That people defend these antics is wild. It takes a special kind of sycophant to be lied to and to appreciate it; or I don't know, maybe it's just the regular kind.
It performed a controlled fall.
It then jumped and performed another controlled fall.
For the finale, it farted at the finish line.
They did debunk the myth of the circus being dead.
It was an advertisment for the corporate power of SpaceX and Tesla. That's what I saw. I didn't see any 'saleable products.'
Give us something new Elon, in terms of engineering breakthrus, not just gluing off the shelf lego parts together.
You can do it :|
disclaimer: I'm a customer. I like both companies products. The diving donkey show, not so much.
Hagerty or some similar channel had a 45m breakdown of the car with a tesla rep, and as a standalone single vehicle that can do what it does, it's a marvel. I really couldn't believe the aero effects and paneling/tightness came from the same company that last year officially "exited the car business" and sold a stainless steel half truck.
That said it's so obviousley a marketing peice/distraction. But I am thinking about the engineers who's saw this as their chance to show that yes, they can design and bring to prototype a car with the fit and finish of a ferrari prototype with the added instanity of a very impractical gas cylinder rocket system.
This whole video was just 9 minutes of "duh" for me.
I personally don't think we'll ever see this tech in action again. Maybe there will be a couple of billionaire collectors who receive their invite-only thruster cars only to put them in a garage and never touch it again. Maybe there'll be some "Jay Leno's garage" walk-around style youtube video. But I don't think anybody would ever actually seriously let this thing fly in the wild.