This is going to be a quick post since I'm forced to edit my previously mentioned Bitcoin article -- boo! :( -- but I wanted to share some thoughts about the #Tesla #SpaceX project, specifically its trajectory.
As you all know by now, Elon Musk and Tesla launched a Tesla Roadster into space, I believe just because they can. Supposedly, the roadster will hit Mars, or an asteroid...or simply wonder through the vacuum of space.
But check out this article from TechCrunch -- https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/07/starman-has-gone-dark/
At the bottom of their story, you'll see a gif of the roadster circling smoothly and parallel with the earth.
Huh.
All the SpaceX footage I've seen showed the roadster spinning wildly away from the earth. Now, it's doing a slow dance with our planet.
That contradicts Newtonian mechanics, which tells us (among other things) that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by a force.
I'm assuming that the roadster apparatus is not rocket-powered; therefore, where's the force? A force is necessary to change its original velocity vector at its initial entry into vacuum.