Elon Musk: Raptor engine production lags so far behind that bankruptcy threatens – IT Pro – News

What a fuss about the fact that an American, commercial, aerospace company has to work very hard. The company’s ambitions have historically been made possible only by governments of superpowers who have invested a huge amount of money into it.

Trying to do that commercially in which all kinds of talent must be brought in, with huge investments, risks and limited resources (talent and money), requires the utmost. And even then the question is whether it will work. So far, no commercial space company has succeeded, which SpaceX has. And the goals are much higher than what they have achieved so far.

Furthermore, it is mandatory to be cost-effective from Elon’s perspective. He owns no money (as so many experts report here). He only owns Tesla stock (and I may assume SpaceX). These stocks represent a high value, but if he sells too much to close structural gaps at SpaceX, Tesla will also have issues.

It’s special that “THE” part of the Starship/SuperHeavy program has so many problems and that this has apparently been kept under wraps for a long time. Elon is not a CEO at SpaceX. That’s Gwynne Shotwell. An acclaimed and, according to many, capable CEO. Yet this “disaster” has been carried out under her responsibility…despite the fact that apparently chief drive now has to seek refuge elsewhere.

Delays endanger all kinds of contracts. No doubt with penalty clauses and the like. So I hope there are no fundamental problems with the Raptors and that they find a solution in time.

And Elon really won’t just abandon SpaceX and make it explode. One of his most sacred, personal goals is to take people to another planet…and at least accelerate this development. It should not become a bottomless pit.

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