Magical Trade
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
  • Home
  • Trade News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Trade News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Magical Trade
No Result
View All Result
Home Trade News

Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that Starship engine crisis is creating a ‘risk of bankruptcy’

by
November 30, 2021
in Trade News
0
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RELATED POSTS

Melvin Capital says it’s winding down funds and returning money to investors during market turmoil

Biden invokes Defense Production Act to boost baby formula manufacturing to ease shortage

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stands at the base of a Starship rocket prototype at the company’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Steve Jurvetson on flickr

Elon Musk is angry with the lack of progress SpaceX has made in developing the Raptor engines that power its Starship rocket.

He described a dire situation the day after Thanksgiving in a company-wide email, a copy of which was obtained by CNBC.

“The Raptor production crisis is much worse than it seemed a few weeks ago,” Musk wrote.

“We face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year,” Musk added later.

Starship is the massive, next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars. The company is testing prototypes at a facility in southern Texas and has flown multiple short test flights. But to move to orbital launches, the rocket prototypes will need as many as 39 Raptor engines each – necessitating a sharp ramp in engine production.

Musk’s email to SpaceX employees provides more context to the significance of former vice president of propulsion Will Heltlsey’s departure earlier this month. Heltsley was taken off Raptor development, CNBC reported, with Musk noting in his email that the company’s leadership has been digging into the program’s problems since then – and discovering the circumstances “to be far more severe” than Musk previously thought.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The SpaceX founder and CEO’s email was first reported by Space Explored, a subset of technology blog 9to5Mac.

Raptor engine program is ‘a disaster’

A closer look under the base of Super Heavy Booster 4 at the 29 Raptor engines.

SpaceX

Musk wrote in the email that he planned to take the long Thanksgiving holiday off. But, after discovering the Raptor situation, Musk said he would personally work on the engine production line through Friday night and into the weekend.

“We need all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster,” Musk wrote.

The billionaire founder has repeatedly described production as the most difficult part of creating SpaceX’s mammoth rocket. The company has steadily built up its Starship production and testing facility in Boca Chica, Texas, with multiple prototypes in work simultaneously.

The company’s next major step in developing Starship is launching to orbit.

A Starship prototype test fires its six Raptor rocket engines on November 12, 2021 in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX

Musk on Nov. 17 said that SpaceX will “hopefully launch” the first orbital Starship flight in January or February, pending regulatory approval by the FAA as well as technical readiness.

SpaceX wants Starship to be fully reusable, with both the rocket and its booster capable of landing after a launch to be recovered for future flights. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable. The company can regularly land and re-launch the boosters but not the upper portion, or stage, of the rocket.

Musk earlier this month that he wasn’t sure if Starship would successfully reach orbit on the first try, but emphasized that he is “confident” that the rocket will get to space in 2022. He also noted at the time that Starship development “is at least 90% internally funded thus far,” with the company not assuming “any international collaboration” or external funding.

Starship crucial to Starlink’s financial success

SpaceX has raised billions in funding over the past several years, both to fund Starship and its satellite internet project Starlink, with the company’s valuation recently hitting $100 billion.

But, while SpaceX has launched about 1,700 Starlink satellites to orbit so far, Musk said the first version of the satellite “is financially weak.” The company has been steadily growing Starlink’s user base, with about 140,000 users paying for service at $99 a month.

Earlier this year SpaceX outlined improvements for the second version of the satellite, with Musk saying in his email that “V2 is strong” but can only be launched effectively by its Starship rockets.

To date SpaceX has launched Starlink satellites with its Falcon 9 rockets, but Musk outlined that those rockets do not have the mass or volume needed to effectively deploy the second generation satellites. That means the success of the Raptor engine program is also critical to the long-term financial stability of SpaceX’s Starlink service, which Musk has talked about spinning-off in an IPO.

Notably, SpaceX is currently ramping up production of its Starlink antennas “to several million unites per year,” Musk said in the email, but those will be “useless otherwise” if Raptor does not succeed.

ShareTweetPin

Related Posts

Melvin Capital says it’s winding down funds and returning money to investors during market turmoil

by
May 18, 2022
0

Gabe Plotkin, chief investment officer and portfolio manager of Melvin Capital Management LP, speaks during the Sohn Investment Conference in...

Biden invokes Defense Production Act to boost baby formula manufacturing to ease shortage

by
May 18, 2022
0

The Abbott manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, on May 13, 2022. Jeff Kowalsky | AFP | Getty Images President Joe...

Art Cashin of UBS says stocks are now at risk of even deeper sell-off

by
May 18, 2022
0

The big fall for stocks on Wednesday has put the market at risk of an even deeper pullback, according to...

Elon Musk says he’ll vote Republican, bashes Democrats

by
May 18, 2022
0

In this article TWTR Trump advisor Steve Bannon (L) watches as President Donald Trump greets Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla...

Bath & Body Works shares fall as retailer cuts profit outlook due to inflation

by
May 18, 2022
0

In this article BBWI Sale signs inside the Bath and Body Works store in Edmonton. On Thursday, January 6, 2022,...

Next Post

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index increased 19.5% year-over-year in September

Stocks are under pressure again as omicron variant rattles Wall Street, Dow drops 350 points

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

email

Get the daily email about stock.

Please Enter Your Email Address:



By opting in you agree to our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

MOST VIEWED

  • Fund manager believes FAANG is dead — says now it’s all about MANTA

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Forget Tesla — this auto stock is the one to buy right now, analyst says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Bank of America names its top global tech stocks — including one it says has upside of 100%

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Conviction sell’: UBS says avoid these global stocks amid rising headwinds

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • These are the global stocks to own if stagflation hits, according to Credit Suisse

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Home
  • Trade News
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Privacy Policy
All rights reserved by www.magicaltrade.net
No Result
View All Result
  • Email Whitelisting
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy

All rights reserved by www.magicaltrade.net