off, but not due to the vacuum of space,
but due to a few other things.
Out-gassing, radiation and micro meteorites
are eventually going to take their toll.
Alright, so first off, out-gassing
is when air or water molecules are trapped inside,
well, I guess, anything, it could be plastic, paint,
leather, whatever, there's going
to be a little bit of air trapped in that.
And especially with paint,
it's gonna be actually sealed inside it,
but eventually it will want to come out.
As a matter of fact, the first three dragon capsules
to visit the International Space Station
were strangely missing a SpaceX logo.
This is because in typical SpaceX fashion,
they wanted to use a cheaper, more off the shelf paint
for the logo, and it hadn't been approved by NASA
to be anywhere near the International Space Station.
It wasn't until CRS-3 that we finally saw the SpaceX logo
on the Dragon capsule, but this is talking
about vehicles that will be visiting
the International Space Station for months,
where peoples' lives are at stake,
so NASA takes visiting vehicle's safety very seriously.
Since the roadsters only job was to look cool,
there was no need to worry
about the long term out-gassing effects
of the paint because who cares?
Radiation on the other hand is a big deal.
Specially, stellar radiation,
which will eventually break up the carbon bonds
of anything that's organic.
So things like leather, the plastic in the steering wheel,
or the rubber tires, which will eventually be kind
of discolored, flake away, or even splinter off into space.
Radiation in deep space is a lot harsher
than the radiation in low Earth orbit,
like say on the International Space Station,
which is within the Earth's protective magnetosphere.
Also, there's a few good reasons why
the International Space Station isn't made out of plastic,
or leather, and this is just one of those reasons.
Space X even ended up sending the upper stage
and the Tesla roadster through the most punishing portions
of the Van Allen radiation belts.
They did this to ensure that even
in those really tough conditions, the flight computers
and all of the components would last
and survive even in the harshest conditions.
So it's trial by fire, or, I guess, radiation.
So, had some of the sub-systems failed on the upper stage,
unfortunately, it would've been stuck
in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth,
but part of me kind of wishes that was the case.
(dirt flying)
We need to talk about micro meteorites.
These are basically just little baby meteors
that are gonna be blasting the car for millions of years,
eventually, breaking the glass and tearing a lot of it off,
making the car look a lot less recognizable.
Eventually, only the hardest parts will be left,
like the aluminum and some of that other hard metals,
but that's over millions of years.
Most spacecraft have some kind of protection
against micro meteorites, like a Kevlar blanket
or something, but also, most spacecraft are only meant
to last maybe several decades at most.
So I wonder what the Tesla's gonna look like
after millions of years.
Wonder if I'll be around to see that?
Alright, so what about the plastic?
Why didn't the plastic all over the dashboard
and inside the car, why didn't all that melt in space?
I mean, it's exposed right to the sun, why didn't it melt?
Well, this one's actually, we could reverse this.
Why would it melt in space?
Space is really cold, it's minus 270 degrees Celsius,
which is minus 454 Fahrenheit.
So an object in space will get hit by the heat of the sun,
but it also radiates heat away
in what's called a radiative equilibrium.
So this is because the object is actually
going to be taking in heat, but it's also going
to be giving off heat into the vacuum of space.
And again, there's no air molecules around it
to keep that heat trapped, and then to keep
warming the thing up, the material up, and therefore,
getting hotter and hotter.
It just kinda stays at an equilibrium.
("Astronaut Beach House" by Everyday Astronaut)
Now, I hear what you're saying, but the Tesla's up in space,
and space is closer to the sun so it must be hotter
than down here on Earth, like when you're
at the California beaches and you accidentally leave
something that could melt inside your Tesla, right?
Well, we can answer this in two ways.
It's only closer to the sun when it's closer to the sun.
So an object that's in low Earth orbit, at most,
is only 400 kilometers out of 150 million kilometers
closer to the sun, or, for those of us
who are metrically impaired,
that's 250 miles out of 93 million miles,
so it's really not any closer at all.
The other answer is it's actually getting further away
from the sun as we speak.
It's on a highly elliptical orbit around the sun,
and it's furthest point is actually two and a half times
further away from the sun than the Earth is.
Thanks to the square inverse law,
when the roadster's at its furthest point,
or 2.65 AU away from the sun, it will only receive
about 15 percent of the amount of energy
that that Tesla will receive at its lowest point
in its orbit around the sun, which is one AU.
So, in other words, the same orbit
as the Earth is around the sun.
So what is the current status on the roadster?
Where is it in space, can we see it?
Well, there is one amazing website
that helps answer these questions and a lot more.
Whereisroadster.com, this is so cool.
It shows, in real time, where the roadster is,
how far its traveled, what it's overall fuel economy is,
which is hilarious since it's obviously done expending fuel,
and even how big of a telescope you'd need here on Earth
in order to have enough resolution
to see the upper stage and the roadster.
So yeah, you could see it here from Earth right now,
but you'd need a telescope that's 2,600 meters
or 8,500 feet wide, but it will come pretty close to Earth
in 2091, coming within only
a couple hundred thousand kilometers.
So get your telescopes and maybe a rocket ready.
Who's with me, I just love the big,
giant touchscreen in this Tesla.
Oh, look, we're getting really close
to Vandenberg Air Force Base!
Definitely, definitely,
definitely Vandenberg Air Force Base, for sure.
Alright, I'm an idiot, so this all the closer
I could actually get to SpaceX's launchpad,
and I drove all the way out here to Vandenberg,
thinking I had this really cool shot in my head
where you can see the launch pad in the background,
and you can actually but I just got in trouble
with the police because you can't take photos
anywhere near the gate, whoops.
But at least there's good excuse to get my hands
on a model three for the week, right?
Okay, so this whole thing was a massive, massive fail
on my end, but I did the best I could to salvage it.
But at least Starman's roadster wasn't a fail.
So before we wrap up, let's make sure and reiterate that.
To all those naysayers who made a really long list of things
that were impossible about a car in space,
do you really think they weren't gonna think
about the center of mass or think about the out-gassing
of the paint or the tire pressure or the other materials
and so on and so on and so on before they put it on top
of their most high stakes and public rocket launch ever?
Come on, they just designed the most advanced rocket
in the world, I'm sure they thought of everything.
That being said, what other questions do you have
about Starman's roadster?
What questions do you have about Falcon Heavy
or SpaceX in general?
Let me know your thoughts
and upcoming video suggestions in the comments below.
And thanks for playing along with me,
and I'm sorry that I had such a massive fail on my end.
If this happens to be your first video you've ever seen
of mine, please check out some of my other ones
where I don't fail nearly as often.
I promise it's not all the time.
Okay, but despite all the antics,
I still hope you learned a lot and had some fun.
I sure had fun when I got to drive
that Tesla model three for a week.
You've probably noticed I don't do many sponsored videos,
and neither does Turo, the company
that I rented model three through.
Turo is a way to rent other people's cars
instead of the same boring cars at the airport.
So the next time you want to rent a really cool car
on your next trip, Tesla, be sure and check out Turo.
Click the link here or in the description below
for 25 dollars off your first rental!
Thank you, Turo, that was amazing!
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for shirts like this one, guys.
I will finally actually put this up on my web store,
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So you can purchase this or a hat or a mug
or Prince of Rocket Launches or other original artwork
at everydayastronaut.com/shop.
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Feel free to check it out and make it into a summer playlist
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Thanks everybody, that does it for me.
I'm Tim Dodd, the every day astronaut,
bringing space down to Earth for every day people.
(chill atmospheric music)