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The “Flying” Tesla Roadster Is Doomed
Congratulations, it jumps
I watched the clip about ten times on Friday morning and then I put my phone down and felt nothing, which surprised me, because a car did a backflip and I am exactly the kind of person who should have enjoyed that.
My X timeline was going crazy with mind-blown emojis and people I respect posting WHAT in all caps, and I sat there thinking okay, but what did I actually just watch.
Staged at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas and livestreamed, with a car running up a curved ramp, sticking itself upside down using a fan suction system, then firing cold gas thrusters that flipped it off the ramp and landed it clean. On the second run it cleared a line of parked cars and a semi truck, flipped again and stuck the landing again.
Musk said the future does have flying cars after all, and Lars Moravy, who runs vehicle engineering, said flying cars are real.
It is a good video and Elon Musk is one of the best showmen on the planet, which I will defend against anyone. It was still a show, and I think the reason I felt nothing is that I have been watching this particular car get promised to me since 2017.
