[nepotism2018]

Is't that machine worth six figures? Has the world gone mad that we can't find a more productive way to have "fun"

[taneq]

It's a first gen roadster, I believe, so it's a decade old. If it's worth six figures, it's for its historical value (and if it's ever retrieved from Mars it'll be worth FAR more in that regard after this stunt).

[mikeash]

Has the world gone mad that we’re worrying about the six-figure cost of a dummy payload on the test launch of a nine-figure rocket?

[phpnode]

The cost of the second hand Tesla is nothing compared to the PR value of doing this.

[Cthulhu_]

That's cheap though, a sattelite that size costs millions if not tens of millions.

Although I guess you could argue this one does too, given that it's not from the production line, probably hand-built.

[bob_theslob646]

You are missing the point. The point he is making is that he is actually taken some risk or putting something that is dear to him, in jeopardy.

[willvarfar]

If the mission is successful, do they recover the car? Or will it be released into orbit? And if that, will it eventually burn up?

[manicdee]

Incentive for BFS to do something spectacular on its maiden voyage.

[phpnode]

It will orbit the sun for hundreds of millions of years

[K0balt]

... Until it is recovered by space pirates and sold as a historic artifact....

[blocked_again]

Imagine a human like alien civilisation discovering the car. They would be like we found the chariot of God.

[bob_theslob646]

Great question.

[mattmanser]

It doesn't cost them 6 figures.

[mulletbum]

Potentially did when he built it. Wasn't this the very first fully assembled one ever built?