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The question How well could the Tesla Cybertruck drive on Mars? received five close votes and was put on hold, then re-opened, and now currently has four more close votes, for a total of nine, most or all for "primarily opinion-based".

The question has received two good quality, well-received and fact-based answers that convey plenty of engineering concepts relevant to the challenges that vehicles on Mars face.

The votes seem misguided to me, since obviously the question attracts answers that are primarily based on engineering principles. And yet nine users felt compelled to close it!

What might it be that is triggering all of these close votes? Is it (the apparently unfounded) fear that the community can't handle the question? "Better close this before someone posts an opinion" Is it simply the words "How well..." that triggers autonomic reflexive closing? Or is something more subtle going on?

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    $\begingroup$ Should have used "fast" instead of "well" when phrasing it... $\endgroup$
    – drandrul
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 1:29
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    $\begingroup$ @drandrul also, for future reference, things like "What are the major challenges..." or "Most likely failure modes..." tend to go more smoothly. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 2:06
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    $\begingroup$ For what it's worth, I had the same thought as Ludo when I first saw the question. It seemed a little too hypothetical. Not that it couldn't be answered, just that it fit in the category of questions we didn't want here. I felt it was close enough to the line that I wanted to leave it to the community though. I'm really tempted to add the fifth close vote now that it's the second time around though. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 14:02

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I was one of the close-voters. My motivation for closing was that the Cybertruck is a terrestrial vehicle. It is not designed for Mars and there is no way (currently or in the near future) to get such a large vehicle to Mars. That makes it, in my opinion, a purely hypothetical, speculative, and frivolous question no added value. Hence I voted to close.

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    $\begingroup$ That's actually not strictly true. Elon Musk has said that it will drive on Mars someday (At least, some variant of it). Starship could easily get it to Mars. It isn't an unreasonable question in that regard at least. $\endgroup$
    – PearsonArtPhoto Mod
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 14:42
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    $\begingroup$ @PearsonArtPhoto "Some variant of it" confirms that the truck as-is cannot drive on Mars, so I think my argument still stands. However, it is my opinion, and I think that is what the voting is for: if I were the only one with this opinion, nothing would have happened, right? $\endgroup$
    – Ludo
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 15:09
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    $\begingroup$ I mean, Elon did say the pressurized version will be the official version of Mars. I think there would have to be some other modifications as well, but still... $\endgroup$
    – PearsonArtPhoto Mod
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 15:11
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    $\begingroup$ @PearsonArtPhoto I didn't see the press conference, but if he literally said that, it should be added to the question to provide context. A question along the lines of "Elon Musk claimed X; is that possible?" is more on-topic, as one could consider Musk as influential source. (I still don't like the question, but with this context I probably would not have voted to close.) $\endgroup$
    – Ludo
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 15:48
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    $\begingroup$ Will add a link to the tweet. $\endgroup$
    – PearsonArtPhoto Mod
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 16:14
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    $\begingroup$ @PearsonArtPhoto Hmm, that does change things a bit. Elon Musk's always keeping us on our toes around here. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented Nov 27, 2019 at 16:31
  • $\begingroup$ The company that makes the truck could launch it from Earth to Pluto (barely), and there's no reason to think that the vehicle requires an atmosphere to operate. It IS a certainty that the weight is impractical compared to a LRV, but so is playing the song Space Oddity to Starman, in the vacuum of space, and a more than 4 hour live stream. So, practical be damned. --- Thanks for coming forward with your reason. $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 1:20
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    $\begingroup$ Musk says a lot of things. He may even believe some of them. $\endgroup$
    – user20636
    Commented Feb 7, 2020 at 23:28

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