The world's first space sports car is cruising toward the asteroid belt, well beyond Mars.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk confirmed the new, more distant route for his rocketing Tesla Roadster. The red electric convertible was the unorthodox cargo aboard his company’s brand-new Falcon Heavy rocket during a test flight on Tuesday.
With the successful launch, Falcon Heavy became the most powerful rocket flying today.
And the Roadster became the fastest – and most travelled – car ever, hurtling off the planet and zooming away on a route that will now take it all the way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Late Tuesday, Mr Musk said the final firing of the rocket’s upper stage put his car on a more distant trajectory than anticipated. Not only is it headed toward Mars, but almost to the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt.
A mannequin dressed in a ‘real deal’ SpaceX spacesuit dubbed ‘Starman’ is strapped in behind the car’s wheel.
Usually test flights carry nothing of value, like concrete blocks. Mr Musk found that “boring” and put his cherry-red Tesla on top. He is in charge of the carmaker as well as the private space company.
Images of the exposed Roadster and 'Starman' – named after a David Bowie song – against the backdrop of our blue planet, were burning up the internet long after the launch.
“I think it looks so ridiculous and impossible. You can tell it’s real because it looks so fake, honestly,” Mr Musk said Tuesday night. “It’s still tripping me out.”
The Roadster is in an even more elongated orbit now that stretches from Earth on one end, all the way to the neighborhood of Ceres on the other. The original plan had the car traveling only as far as Mars, coming close to the red planet but hopefully not nicking it. If it survives the swarming asteroid belt, the car and its occupant are expected to continue orbiting for millions if not billions of years.
Like so many others, Nasa astronaut Ricky Arnold was awe-struck by the livestreaming of 'Starman' and his ride. Mr Arnold is preparing for his own ride to the International Space Station next month.
“Perfect day for a cruise in a ragtop,” Mr Arnold tweeted, offering congratulations to SpaceX. “Awesome! At this speed, two hands on the steering wheel please #Starman.”
And Buzz Aldrin, second man to step onto the moon, also celebrated after watching the rocket soar "from my favourite launch pad". Falcon Heavy lifted off from the same spot as Nasa's now-retired but more powerful Saturn V moon rockets and space shuttles. Falcon Heavy is a combo of three Falcon 9s that SpaceX uses to ship space station supplies and launch satellites for its customers.
Mr Musk said he does not plan to fly people on Falcon Heavy that will mainly be used to launch supersize satellites. But he is accelerating development of an even bigger rocket for deep-space crews – "a beast".
His overriding goal is to establish a city on Mars, sending people there in a flotilla of SpaceX spaceships launched by colossal SpaceX rockets. Before dashing off to the red planet, Mr Musk said had wanted to try out this spaceship in orbit around Earth – possibly in three to four years with the supersize rocket – and then the moon.
At a news conference, he told reporters that as early as next year, he may begin test flights of the mega spaceship in Texas. These short hops would take the ship several miles high and then come back down for a landing. It is the landing part that is especially hard, he noted, especially at the speed the craft will be travelling when it comes in for a touchdown on another planet.
The success of Falcon Heavy provides a confidence boost to these future plans, Mr Musk said. Two of the three first-stage boosters flew back for side-by-side landings; the third was lost at sea.
Rocket recycling is the key to SpaceX’s launch cost-cutting strategy. The Falcon Heavy is price-listed at $90 million, a bargain in the business of rockets.
The president of the Mars Society, a space advocacy group intent on exploring and settling Mars, cheered SpaceX’s achievement – and reduced price. “This is a revolution,” Robert Zubrin said in a statement. “The naysayers have been completely refuted.”
In the meantime, with Falcon Heavy demo out of the way, Mr Musk said SpaceX is putting its commercial crew effort for Nasa front and center. He said the company is still on track to launch astronauts in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, at the end of this year.
SpaceX is competing with Boeing to be the first to send Americans into orbit from US soil again, something that has not happened since Nasa's last shuttle flight. US astronauts have been riding Russian rockets, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a seat, to get to the space station since the shuttle program ended in 2011.
Mr Musk noted that SpaceX used only internal funds to finance Falcon Heavy. He is hoping that will encourage other companies and countries "to raise their sights and say, hey, we can do bigger and better, which is great."
“We want a new space race,” he said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more about the coronavirus
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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