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2021-12-02 Science & Technology

Elon Musk: SpaceX faces possible bankruptcy because of engine woes

[SpaceDaily] SpaceX founder Elon Musk told his employees the space company faces a "genuine risk of bankruptcy" because of its struggles in developing its engine for its Starship flights.

In an email obtained by the website Space Explored, Musk called the company's struggle with its Raptor engine production at its base in Boca Chica, Texas, a "crisis." The Starship is a hulking space vehicle created to deliver goods and people to the moon and eventually Mars.

"What it comes down to, is that we face a genuine risk of bankruptcy if we can't achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year," Musk said in the email.

Musk canceled a scheduled break he planned to take during Thanksgiving to address the Raptor engine issue.

"Unfortunately, the Raptor production crisis is much worse than it had seemed a few weeks ago," Musk said. "As we have dug into the issues following the exiting of prior senior management, they have unfortunately turned out to be far more severe than was reported. There is no way to sugarcoat this."

Last week, SpaceX's vice president of propulsion Will Hetsley left the company after he was removed from the Raptor engine project for lack of progress, CNBC reported. Musk recently said that a "complete design overall" of the engine was necessary."

On Nov. 17, Musk said he hoped SpaceX would conduct its first orbital flight of the Starship in January or February, pending regulatory approval by the Federal Aviation Administration as well as ironing out technical issues.

SpaceX has a lot riding on the line with the engines. It recently beat out Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin for a $2.9 billion NASA contract and has a valuation of more than $100 billion while employing 7,000 people.

Posted by M. Murcek 2021-12-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 And so it goes....
May the next company be better managed....
Prince Tesla SpaceX Starship is dying, so says the King 👑, only government investment may save us, says the RICHEST MAN ON EARTH 🌎...

Judge me not, I'm only the CEO and the largest single investor....poor me.

Posted by Gerthudion Glomonter2477 2021-12-02 00:36|| 2021-12-02 00:36|| Front Page Top

#2 Tesla HQ officially moves to Texas

Posted by Skidmark 2021-12-02 08:59|| 2021-12-02 08:59|| Front Page Top

#3 Email sounds more like a wake-up call for the troops than a real possibility

Posted by Mercutio 2021-12-02 09:03|| 2021-12-02 09:03|| Front Page Top

#4 More gummint subsidies needed, obviously

Posted by Merrick Ferret 2021-12-02 09:14|| 2021-12-02 09:14|| Front Page Top

#5 What subsidies would those be, ferret-face?

Posted by Rob Crawford 2021-12-02 19:54|| 2021-12-02 19:54|| Front Page Top

#6 No doubt Elon is good at hoovering up the market-distorting subsidies our government provides. He is a smart guy with smart accountants and lawyers. But SpaceX is a real thing and he is building it.

The engine problem is that they need to produce them faster, not that the engines don't work. SpaceX needs enough engines to fly Starship to launch Starlink V2. If they cannot keep that schedule, then they will need to make cuts somewhere.

Everyone loves gloom and doom, but Musk is an engineer. I bet he figures it out.

Posted by SteveS 2021-12-02 21:04|| 2021-12-02 21:04|| Front Page Top

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