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I'm curious to find out answers to the following questions:

  1. Where is the antenna for the live feed transmitter of starman located in the payload?

  2. How is the transmitter being powered?

  3. Related to 2nd question, how long will the live feed last?

I noticed that this last question was asked from Elon during the news conference after the launch but it was left unanswered. I'm partly curious to find this out so I know how long I have before the incredible view of the earth in front of the roadster windshield goes dark :)

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  • $\begingroup$ Presumably the transmitter is the same transmitter on the second stage that normally provides video from the second stage. According to space.com, "SpaceX's live webcast of the Tesla Roadster and its Starman mannequin lasted for just over four hours after the Falcon Heavy's launch on Tuesday, Feb. 6," so you're watching reruns now. $\endgroup$
    – Russell Borogove
    Feb 7, 2018 at 22:38
  • $\begingroup$ related: space.stackexchange.com/questions/25074/… $\endgroup$
    – Edwin van Mierlo
    Feb 8, 2018 at 11:54

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Question 1:

Where is the antenna for the live feed transmitter of starman located in the payload?

There is very little information on the placement of antennas on the Falcon-Heavy. However one may relate that the placement of the Falcon-Heavy is at least similar compared to the Falcon-9.

Although the latest Rev-2 Falcon-9 User Guide does not lists any details, the older Rev-1 Falcon-9 User Guide does list a nice diagram on Page-11:

enter image description here

This shows that the antennas are at the outside of the second stage, at various angles, 2 for S-Band at 60/240 degrees, 2 for C-Band at 90/270 degrees, and 2 UHF at 120/300 degrees.

Question 2:

How is the transmitter being powered?

By batteries, I did not find any reference of solar power systems on board

Question 3:

Related to 2nd question, how long will the live feed last?

It seems that mr. Musk promised us 12 hours, but the batteries ran flat in just over 4 hours.

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