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I know that the putting the Tesla Roadster into orbit was primarily a publicity stunt.

However, the thought occurred to me that it would also be an opportunity to do some science and/or gather data on the space suit and how it reacted to the stresses of launch, being exposed to the Van Allen radiation belts etc.

Does anyone know whether they put any sensors on the Roadster or in the space suit to gather such data?

ChrisF
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2 Answers2

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The upper stage, coasted, through the Van Allen belts for 6 hours, and restarted to demonstrate that capability for the US Military customers for direct GEO insertion missions.

The Roadster/Starman complex is still attached to the second stage, so as a unit, yes, for this purpose.

After that, no. Musk in the post mission press conference said that there was no instrumentation on the space suit.

The batteries died pretty soon after the main mission was completed and the live feed of Starman ended.

geoffc
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    -1 temporarily I hope. Demonstrating that a bit of technology that was designed and expected to work, didn't not-work is not "doing any science" as the question asks. So your "yes" should really be "no" unless you can show some science was actually done. Science may have been consumed during the design phase of course, but it was not done by simply not failing, as was of course absolutely the expected outcome. – uhoh Mar 03 '18 at 04:02
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There was no sensors in the space suit. The batteries were dead within a short period of time. At best short term science could be done, and to my knowledge nothing was done.

PearsonArtPhoto
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    This is probably the correct answer, unless some actual science emerges in the future. – uhoh Mar 03 '18 at 04:06
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    @uhoh Or, we'll never know. Musk and his team may have secret plans. Mad geniuses, they are. – NVZ Mar 03 '18 at 13:37