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posted by martyb on Saturday January 12 2019, @09:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-is-Moller's-Skycar-doing? dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Elon Musk has a knack for tweeting out some real eyebrow-raisers. On Wednesday afternoon, he delivered, once again:

The new Roadster will actually do something like this https://t.co/fIsTAYa4x8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2019

So, is Musk just joking around?

“I’m not,” Musk replied on Twitter TWTR, -0.66% to the delight of his fan base. “Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultrahigh pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats.”

Can't help but think Musk is full of crap here - even with the "removal of the rear seats" idea, I doubt that a tank of that size using cold gas only could hover a car for more than a handful of seconds.

Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-new-tesla-roadster-will-use-thrusters-to-float-above-the-ground-2019-01-10


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:05AM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:05AM (#785441)

    I doubt that a tank of that size using cold gas only could hover a car for more than a handful of seconds.

    The passengers will be instantly frozen to death even if the compressed gas is at room temperature. Does Musk know why [physlink.com]?

    But imagine that you raised the car a bit. How will it behave on the road? (Like on very slippery ice.) What will make it move? What will make it change direction or stop?

    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:33AM (6 children)

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:33AM (#785448)

      Magic?

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:39AM (5 children)

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:39AM (#785464) Homepage Journal

        It's like he got a wish from the Genie in the Bottle. Barbara Eden. And he says, "oh, I want a Flying Car." Could have said Carpet, a lot of folks would say Carpet, he said Car. And the Genie didn't ask, "how high?" Or, "for how long?" It's not the best magic. But it's still magic. Like magic.

        • (Score: 2, Funny) by isostatic on Saturday January 12 2019, @05:49PM (4 children)

          by isostatic (365) on Saturday January 12 2019, @05:49PM (#785598) Journal

          You know Donnie, if Musk can hover a car, mexicans can simply fly over your wall

          • (Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:15PM (1 child)

            by Gaaark (41) on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:15PM (#785657) Journal

            He'll get the Mexicans to pay for a moat with sharks with FREAKING LASERS!

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:42AM

              by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:42AM (#785820) Homepage Journal

              We're building the Steel Slat Barrier. As requested by our Democrats. That MUST come first. And we'll see how well it works. We'll see. I think it's going to work tremendously well. We have Concrete Wall in Korea. And Concrete Wall in Israel. We had Concrete Wall in Germany. Beautiful walls, very effective. And I know guys in New York, they're very big in Concrete, they've done so many Concrete projects for me. Very solid guys. That's why I wanted to do Concrete Wall. I didn't promise Concrete Wall. I promised to protect our border. And people are saying, the Steel Slat Barrier will be great protection. It's actually better than Concrete. Because you can see through it. So important. So we'll do Steel Slat Barrier first. And we'll see about, do we need the Moat too? The Moat comes later. And only if we need it!!!

          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:36AM (1 child)

            by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:36AM (#785806) Homepage Journal

            I'll tell you about Mexico. They make a lot of money. When Mexico sends its people, they're coming in their best vehicles. Unbelievable vehicles. They're strong. They're big. They're fast. And some, I assume, can fly.

            Look, we can all play games, but a wall is a necessity. All of the other things -- the sensors and the drones -- it’s all wonderful to have and it works well, but only if you have the wall. If you don’t have the wall, it doesn’t matter. A drone isn’t stopping a thousand people from running through. And, you know, interestingly, if you look, virtually every Democrat over the last 15 years, they’ve approved what we’re asking for. I am in the White House, pen in hand. In fact, there’s almost nobody in the W.H. but me. I am waiting, alone. And I'm ready to sign. I'm practicing my signature. While the Dems from Congress, and of Congress, take their "vacations." Merry Christmas!!

            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:49AM

              by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:49AM (#785822) Homepage Journal

              (cont) By the way, for anyone that comes to my office. To the Oval Office. I have the MOST DELICIOUS Candy. M&M's. And Skittles. Otherwise known as Brain Food. A bowl of M&M's, and a separate bowl for the Skittles. And don't worry, they won't kill you. Because my guy was very careful about the Candy. I told him, "take out the brown ones and send them back." And if I find a brown one, he's fired!!!

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:23AM (1 child)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:23AM (#785459) Homepage Journal

      As a former HVAC guy, I know exactly what you're talking about. Hell, anyone who's ever used a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of their computer should. On the other hand though, think of the potato guncannon you could mount on the hood if you used that thing as your pressure vessel.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:06PM (#785551)

        A full auto potato cannon instead of a horn. I like it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:01PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:01PM (#785501)

      You think he won't have the tank insulated? Dealing with cold isn't exactly rocket science, which Musk also does, BTW ;)

      My guess is he is just going to have a Roadster converted in to a form of hovercraft, which if Musk is tweeting about it should at least be feasible, though I doubt the practicality of it.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:53PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:53PM (#785571) Journal

        My guess is that it only *would* work for seconds at a time, but that the engine would re-pressurize the system fairly quickly. There are times when "seconds" would suffice, and, as was noted above, while the car is "flying" there's no propulsion (unless the gas stream is angled, and then it's not very controllable).

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:57PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:57PM (#785573)

        Musk has other people do the rocket science for him. Considering that he can't figure out how to assemble the cars in a cost effective manner and the so-called autopilot feature will happily run cars into stationary objects, I'm sure as hell not going to trust these tanks to be appropriately engineered.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:42PM

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:42PM (#785664) Journal

        You think he won't have the tank insulated?

        When you compress air, it heats up. Leave it alone long enough, and that heat will leak away.

        Now let it out — when the air expands, it will get cold — very cold if it was highly compressed.

        That is the problem. FYI...

        Compression:

        When compressed, gas molecules are brought close to each other and ultimately they start colliding with other air molecules. Due to this collision they get heated up to higher temperature. Therefore, compression leads to an increase in temperature of the gas.

        Expansion:

        The frequency of atomic collisions decrease as gas expands, therefore the gas gets cooler. Temperature is just the average heat of a substance. That is, if you take the kinetic energy (heat) of all the particles in a given volume, and divide by the volume you get the energy density, which we call temperature.

        --
        I think I'll slip into something more comfortable.
        Like a coma.

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Nuke on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:36AM (2 children)

    by Nuke (3162) on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:36AM (#785451)

    Musk gets off by tossing "outrageous" ideas to the media and then watching the commotion, like chucking a fish into a pool of seals at the zoo. The media lap it up because it's s story, whichever way you take it. I'm just waiting for Musk idolatry to go out of fashion.

    • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:35PM (1 child)

      by crafoo (6639) on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:35PM (#785617)

      It's refreshing to have an intelligent, successful person shake things up. Maybe it's not idolatry but a supreme weariness of focus groups, lawyer-speak, and safe, thoroughly unimaginative rich people doing stupid shit and wasting our time?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:46PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:46PM (#785645)

        We have the same in the political arena right now

  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:02AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:02AM (#785453) Journal

    someone mixed up his dosing? Macro/micro.. only one letter..

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:15AM (4 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:15AM (#785457) Journal

    He do like his cocaine.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:35PM (2 children)

      by crafoo (6639) on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:35PM (#785618)

      So did Hunter S Thompson. So what?

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:14PM (1 child)

        by Gaaark (41) on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:14PM (#785656) Journal

        Hunter didn't Tweet under the influence.

        Maybe he crapped under the influence... i dunno...could be the same thing. :)

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @12:33AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @12:33AM (#785721)

          Hunter gave lectures under the influence (not sure what, but he was not straight). I attended one, it wasn't pretty, he spent most of the time picking a fight (verbally) with a few people in the front row.

    • (Score: 2) by Kalas on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:54PM

      by Kalas (4247) on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:54PM (#785647)

      Yeah, my exact thought on hearing this announcement is "this motherfucker is high as balls."
      That or his up to 120 hour work weeks (IIRC) have finally worn down his sanity.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:46AM

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 12 2019, @11:46AM (#785468) Journal

    The new Tesla will use the thermoelectric effect between the environment and the cold compressed air tank to generate electricity and charge the battery.

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:07PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:07PM (#785505)

    Only now it's in mm instead of m

  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:12PM (2 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:12PM (#785508) Journal

    Real hovercraft use gobs of energy to maintain an air cushion under the vehicle. I just can't see an air jet system being at all practical. Airplanes do better, but still take lots of energy.

    Balloons and magnetic levitation are about the only ways to get off the ground cheap, and the latter can be an energy burner anyway, having to move fast and use lots of energy to overcome aerodynamic drag for the levitation part of the system to work efficiently, while the former can't move fast. There's also ground effect vehicles. Anti-grav might be possible but take impractically huge amounts of energy.

    What the heck is Musk thinking?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @03:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @03:43PM (#785542)

      He is breaking the conditioning by preparing the public for anti-grav. But the CIA will kill him for it.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:11PM (#785555)

      How does he plan to deal with all the eels?

  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @03:49PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @03:49PM (#785546)

    It's going to be a lot of fun to watch his final mental collapse, the timing of which is only a question of IF rather than a question of WHEN.

    Oh, and fuck all you Musk worshippers. You're all a bunch of cock-gobbling losers.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:59PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:59PM (#785575) Journal

      He *is* an egomaniac. Not sure about the "nutcase" part. Some of his ideas, however, work out. Some even make money. But I bet he's got *LOTS* of ideas that never get off the drawing board...and this is likely to be one of them. A few years ago nobody would have heard if he'd come out with one of these "what if we try..." ideas. Now everyone seems to think he's serious about them. *SOME* of them he is, or becomes, serious about. But not all of them. And I suspect he's got a wicked sense of humor, and is occasionally annoyed by reporters.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:38PM (2 children)

      by crafoo (6639) on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:38PM (#785620)

      Why would you derive pleasure from an intelligent, creative person having a mental collapse? Have you considered why you think things like this? It may be worth your time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:13PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @07:13PM (#785637)

        Its entertaining. That is why.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:48AM

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:48AM (#785811) Homepage Journal

          Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating -- overwhelmingly -- 17 candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Very entertaining!

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ilPapa on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:32PM (2 children)

    by ilPapa (2366) on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:32PM (#785565) Journal

    Is it possible - stay with me here - that Musk is talking about some innovation in the car's suspension system and not the fact that it's actually going to be a hovercraft?

    I mean, he's clearly high as a fucking kite, but I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

    --
    You are still welcome on my lawn.
    • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:09PM (1 child)

      by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 12 2019, @06:09PM (#785604) Journal

      This was somewhat my initial thought also. The sideways wheels look like bumpers you might use going down the tunnel.
       
      Compressed gas to lift also seems crazy, but if you could manage just a very thin air cushion somehow in a highly controlled tunnel environment. Meh, still probably crazy sauce.
       
      I wonder if he just said - 'do something like this picture' to a bunch of his engineers and got back something like "yes sir, we can do something like that" and stopped listening before the "But....."

      --
      В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:46PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @06:46PM (#785965)

        i wonder if he's just trying to reduce weight/gravity a little bit so that you get more benefit from the thrust that's already being spent. and yes, those wheels have to do with the tunnel.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @05:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @05:42PM (#785595)

    Yet another example.

  • (Score: 2) by JustNiz on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:11PM

    by JustNiz (1573) on Saturday January 12 2019, @08:11PM (#785654)

    The thing a hovering car can't do is brake or maneuver quickly enough for roads.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by corey on Sunday January 13 2019, @12:46AM (2 children)

    by corey (2202) on Sunday January 13 2019, @12:46AM (#785725)

    "Where we're going, we don't need... roads." (Sunglasses on)

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