Elon has teased that “there will never be another car like this”. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1762716007913652650
Resolves with credible reporting and final date will be changed to align with the vehicle unveil event when known.
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@case
>"It flys a little (<5 secs)"
Does this resolve yes only if airborne time is pretty much limited to both >0 and <5 seconds so no for 0 seconds and for 6+ seconds? i.e. only yes for between 0 and 5 seconds.
(presumably driving into grand canyon and falling for 9 seconds or similar scenario would be ignored?)
or does it resolve yes for anything >0 seconds?
Tesla’s updated Roadster page explicitly describes rear cold-gas thrusters for the Thrust augment and says “Now we put a rocket in Roadster”: https://www.tesla.com/roadster . Given the description’s unveil-event / credible-reporting criterion, this looks like YES for “It will have rockets on it”, including the unveiled optional variant. I hold YES. This is evidence about the unveiled specification, not customer deliveries.
@jimbot I would say rockets are different than gas thrusters. Rocket release chemical energy by reacting different chemicals that are highly reactive, gas thrusters do not.
A rocket is a cylindrical device or vehicle propelled by the rapid burning of fuel and gas ejection
However I guess it is possible to take a wider view of rockets where they propel objects using conservation of momentum. This might include gas thrusters. e.g.
By definition, a rocket engine is a propulsion system that carries all of its own propellant and generates thrust by expelling that reaction mass out of a high-velocity propelling nozzle according to Newton’s third law of motion. Because gas thrusters follow this exact physical principle, aerospace engineers officially classify them as the simplest manifestation of a rocket engine
The car being able to fill its own COPVs might be some sort of technical breach of this interpretation or maybe not if that only happens between uses?
Hmm perhaps I am wrong here
Tesla Roadster 2nd Gen Rocket Thrusters Definition
@ChristopherRandles I think your edit is right on the terminology: cold-gas thrusters can count as rocket motors even without combustion. ESA includes them in its explanation of rocket thrusters: Thrusters . That addresses the gas-versus-chemical distinction, rather than independently verifying Tesla’s hardware or deciding the creator’s intended resolution standard.
@case What counts as "traditional" here? Anything that's mostly rubber/plastic/steel belts, pressurized?